Butter Chicken

Name: Butter Chicken
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: indian
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 1/2 tablespoons ground turmeric; 2 tablespoons ground cumin; 1 tablespoon garam masala; 3 pounds chicken thighs, on the bone; 1/4 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; 2/3 cup chicken stock, low-sodium or homemade; 1 1/2 cups cream; 1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste; 3 tablespoons ground almonds, or finely chopped almonds, optional; 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, stems removed.

Recipe from Amandeep Sharma

Adapted by Sam Sifton

Updated March 11, 2025

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Rating: 5(11,481)
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

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

1½cups full-fat Greek yogurt
2tablespoons lemon juice
1½tablespoons ground turmeric
2tablespoons ground cumin
1tablespoon garam masala
3pounds chicken thighs, on the bone
¼pound unsalted butter
4teaspoons neutral oil, like vegetable or canola oil
2medium-size yellow onions, peeled and diced
4cloves garlic, peeled and minced
3tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely diced
1tablespoon cumin seeds
1cinnamon stick
2medium-size tomatoes, diced
2red chiles, like Anaheim, or 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
Kosher salt to taste
⅔cup chicken stock, low-sodium or homemade
1½cups cream
1½teaspoons tomato paste
3tablespoons ground almonds, or finely chopped almonds, optional
½bunch cilantro leaves, stems removed.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

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).
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.
Step 3
Add the cinnamon stick, tomatoes, chiles and salt, and cook until the chiles are soft, about 10 minutes.
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.
Step 5
Stir in the cream and tomato paste, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 6
Add the almonds, if using, cook for an additional 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Garnish with the cilantro leaves.

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Ratings

5 out of 5

11,481 user ratings

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Comments

Bavarchi9 years ago

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 Guy8 years ago

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.

Jamie9 years ago

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

MJ10 days ago

Made this as directed, except used boneless, skinless thighs and omitted the pepper (kids can’t take the heat). Turned out beautifully and made a decent amount to feed two and a half small families with some for leftovers. Used all the spices as directed, ours came out much more yellow than the photos here. For all the spices, I will say it needed a bit of salt at the end, but was otherwise bursting with flavor. As good as this was the night we served it was even better the next day with some rewarmed naan. Overall, i felt this had a high pay out for otherwise low effort. Excited to make again :)

J.Shea13 days ago

I made this Dairy Free, with Cashew cream. Poured boiling water over 1.5 cups of cashews, let sit for 20 minutes, drained water and added the cashews and another 1.5 cups of hot water to the blender and creamed. DELICIOUS! Will make regularly. I forgot I tossed my last tube after the blizzard power outage, so I subbed tomato paste with marinara sauce. No hot pepper, out of concern for our 11 year old not liking it, but would add some next time, though hot sauce was a nice post-cook addition.

Tricia14 days ago

I read the comments ahead of time and reduced the amount of liquid added while cooking. It still ended up like soup. This didn’t feel like butter chicken.

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