Easy Recipe for Chicken Makhani

Easy Recipe for Chicken Makhani that you can make at home. Chicken Makhani is one of the most popular and easy Indian Chicken Curry Recipes. With the step-by-step instructions, you cannot go wrong with this recipe.

Chicken Makhani or Butter Chicken as it is popularly known is the most ordered Chicken Curry in any Indian restaurant. A restaurant, most of the time, is judged and rated by the customer on the quality of the butter chicken served by them.

When you are in Delhi, you must definitely visit Pandara Road for lip-smacking Butter Chicken. There are many restaurants on Pandara Road that serve delicious Butter Chicken and you will be guided to the best restaurant.

But due to the ongoing pandemic, it has become impossible for us to order our favourite dish from a restaurant. Notwithstanding this, the pandemic has discovered the inner chefs within us. Hence, for all the Chicken Makhani or Butter Chicken lovers, here is a simple recipe that you can try at home.

Ingredients required for this Easy Recipe for Chicken Makhani

You can make Chicken Makhani with only a few ingredients available at home. This recipe for Chicken Makhani does not use any elaborate spices or ingredients. With only a few ingredients you can make the most delicious Chicken Makhani at home.

Chicken – I use chicken on the bone for this recipe but you may use boneless if you like to. You will have to first marinate the chicken pieces and then pan-fry them before adding to the Makhani gravy. You could also air fry the chicken if you are using an air fryer.

Yoghurt/Curd – To marinate the chicken you will need a cup of yoghurt or curds. Yoghurt also helps in tenderizing the chicken and you will have succulent chicken pieces in your gravy.

A tip here – if you don’t have yoghurt at hand, just warm up some milk in the microwave and add a few drops of lemon juice to it. Let the milk stand for 45 to 50 minutes in a warm place and your yoghurt is ready. You could use this yoghurt for marination. Place this yoghurt in the refrigerator to set if you wish to use it later.

Herbs & Spices – For the marination, you will also need ginger/garlic paste, a tablespoon is just enough. I have not used any spices for marination, actually, the entire recipe has very few spices. But yet the gravy turns out to be flavoursome.

I have used a few whole spices while blending the tomatoes and also while making the gravy. Whole spices such as mace, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom, and cinnamon render awesome flavour to the makhani gravy. I used garam masala powder towards the end.

I like to use homemade garam masala powder but even a store-bought garam masala powder will be fine.

Red Chilly Powder – Use a chilly powder that will give your Makhani gravy a vibrant red colour. You could use either Deghi mirchi powder or Kashmiri mirchi powder or a combination of both. The Makhani gravy is not spicy hence I prefer to use Kashmiri chilly powder. Kashmiri chilly powder not only gives a rich red colour to the gravy but is also low on the spice level.

Tomatoes – I blanched about five tomatoes and peeled off the skin. Later I blended them to a fine puree along with a few whole spices like mace, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. This tomato puree also makes the base of the makhani gravy.

I do not use any onions in this recipe of Chicken Makhani. Generally, onion in a Makhani gravy is used to increase the volume of the gravy. Hence, most of the restaurants use onions and tomatoes to make the gravy. Use onions if you want to make more gravy but an authentic Makhani gravy only has tomatoes as the base.

Fresh Cream & Butter – The makhani gravy is a slightly rich gravy. Fresh cream and butter not only gives the gravy a creamy and smooth texture but also enhances its taste. Use it in lesser quantity if you are health conscious. But do not give this a skip as fresh cream and butter is the essence of rich makhani gravy.

Honey – The Chicken Makhani gravy is generally slightly sweeter in taste. We add honey to balance the taste but you could give this a skip if you wish to. Also, if you do not have honey readily available, use a teaspoon of sugar instead.

How to make Chicken Makhani ?

Let us learn how to make this Recipe of Chicken Makhani at home in a few simple and easy steps.

• Step I – Marinate the Chicken. Cut gashes on the chicken pieces and then marinate with –
  • Kashmiri red chilly powder
  • Turmeric
  • Ginger-garlic paste
  • Yogurt
  • Salt to taste

• Step II – Grill the Chicken. You can either grill the chicken in a grill pan or air fry them in an air fryer. Grill the chicken pieces until it is almost done and later add them to the makhani gravy.

• Step III – Making the Makhani Gravy. To make the makhani gravy simply heat butter and oil in a pan.
  • Then add in the whole spices and the ginger-garlic paste and saute.
  • Into this butter also add the Kashmiri chilly powder and saute for a minute. Adding chilly powder directly into oil or butter brings out the colour of the chilly powder and also gives the Makhani gravy a lovely red hue. There is absolutely no need for any food colouring to enhance the colour of the gravy.

• Next, pour in the pureed tomatoes, and subsequently add the coriander powder, and a cup of water.

• Cover the pan and let the puree cook on a medium flame for at least 7 to 8 minutes. After cooking for about 7 to 8 minutes, you will then find that the tomato puree has thickened and turned red.

Cooking the tomatoes this way will actually enhance its nutritional value by increasing the lycopene content. Lycopene is a phytochemical which is present in tomatoes that gives it its red colour

• Now, after the gravy is cooked add the grilled chicken pieces. Cover once again and let the chicken cook into the gravy.

• Later, add the blended fresh cream and cashew nuts. Then finish off by adding Kasuri methi, honey, and garam masala powder.

• Simmer for 2 minutes and then switch off the flame. Don’t forget to check on the salt, you may need to add a little to adjust the taste.

Easy Recipe for Chicken Makhani is ready to be served. Serve with Naan or Rotis.

You can also watch the Recipe Video here :

If you like this recipe please share it on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. Also, give a star rating to the recipe. This will also enable it to reach a wider audience.

When you visit my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-ATuuWs_xQ8NZuhX-JvSnQ please do not forget to subscribe to it.

Your comments and feedback are valuable and hence will be highly appreciated. You can also contact me on e-mail: flavoursofmykitchen2019@gmail.com

Other Chicken Recipes for you to try :

Chicken Shahi Korma

Chicken Green Masala Curry