We’re fiends for a good takeout butter chicken. After dozens of experiments, we present the ultimate recipe for Butter Chicken with Garlic Naan, based on our favourite restaurant's. It only takes an hour (although the chicken is best when marinated overnight). Don’t skip the naan—it's incredibly soft and buttery with TONS of garlic flavour.
Jump To...
Recipe Background
Butter Chicken is also known as Murgh Makhani in India, where it was created in the 1950’s. It’s actually more popular outside India than within the country itself, but safe to say it’s now an icon of Indian cuisine.
Butter chicken with a side of piping hot garlic naan is our favourite Indian takeout dish. It’s the ultimate indulgent weeknight dinner. But we order it less often these days because why buy when you can make it at home? You could probably make this in the time it takes to go to your local takeout restaurant and back.
This recipe has a looong ingredient list, but don’t be overwhelmed. All the different spices are what make it so good. (Never trust a butter chicken recipe with less than ten ingredients. 😉)
Make sure you have all the ingredients measured and prepped before you start cooking. Then it will be easy-breezy.
Ingredients + Substitutions
There’s three parts to this recipe:
Part 1: Yogurt Marinated Chicken
Note: For a shortcut, you can use pre-cooked Chicken Chunks to save time on marinating and cooking the chicken.
Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs: Chicken thighs are more tender and flavourful than chicken breast. But in a pinch, you can use chicken breast too. Just be careful not to overcook them.
Greek Yogurt: Yogurt is the traditional base of many Indian marinades. It’s scientifically proven to make meat more juicy and improve the texture. You can also sub Soy Cashew Yogurt.
Garam Masala: A traditional Indian spice blend that gives butter chicken its signature flavour. Every brand has its own unique mix of spices, but you can’t go wrong with any of them. We’ll be using more garam masala in the butter chicken sauce too.
Salt and Garlic Powder: Adds a boost of savouriness.
Part 2: Butter Chicken Sauce
Onion: Use a large white or yellow onion. This forms the base of the flavourful butter chicken sauce, along with garlic and ginger.
Baking Soda: Optional. A tiny pinch helps the onions to break down and caramelize, significantly reducing the cook time. You won’t be able to taste it at all in the final dish.
Garlic and Ginger: You can also buy premade ginger-garlic paste. But we like to use fresh garlic and ginger because it lets us control our own ginger-garlic ratio. We like to use a LOT more garlic than most recipes!
Canned Whole Tomatoes: Use fire-roasted tomatoes for the best flavour. Note: you CANNOT use fresh tomatoes here—they are too watery and don’t have a strong enough flavour.
Dried Fenugreek Leaves: You can find this at any Indian grocery store or on Amazon. Can sub with fenugreek seeds instead. If you don’t have either, don’t worry, just leave it out.
Cayenne Pepper: Optional, use this to control the heat level. You can also use whole dried chili peppers.
Cashews: Cashews are key to an authentic murgh makhani. They add creaminess as well as a hint of nutty flavour.
Butter or Ghee: Absolutely essential! This is BUTTER chicken, after all. Ghee is an Indian clarified butter that has an even more intense flavour than regular butter. But if you don’t have ghee, any butter is perfectly fine.
Heavy Cream: This is just as important as the butter for giving the sauce its famous full-bodied flavour. I don’t recommend using coconut milk or coconut cream—this just results in a thin, greasy sauce instead of a rich, thick gravy. (You can use any leftover heavy cream in this Creamy Garlic Tomato Sauce recipe.)
Part 3: Garlic Naan
Now for the Garlic Naan, you can use storebought naan or make it yourself. We usually buy premade naan for the convenience, but on special occasions homemade naan is a real luxury!
The garlic topping is a mixture of fresh minced garlic, cilantro, salted butter, and garlic powder. We’ve done many experiments on this garlic naan and the garlic powder is super important. And don’t skimp on butter, either. Use the full amount for best results.
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
- Black Salt: Use black salt (kala namak) instead of regular salt to give it a more authentic restaurant flavour.
- Garlic Rice: Feeling rice instead of bread? Try pairing this butter chicken with Roasted Garlic Rice.
- Sweetened: Some restaurants use sugar in their butter chicken sauce to boost the flavour. If you want to try this, stir in a tablespoon of honey along with the butter and cream at the end of cooking.
- Tomatoes: Generally butter chicken has a mild tomato flavour. But if you want to bring out the tomatoes more, add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
Directions
Step 1. Marinate the Chicken: Massage the yogurt and seasonings into the sliced chicken thighs. Set aside while you make the curry sauce.
Step 2. Make the Curry Sauce: Heat oil in a stockpot or Dutch oven. Add sliced onions and baking soda, fry until they’re soft and starting to fall apart.
Step 3. Add chopped ginger and garlic and continue to cook until the onions are very brown and caramelized.
Step 4. Pour in the canned whole tomatoes. Add fenugreek leaves, garam masala, salt, cayenne pepper, and cashews.
