Butter Chicken

Recipe from Amandeep Sharma

Adapted by Sam Sifton

Updated March 11, 2025

  • Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
5(11,635)
Comments
Read comments

Butter chicken is a great, ever-evolving, cross-continental dish found in Delhi, London, New York, Perth and most points in between. In its purest form, it is yogurt-and-spice-marinated chicken dressed in a velvety red bath comprising butter, onions, ginger and tomatoes scented with garam masala, cumin and turmeric, with a cinnamon tang. This version was adapted from Amandeep Sharma, a young kitchen hand at the restaurant Attica, in Melbourne, Australia, who used to make it for staff meal. It is wildly luxurious. Serve with basmati rice and mango chutney, with papadums or naan if you can find them, with extra rice if you cannot. —Sam Sifton

Featured in: Indian Butter Chicken, by Way of Australia

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

  • 1 ½ cups full-fat Greek yogurt

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

  • 1 ½ tablespoons ground turmeric

  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin

  • 1 tablespoon garam masala

  • 3 pounds chicken thighs, on the bone

  • ¼ pound unsalted butter

  • 4 teaspoons neutral oil, like vegetable or canola oil

  • 2 medium-size yellow onions, peeled and diced

  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

  • 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely diced

  • 1 tablespoon cumin seeds

  • 1 cinnamon stick

  • 2 medium-size tomatoes, diced

  • 2 red chiles, like Anaheim, or 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced

  • Kosher salt to taste

  • ⅔ cup chicken stock, low-sodium or homemade

  • 1 ½ cups cream

  • 1 ½ teaspoons tomato paste

  • 3 tablespoons ground almonds, or finely chopped almonds, optional

  • ½ bunch cilantro leaves, stems removed.

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

18 grams carbs; 341 milligrams cholesterol; 1018 calories; 30 grams monosaturated fat; 11 grams polyunsaturated fat; 36 grams saturated fat; 85 grams fat; 1 gram trans fat; 3 grams fiber; 1198 milligrams sodium; 48 grams protein; 8 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, turmeric, cumin and garam masala in a large bowl. Put the chicken in, and coat with the marinade. Cover, and refrigerate (for up to a day).

  2. Step 2

    In a large pan over medium heat, melt the butter in the oil until it starts to foam. Add the onions, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and cumin seeds, and cook until the onions start to brown.

  3. Step 3

    Add the cinnamon stick, tomatoes, chiles and salt, and cook until the chiles are soft, about 10 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Add the chicken and marinade to the pan, and cook for 5 minutes, then add the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for approximately 30 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Stir in the cream and tomato paste, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Add the almonds, if using, cook for an additional 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Garnish with the cilantro leaves.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
11,635 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Bavarchi

I'm an experienced Indian cook, and this is the best butter chicken I have ever had. Some modifications necessary: never leave skin on for curry recipes; and increase cooking time in first part of step 4 to get a nice "bhuna" brown. Takes moving around and scraping the bottom, as the yoghurt will stick. If adding breast meat as well (cut each half bone-in and skinless breast into 2-3 pieces), increase the cooking in stock to about an hour, which will require extra stock or water.

Sherrin Guy

Hi I am an Indian cook, who teaches authentic Indian and northern Pakistani cooking, the amount of garam masala sounds completely inaccurate. Garam masal is a very pungent, strong combination of spices , even 1 TBS would be over doing it. This explains why some of the readers found it bitter abd felt the need to add sugar. The proportions of spices and balance can completely alter the taste.

Jamie

I have used this recipe a number of times and really enjoy it! I don't use any butter at all and just enough oil to cook the onions, substitute light cream for full cream and I also add 2 cinnamon sticks right when I start cooking the onions for more sweetness. I feel this cuts out a lot of fat and calories but turns out awesome!! Be sure to marinate at least overnight and don't be tempted to add any more tomato or tomato paste than the recipe calls for or you will ruin the dish

Traci

I’m a bit surprised by the high ratings. The sauce is good, but the texture of the chicken is a bit rubbery. I much prefer a tikka masala in which the chicken is (ideally) grilled or broiled and added at the end.

kzhop

This was outstanding. As others suggested, I removed the chicken skin on the bone-in thighs prior to marinating. I used a jalapeno pepper seeded and diced. I blanched 2 ripe tomatoes and then removed their skin prior to dicing. I held the optional ground almonds. Served with basmati rice and naan bread. This may be the best recipe I have ever tried from the NYT Cooking site.

Gregg Favalora

Could an Editor please confirm whether the quantity of garam masala and cumin are correct (see comments) and also, if the bone-in thighs need to be skinless, it would be amazing if that was noted in the ingredients list. Bone-in thighs are usually sold with skin, so this might depart from the default.

kzhop

I used skinless, bone in thighs. I marinated overnight. I used the full amounts of cumin (both the ground in the yogurt marinade, and the seeds in the sauce) and nearly the full measurement of the garam masala. Delicious.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Credits

Adapted from Amandeep Sharma, Attica, Melbourne, Australia.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.