Butter Chicken

Butter chicken (murgh makhani, "chicken with butter") is a North Indian curry of chicken cooked in a rich, creamy tomato-and-butter gravy. The sauce is built from tomato purée, butter (or ghee), cream, and cashew paste, seasoned with ginger, garlic, garam masala, fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi), and a touch of honey or sugar for sweetness. The result is a mild, velvety, deeply savory dish, typically orange-red in color.

The dish was invented in the 1950s at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi, run by Kundan Lal Gujral and his family, who reportedly created it as a way to use up leftover tandoori chicken by simmering it in a rich tomato-cream sauce. It became a worldwide phenomenon partly through the spread of Punjabi cuisine, and is often cited (along with chicken tikka masala) as one of the most internationally recognized Indian dishes. Today it is a staple of Indian restaurants globally and a beloved comfort food across South Asia.

The dish's signature richness comes from a combination of butter and cream added near the end of cooking, which gives the sauce a velvety mouthfeel without the sharpness of tomato or the heaviness of straight cream. A pinch of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) added at the end provides an earthy, slightly bitter aroma that balances the sweetness. Butter chicken is typically eaten with naan, roti, or jeera rice, and is often ordered alongside dal makhani at Indian restaurants to provide a creamy, tomato-rich contrast. It is sometimes called the "national dish of India" in informal polls, reflecting its popularity both domestically and abroad.

[Source: Wikipedia — Butter chicken, accessed 2026-10-17, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_chicken]