A delicious butter chicken: fire-kissed chicken blanketed in a creamy, aromatic tomato sauce

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Imagine a platter of tandoori chicken, its edges smoky and blistered. It then sinks into a vivid orange sauce, so bright it reflects the dining room lights. The first bite slides across the tongue : tangy from ripe tomatoes, opulent with butter, and subtly scented with fenugreek.

No wonder murgh makhani dominates orders at Indian restaurants, from Delhi to Dallas : it comforts newcomers while captivating diners who have already explored every regional nuance. Yet as copies multiply at breakneck speed, one question lingers : what sets true butter chicken apart from its amiable impostors ?

Panang beef curry on a banana leaf background — Prefer beef? Try my panang curry

A zero-waste dish at its core

The story begins in 1947, in the soot-blackened kitchen of Moti Mahal, in Old Delhi. Faced with trays of day-old tandoori chicken, restaurateur Kundan Lal Gujral, aided by his associate Kundan Lal Jaggi, chose invention over waste : he plunged the dried meat into a sauce of crushed tomatoes, fresh butter, and a touch of cream.

This clever rescue became an instant hit. In less than a decade, heads of government and other foreign dignitaries flocked there. They wanted to taste those bone-in pieces bathing in a tomato curry, then still made without onion ; its color came from mild Kashmiri chili rather than bottled dye.

Over the decades, many cooks began adding kasuri methi ; this bittersweet fenugreek now seems inseparable from the dish. From the dhabas lining the Grand Trunk Road to the curry houses of London founded by the Punjabi diaspora, butter chicken has traveled with migrants and become a shortcut to “authentic Indian.”

Its commercial heft even took a legal turn in 2024, when the Delhi institutions Moti Mahal and Daryaganj faced off in court after Daryaganj attempted to register the phrase “By the inventors of butter chicken” as a trademark : proof that a dish born of repurposing is now valuable enough to be defended in court.

The essentials of real butter chicken

If you reduce the dish to its essence, three pillars remain : tomato, butter, and properly grilled chicken. The tomatoes should taste of the fruit, not the can ; traditional cooks still blanch them and crush them by hand, coaxing out their sweetness with a pinch of sugar or a drizzle of honey rather than blunting the acidity with onion.

Butter, used generously, gives the sauce its characteristic velvet, while a final touch of fresh malai or heavy cream leaves a faint milky veil. Ghee can complement or even replace part of this fat, but a portion of butter remains indispensable to the “makhani” character.

The chicken is first marinated overnight in yogurt, a ginger-garlic paste, Kashmiri chili, and a lightly dosed garam masala, then roasted at searing heat until almost cooked. Those charred drippings, a concentrate of flavor, then return to the sauce to lend it an extra dose of smoke.

In the pan, the butter sizzles with the ginger-garlic, then the tomato purée simmers gently until the fat separates. Many restaurant kitchens then strain this base through a sieve to achieve impeccable “makhani” silkiness. Ground cashews, or almonds in some Mughlai versions, thicken the sauce without starch.

Only when the heat is low does the cream spiral in, quickly followed by a final knob of butter and a handful of crushed kasuri methi. Home cooks without a tandoor often borrow a restaurant trick : set a glowing charcoal ember in the center of the pot, drizzle it with ghee, then cover for a minute to diffuse a campfire aroma. In short, grab your chapatis and dig in.

How to make butter chicken your own?

The canvas is strict, yet supple enough to welcome a personal touch. Bone-in thighs bring marrow-deep flavor, while boneless tikka pieces make naan-dunking easier ; both options remain authentic.

Nut-free sauces circulate in households seeking lightness ; banquet kitchens, meanwhile, happily double the cashew paste for extra richness. The heat stays gentle by default, but Punjabi grandmothers don’t hesitate to add a slit green chili or an extra pinch of chili powder.

Sweetness is adjustable, too : some favor sugar for its quick dissolve, others the floral whisper of honey. Even a discreet tadka (an infusion of whole spices : cardamom, bay leaf, a shard of cinnamon) can join the orchestra, provided it never drowns out the tomato-butter duet.

Thai green curry chicken in a white shallow bowl, close-up — Thai green curry chicken, delicious as it is, has nothing to do with butter chicken

Blasphemies and misconceptions

Coconut milk ? Curry leaves ? Mustard seeds ? Wonderful elsewhere, but these ingredients tip the dish straight toward South India, far from butter chicken territory. Skipping the grill stage and poaching raw chicken in the sauce erases the smoky foundation.

Beware of jars labeled “Butter Chicken Masala” : their monolithic powders smother the nuances, just as cornstarch flattens the texture. Neon-orange sauces loaded with artificial coloring or aggressive chilies veer into chicken tikka masala territory, while lightened versions that trade butter for vegetable oil strip makhani of its soul.