Makhani Chicken (Indian Butter Chicken)

171 Ratings
  • 5 Rating Star 116
  • 4 Rating Star 34
  • 3 Rating Star 9
  • 1 Rating Star 6
  • 2 Rating Star 6
Read Reviews

This fragrant, spicy Indian butter chicken recipe is from the owner of the India Cuisine restaurant in Seattle, Washington. Serve with hot Indian bread.
prep:
1 hr
cook:
15 mins
total:
5 hrs 15 mins
stand:
4 hrs
Servings:
6
Max Servings:
6
Nutrition Info
Advertisement

Ingredients

Directions

  • To Marinate: Place chicken in a nonporous glass dish or bowl with lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chili powder and salt. Toss to coat; cover dish and refrigerate to marinate for 1 hour.

  • Drain yogurt in a cloth for 15 to 20 minutes. Place in a medium bowl; mix in salt, garlic paste, garam masala, butter, chili powder, ginger paste, lemon juice and oil. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, replace cover and refrigerate to marinate for another 3 to 4 hours.

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

  • Place chicken on skewers. Place skewers in a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until almost cooked through.

  • To Make Sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garam masala. When masala begins to crackle, mix in ginger paste, chopped garlic and green chile peppers. Saute until tender, then stir in tomato puree, chili powder, salt and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring in honey and fenugreek.

  • Place chicken in sauce mixture. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink inside. Stir in fresh cream.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving:
492.26 calories; 35.81 g protein; 18.98 g carbohydrates; 3.67 g dietary-fiber; 10.39 g sugars; 28.41 g fat; 14.49 g saturated-fat; 148.93 mg cholesterol; 2441.44 IU vitamin-a-iu; 23.05 mg niacin-equivalents; 1.06 mg vitamin-b6; 22.75 mg vitamin-c; 27.91 mcg folate; 158.82 mg calcium; 3.38 mg iron; 79.51 mg magnesium; 950.18 mg potassium; 666.45 mg sodium; 0.2 mg thiamin; 255.72 calories-from-fat; 15 percent-of-calories-from-carbs; 53 percent-of-calories-from-fat; 30 percent-of-calories-from-protein; 27 percent-of-calories-from-sat-fat

Reviews (139)

Read All Reviews

Most helpful positive review

Anonymous
01/10/2004
Excellent! If you love to spend hours in the kitchen this recipe is for you. Great taste but not so easy or quick to make. I've tried recipes that are just as good with easier and faster preparation so I won't be trying this one again. But it is excellent! To the person who "didn't get the taste of butter chicken at all " your name implies that you may be Indian so maybe you know more about this subject than I do but: welcome to the world of Butter Chicken. I often eat at Indian restaurants and usually order butter chicken (it is my most favourite dish in the world). I have had butter chicken that is mild spicy sweet bland yellow orange red almost greenish creamy not at all creamy tomatoey coconutty with and without nuts and raisins. Such is the variety of butter chicken recipes - it depends on which part of India the chef hails from. Perhaps this recipe did not tickle your fancy but it IS butter chicken. Marination in yoghurt is the key to tender chicken the longer you marinate the better. I always marinate the chicken the night before or in the morning.
Helpful
(134)

Most helpful critical review

Anonymous
01/19/2006
No one in my family liked this. My husband was afraid it would have too much cayenne for the kids so we added a fraction of what it called for. But it was so bland that I added a lot and it still didn't do anything for us at all. The tomato sauce with the yogurt has a strange flavor that none of us liked. Will not make again.
Helpful
(4)
171 Ratings
  • 5 Rating Star 116
  • 4 Rating Star 34
  • 3 Rating Star 9
  • 1 Rating Star 6
  • 2 Rating Star 6
Anonymous
01/10/2004
Excellent! If you love to spend hours in the kitchen this recipe is for you. Great taste but not so easy or quick to make. I've tried recipes that are just as good with easier and faster preparation so I won't be trying this one again. But it is excellent! To the person who "didn't get the taste of butter chicken at all " your name implies that you may be Indian so maybe you know more about this subject than I do but: welcome to the world of Butter Chicken. I often eat at Indian restaurants and usually order butter chicken (it is my most favourite dish in the world). I have had butter chicken that is mild spicy sweet bland yellow orange red almost greenish creamy not at all creamy tomatoey coconutty with and without nuts and raisins. Such is the variety of butter chicken recipes - it depends on which part of India the chef hails from. Perhaps this recipe did not tickle your fancy but it IS butter chicken. Marination in yoghurt is the key to tender chicken the longer you marinate the better. I always marinate the chicken the night before or in the morning.
Helpful
(134)
Anonymous
04/20/2005
I'm a huge fan of Indian food and go to restaurants around the Bay area all the time. I've always wanted to be able to make my favorite dishes at home but a lot of the recipes on the internet tasted NOTHING like the chicken Makhani in the restaurants. This recipe was DELICIOUS!! It was actually better than what I've had in restaurants! One note: If you are used to really mild makhani I'd skip the green chili pepper. Used serrano pepper and it wasn't too spicy but there was definitely a bite. I'll be keeping this recipe!
Helpful
(95)
Anonymous
11/26/2005
It just didn't taste like butter chicken at all. However the next day after refrigerating the flavors came together and tasted MUCH better. Still NOT butter chicken. Also I like spicy food and this was way too spicy! So what I would suggest for this recipe is make it a day before and cut down on the chili powder by at least 1/2. If it's not spicy enough for you you can always add but can never subtract.
Helpful
(61)
Anonymous
12/21/2007
I'm a serious Indian cook; my family eats curries all the time. This recipe is awesome and was immediately one of our family favorites! I make extra batches of the sauce and then freeze making the chicken portion of the recipe as I cook the recipe...cuts down on prep time on school nights! Well worth the trouble.
Helpful
(39)
Anonymous
02/02/2011
Very nice. Good flavor. I used tomato sauce in lieu of "pureed tomatoes" and would have liked the sauce to be a bit thicker. My husband is Indian and found the flavor to be very nice.
Helpful
(20)
Anonymous
04/14/2008
This recipe makes an amazing butter chicken. It tastes just like the butter chicken you'll get at a fancy Indian restaurant! The first time I made it my boyfriend and I ate so much of it that we had to lie down and we couldn't get up for nearly two hours! Delicious and super easy too.
Helpful
(20)
Anonymous
01/07/2008
Mmmmmm!!! Used 2.5 lbs split breasts. Since I was using bone-in pieces I doubled all other ingredients EXCEPT tomato puree. Added a dash of curry powder to both marinade & sauce. Used 1 cup of tomato sauce instead of 2 cups tomato puree. Added one can of diced tomatoes in place of the 2nd cup of tomato puree. Forgot to add the cream but didn't notice. Also I now have a lot of extra sauce to use for another meal...darn!
Helpful
(17)
Anonymous
08/01/2007
I could not find Fenugreek leaves at all but the recipe turned out absolutely amazing without it. This is now one of my all time favorite dishes.
Helpful
(15)
Anonymous
08/29/2003
Not bad but too much tomato puree which made the taste a bit sour. I also didn't find it spicy enough so I added more garam masala to make it more spicy.
Helpful
(13)
More Reviews