- 1Marinate the chickenCombine yoghurt, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric, cumin and salt in a large bowl. Add the chicken thigh chunks and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (ideally overnight). This tenderises the chicken and layers the spice.
- 2Char the chickenHeat a heavy pan or grill pan over high heat until smoking. Add half the ghee/butter. Cook the marinated chicken in two batches — 4-5 minutes per batch — until deeply charred on the edges but still slightly undercooked in the centre. Set aside. Don't crowd the pan or the chicken will steam instead of char.
- 3Build the masala baseReduce heat to medium. Add the remaining ghee/butter and the onions. Sauté for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden brown and deeply caramelised. This is the flavour foundation — don't rush it. Add the garlic and ginger, cook 2 minutes more.
- 4Add tomatoes and simmerAdd the blended tomatoes, tomato paste and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and darkened. If the sauce spits, partially cover with a lid.
- 5Blend the masalaFor a silky, restaurant-style butter chicken, blend the tomato sauce with an immersion blender until completely smooth. For a rustic version, skip this step. Return the sauce to the pan.
- 6Enrich with cream and butterReduce heat to low. Stir in the thickened cream and cold cubed butter one piece at a time, whisking gently until each cube emulsifies. This 'mounting' with butter is what gives butter chicken its glossy, luxurious finish.
- 7Return the chickenAdd the charred chicken and any accumulated juices back to the sauce. Simmer gently for 5-7 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and has absorbed the sauce. Don't boil hard — the cream will split.
- 8Finish with fenugreekCrush the dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) between your palms to release their aroma, and stir into the sauce. This is the ingredient that separates real butter chicken from a supermarket jar — don't skip it.
- 9Rest and serveTurn off the heat and let the pan sit for 5 minutes — the flavours integrate as it cools slightly. Scatter with fresh coriander and serve with steamed basmati rice, warm naan, and a bowl of raita on the side.
Perth has a strong Indian food scene — the Northbridge strip, Belmont Forum, the growing Willetton and Canning Vale communities — and butter chicken is the gateway curry for every family that's ever wondered whether they could cook Indian at home. The answer is yes, and this recipe is the proper way.
This is a proper halal butter chicken — we use halal-certified free-range chicken thighs (Australia's default chicken cut when you want texture and flavour rather than lean meat), no pork stock, no non-halal shortcuts. Every family in Perth can cook this — Muslim, Hindu, Christian, secular. The recipe is one of the most inclusive in the world.
Why butter chicken tastes better with thighs, not breasts
Every supermarket "butter chicken" recipe uses chicken breast. That's wrong. Real butter chicken (the Delhi original) is made with dark-meat cuts — thighs, drumsticks, legs — because:
- Thighs stay juicy at simmering temperatures. Breasts overcook and go stringy in a simmering sauce.
- The fat renders into the sauce, adding richness that breast alone can't provide.
- The flavour is deeper. Thighs have twice the myoglobin of breasts.
Our free-range boneless chicken thighs come from certified Australian free-range farms — birds with real outdoor access, matured properly, portioned by hand at our Malaga counter. Halal certified across the whole chicken range.
The three secrets to a proper butter chicken
Most homemade butter chicken tastes flat. Three fixes will elevate yours to restaurant standard:
- Overnight yoghurt marinade. The lactic acid in the yoghurt tenderises the meat and lets the spice penetrate. Two hours is a minimum; overnight is ideal.
- Char the chicken hard before it hits the sauce. You want visible black edges. This isn't burning — it's a controlled Maillard reaction that adds layers of flavour the sauce alone can't match.
- Kasuri methi at the end. Dried fenugreek leaves are the single ingredient that most home cooks miss. Available at every Indian grocer in Perth (Spice N Season on Beaufort Street, Indo-Aussie on Grand Boulevard, Sarwan's in Canning Vale). Crush a teaspoon between your palms and stir in at the end. This is the flavour restaurant butter chicken has.
Kit you'll need
- A heavy pan — cast iron, or a thick-bottomed non-stick. Thin pans burn the tomato-onion base.
- An immersion (stick) blender — for smoothing the sauce. Optional but recommended.
- A digital thermometer — nice-to-have for verifying the chicken hits 74°C.
The right chilli level
Butter chicken is meant to be gently warming, not blazing. If you want heat, add it separately at the table with fresh green chilli or a Kashmiri chilli powder rub. The base recipe uses Kashmiri chilli powder — bright red, mildly spicy, contributes colour more than heat. Regular hot chilli powder works but halve the quantity.
What to serve with
- Basmati rice — long grain, rinsed to remove starch, cooked with a bay leaf and 2 cardamom pods for aroma
- Warm naan bread — freshly cooked in a hot dry pan or under a hot grill for 60 seconds each side
- Raita — thick Greek yoghurt whisked with grated cucumber, mint, cumin and salt
- A simple green salad — lettuce, red onion, lemon vinaigrette. Cuts the richness.
Wine and beer
- Kingfisher or Cobra if you want authentic Indian beer — Coles Willetton stocks both
- A cold WA pale ale — Feral Sly Fox works
- An off-dry Riesling — a Great Southern Riesling with a touch of residual sugar is unreasonably good with butter chicken. Skip dry wines against this dish.
Batch-cooking notes
This recipe doubles easily. If you're cooking for eight instead of four:
- Double all ingredients
- Marinate in two batches (yoghurt marinade doesn't scale well in a single mass)
- Char the chicken in three batches, not two, or you'll steam it
- The sauce holds fine at scale
Butter chicken freezes brilliantly. Portion into individual containers, freeze flat for space efficiency, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheat gently on the stovetop. Add a splash of cream when reheating to bring the sauce back.
Where to source the chicken
We deliver halal-certified free-range boneless chicken thighs across Perth every Friday. Order by Wednesday 7pm. Available:
- À la carte on the chicken page
- On the Family Feast Box as a rotating protein
- Custom quantities in any build-your-own box
Butter chicken is one of the most rewarding dishes any Perth home cook can master — a proper 90-minute Saturday project that produces enough for the family plus leftovers for Monday. Do it once, do it properly, and you'll never order takeaway butter chicken again.
