Meat · Recipe · Delhi · Reference page

Butter chicken

Name: Butter chicken
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 80 min
Total time: 290 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 500 g chicken thigh fillets, in large pieces, slashed across; 1 tbsp Greek-style natural yoghurt; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp chilli powder; 0.5 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp sugar; 1 piece small onion, roughly chopped; 2 tsp finely chopped ginger; 2 tsp finely chopped garlic; 1 piece long green chilli, roughly chopped; 2 tbsp water; 50 g unsalted butter; 2 tsp ground coriander; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1 piece cinnamon stick; 4 piece cloves; 7 piece cardamom pods, crushed; 1 pinch ground nutmeg; 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 piece bay leaves; 1 tsp chilli powder (optional); 400 ml tomato passata; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 70 g Greek-style natural yoghurt (¼ cup); 2 tbsp honey; 125 ml thin (single) cream; 0.5 tsp salt

murgh makhani

Chicken thighs marinated in yoghurt, lemon and spices, roasted until charred at the edges, then simmered for an hour in a buttery tomato sauce with whole spices, honey and cream. The recipe is Poh Ling Yeow's, from SBS. Who invented the dish in Delhi is the subject of a court case.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 1 h 20
Resting: 3 h
Total: 4 h 50
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Glass, ceramic or stainless-steel bowl and a zip-lock bag for the marinade
Foil-lined baking tray
Blender
Non-stick saucepan

To drink & serve with

The source serves it with turmeric rice and a cucumber raita.

Substitutions

Thin cream → Thick (double) cream used more sparingly.
A thicker sauce → Poh Ling Yeow suggests stirring in a spoonful of ground almonds (this adds tree nuts).

Common mistakes

Marinating too briefly: give it at least 3 hours.
Burning the ground spices in the butter: toast them only until fragrant.
Boiling hard after the cream and yoghurt go in: keep it at a low simmer.

Storage & reheating

Good the next day. Refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days; reheat once, until steaming hot.

Safety

Contains milk (butter, yoghurt, cream); ground almonds, if used, add tree nuts. Chicken must be cooked right through; marinate in the refrigerator.

Allergens

Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

A dish claimed in court

Butter chicken is tandoor-cooked chicken mixed into a tomato gravy with cream and butter. Who first made it is disputed. In 2024 Reuters reported a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court brought by the family behind the Moti Mahal restaurants, which says its founder Kundan Lal Gujral created the dish in the 1930s, when the restaurant was in Peshawar, before it moved to Delhi. The rival chain Daryaganj, founded in 2019, argues that its own forebear, Kundan Lal Jaggi, opened the Delhi restaurant with Gujral in 1947 and that the dish was invented there, and has shown a partnership document registered in 1949. An intellectual-property lawyer told Reuters that nobody really knows who made the first butter chicken.

[1]

The oven for the tandoor

Poh Ling Yeow's home version keeps the two stages. The chicken is marinated in yoghurt, lemon and spices for at least three hours and roasted at 200 °C until charred at the edges. The sauce is built in butter: ground spices toasted first, then an onion, ginger, garlic and chilli paste, then cardamom, fenugreek and bay, and finally tomato, yoghurt, honey and cream, in which the chicken simmers for an hour. She asks cooks not to be put off by the long list of ingredients, because the process is simple.

[2]

How it connects

Place

origin Delhi In preparation

Recipe

related Aloo gobi