Step 5. Pour in the water. Give everything a good stir and make sure to scrape up any bits of onion that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Cover and heat until bubbling, then turn the heat down to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
Step 6. Meanwhile, remove the chicken from its marinade and pat dry. Heat oil in a skillet until hot, then add chicken pieces in a single layer. (You might have to cook in batches.) Sear and flip chicken until both sides are golden brown, then set aside.
Step 7. Use an immersion blender to purée the butter chicken sauce into a thick, luscious sauce. Or transfer to a stand blender and blend until smooth. Pour it back into the pot.
Step 8. Make the Garlic Naan: Mix together cilantro, garlic, garlic powder, salt, and softened butter in a small bowl. Spread mixture evenly over each naan.
Air Fryer: Air fry naan at 400 °F for 2 minutes. (Depending on air fryer size, you will probably have to cook each naan one-by-one.)
Oven: Put the naan on a baking sheet on the top rack of the oven. Broil on high (500 °F) for 4 to 5 minutes.
Step 9. Stir in butter and heavy cream and stir until the butter fully melts.
Step 10. Add cooked chicken to the sauce and serve with garlic naan.
Hint: If you have time to spare, marinate the chicken overnight. Makes the chicken more tender, juicy, and flavourful.
Storage Tips
Fridge: Refrigerate butter chicken covered with sauce for up to four days. Store leftover garlic naan separately—I like to wrap it in aluminum foil for either reheating—in the fridge for up to five days.
Freezer: Freeze butter chicken in its sauce for up to three months. Garlic naan is best frozen before baking. Just spread the garlic butter topping over the naan, wrap it tightly in aluminum foil, and freeze.
Reheat Butter Chicken: Microwave butter chicken until heated through. (I recommend using a microwave lid to minimize smells and splatter.) Or add to a small saucepan and reheat on medium, stirring frequently, until hot.
Reheat Garlic Naan: Wrap garlic naan with aluminum foil. Reheat in the air fryer at 150 °F for 3 minutes, or in the oven at 350 °F for 5 minutes.
Top Tips
Marinade the chicken in the yogurt-masala mixture overnight for best results. Bake the garlic naan and cook the chicken while the butter chicken sauce is simmering for 30 minutes. This way, everything will be ready to assemble as soon as the sauce is done.
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating or comment below to give me feedback and help out other readers.
Recipe Card
Butter Chicken with Garlic Naan
Ingredients
Yogurt-Marinated Chicken
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs sliced into 1 to 2 inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt you can also sub Soy Cashew Yogurt
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon oil
Butter Chicken Sauce
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 large yellow or white onion thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda *optional
- 2 inches fresh ginger root roughly chopped
- 1 head garlic roughly chopped
- 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 ½ tablespoon garam masala
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper *optional; see Note 1
- 1 ounce cashews about 3 tablespoons
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
Garlic Naan
- 4 pieces naan
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons butter softened
Instructions
Chicken
- Combine 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt, 1 teaspoon garam masala, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder in a mixing bowl or ziploc bag. Mix well to coat and set aside to marinate (see Note 1).
Sauce
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a stockpot or Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add 1 large yellow or white onion (sliced) and ¼ teaspoon baking soda. Fry until the onions are soft and falling apart, 5–10 minutes.
- Add 2 inches fresh ginger root and 1 head garlic and continue to sauté until the onions are very brown and caramelized.
- Pour in the 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves, 1 ½ tablespoon garam masala, ½ tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 ounce cashews, and 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes.
- Pour in ½ cup water. Give everything a good stir and make sure to scrape up any bits of onion that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Cover and heat until bubbling, then turn the heat down to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, remove the chicken from its marinade and pat dry. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet until hot, then add chicken pieces in a single layer. (You might have to cook in batches.) Sear and flip the chicken until both sides are golden brown, then set aside.
- When 30 minutes of simmering are up, use an immersion blender to purée the contents of the stockpot into a thick, luscious sauce. Or transfer to a stand blender and blend until smooth.
- Stir in 3 tablespoons butter and ½ cup heavy cream and stir until the butter fully melts. Add cooked chicken to the sauce and serve with garlic naan.
Naan
- Mix together 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, 3 cloves garlic, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, salt, and 3 tablespoons butter in a small bowl.
- Spread the mixture evenly over each of the 4 pieces naan.
- Air Fryer: Air fry naan at 400 °F for 2 minutes. (Depending on air fryer size, you will probably have to cook each naan one-by-one.)
- Oven: Put the naan on a baking sheet on the top rack. Broil on high (500 °F) for 4–5 minutes.
Notes
- Marinated Chicken: It's best to marinate the chicken overnight if you have time, but even 10 minutes will make a difference.
- Cayenne Pepper: As written, this recipe is a "medium" spice level that you'd get at an Indian restaurant. To make it mild, leave out the cayenne. For a spicier butter chicken, double it.
Nutrition
Food Safety
We sometimes take for a granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience, that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.
- Cook chicken pieces to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw chicken.
- Wash hands after touching raw chicken meat.
- Don't leave butter chicken sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
- Set a timer when using the broiler to avoid burning your naan or catching it on fire.
Rhea says
This tastes ad good as the butter chicken from restaurants. Much thanks!!
Kelly Zhang says
No problem Rhea!