A good bowl of butter chicken is Chef Akshay Bhardwaj's comfort meal.
Jenna Frieberg/Jazba
Akshay Bhardwaj, the executive chef at Junoon, shared tips for making the perfect butter chicken.
He said selecting the right cut of chicken and marinating the meat is vital.
Adding cashews provides extra creaminess.
Chef Akshay Bhardwaj leads the kitchen at Junoon, one of New York City's best-known Indian restaurants, but when it comes to comfort meals, he often reaches for a bowl of butter chicken.
The dish — a rich curry made from yogurt, cashews, tomatoes, a mix of spices, and grilled chicken — was known in India as murgh makhani. But it first found its footing as "butter chicken" in the US at Manhattan's now-closed Gaylord Indian Restaurant in 1975.
Easily the best-known Indian dish, even among non-Indian-Americans, it can be found on almost every Indian restaurant's menu in the US.
Even national grocery chains such as Costco and Trader Joe's have capitalized on its popularity by stocking frozen versions of the curry. In 2023, Trader Joe's frozen butter chicken with basmati rice bagged the top spot in the lunch-and-dinner category of the brand's Customer Choice Awards.
While growing up in Queens, New York, Bhardwaj learned there are many variations of butter chicken. In North India, the creamy curry has a slightly tangy but still spicy taste, while some places in the West and Northwest added extra jaggery or sugar to make a sweeter version.
For his recipe, Bhardwaj preferred a balanced flavor profile: neither too sweet nor too spicy.
Bhardwaj has been the executive chef at Junoon since 2016. The Manhattan restaurant won Michelin stars for eight consecutive years, three of which were under his leadership.
When he is not working on creating innovative Indian dishes for Junoon or bringing Indian street-food flavors to diners at his second venture, Jazba, he's learning, writing, and perfecting his mother's and grandmother's recipes.
Business Insider spoke to Bhardwaj via video call to ask for his advice on recreating a restaurant-style butter chicken at home.
Opt for chicken on the bone for maximum flavor.The first step to perfecting your at-home butter chicken recipe is to select the right cut. Bhardwaj recommends bone-in chicken or thighs if you prefer boneless.
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For Bhardwaj, the first step to making the perfect butter chicken at home is choosing the right cut of meat, which, in this case, is a full chicken on the bone.
"Chicken on the bone will always give off more flavor across the board," said Bhardwaj. "So if you can, go with that."
You could ask your local butcher to cut a whole chicken into medium-sized pieces appropriate for curry or opt for bone-in thighs and wings.
But if it's unavailable or you prefer a boneless cut, "the next best thing would be to use chicken thigh instead," Bhardwaj said.
Marinating the meat overnight will tenderize it and allow it to soak in the spices properly. Bhardwaj told BI he always marinates his chicken overnight.
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"This is the most important step, so make sure you're doing a proper marination," said Bhardwaj.
To make the marinade, combine yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, a teaspoon of garam masala, a little chili powder, and lemon juice. Next, rub and coat each chicken piece with the marinade.
"Then store it in an airtight container, refrigerate, and let the marinade work its magic overnight," he continued.
Mix tomato paste, puree, and whole roasted tomatoes to make a flavorful curry base.Using three variations of tomatoes adds depth and enhances the sauce's flavor.
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Most restaurants or home recipes in India use charred tomatoes and roasted cashews as the base for butter chicken.
"One major difference I've noticed between making this dish in India and here is that the tomato quality in the US tends to vary," Bhardwaj told BI.
To achieve a consistent flavor each time, he prefers to blend tomato puree and paste with regular roasted tomatoes and cashews.
He said the tomato paste helps lock in the flavors. With just tomatoes, the spices could overpower the sauce, undermining the kick of the tomato itself, he said.
Many people skip the cashews to make a less-calorie-dense curry. But for extra creaminess, add that cashew paste.Two to three tablespoons of cashew paste will add thickness to your sauce and make it creamier.
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Cashews help enrich and thicken the tomato base.
To make the paste, Bhardwaj says, "Soak the cashews for a couple of hours or overnight and then lightly roast them for a few seconds."
"Make sure you don't roast them for too long; just 2-3 seconds would be enough," he cautions, adding, "Once that's done, I blend them and add the paste to our tomato base."
Cook the curry slowly.Bhardwaj suggests using freshly ground spices as they enhance the flavors and aroma of the dish.
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Once you've made the sauce base, it's time to start cooking.
"Add a tablespoon of oil and 3 to 4 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Let it cook for 30 seconds, and then slowly add the tomato-cashew paste. Let this cook for three to four minutes on medium-high heat," Bhardwaj said.
"Start with 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric, 1/2 a teaspoon of chili powder, a pinch of garam masala, some crushed cardamom powder, and a pinch of salt for taste. Then mix it all and allow the sauce to thicken some more," he said.
Bhardwaj shared that the team at his restaurant dry-roasts and grounds its spices in-house. "It's a small step, and yet it makes all the difference in the flavor and freshness of the dish," he said.
For a smoky flavor, half-cook the chicken on a tandoor or in an oven at home for about 10 minutes.Pre-cooking the chicken in a grill oven will add a nice charred texture.
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While your sauce is cooking, you can start prepping your chicken.
For this, Bhardwaj said, begin by preheating your oven — you could also use your air fryer if you prefer — and then half-cook your chicken for about 10 minutes at 400 Fahrenheit.
"You want to get a nice char on the chicken in the oven when you're baking at home before mixing it with our sauce. At the restaurant, of course, we add it to the tandoor, which gives it a nice, smoky and earthy flavor," Bhardwaj shared.
"Be mindful of overcooking, though," he said. "We're only trying to enhance flavor and texture. The chicken will still get cooked in the sauce later on."
Add your chicken to the curry in the last 20 minutes of cooking.Bhardwaj recommends adding the oven-grilled chicken to your sauce in the last 20 minutes of cooking.
Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
"Once you notice a light char and the skin texture change, remove it from the oven and mix it with the sauce after a few seconds," said Bhardwaj.
For the last steps, let the chicken cook in the sauce for about 20 minutes, avoiding the temptation to peek and check if it's cooked.
At the end, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar to balance the acidic tomatoes. Sugar helps balance the acidity of tomatoes and the heat from the spices.
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You can adjust the amount of sugar you add based on whether you prefer a sweeter or a slightly spicy flavor profile.
"I prefer a balanced dish as opposed to anything extreme," Bhardwaj said, adding, "Butter chicken is all about the creamy, tomato-rich base, and it's important to allow those ingredients to shine."
Don't forget to garnish your dish with dry roasted fenugreek, a swirl of cream, and cilantro.When plating, Bhardwaj recommends topping the dish with cilantro, cream, and fenugreek powder.
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When it comes to traditional dishes, which for Bhardwaj include home-cooked meals like butter chicken, about 99% of his recipes were passed down from his family.
"My mum would cook different sabzis (vegetables), daals (lentils), and curries at home about six times a week," he said. "So, those are the dishes I grew up eating daily."
On special occasions, though, he said, his dad would take over the kitchen: "He did more of the meat cooking, like the kormas and butter chicken."
From his dad, Bhardwaj learned the most important final step in making butter chicken: the garnish.
"Before you serve the dish, top it off with some finely chopped cilantro, 2 to 3 teaspoons of dry roasted fenugreek powder, and a little bit of cream," said Bhardwaj. At the restaurant, they also add sliced chili on top.
"Serve with steaming basmati rice, or my favorite way is to enjoy it with a fresh off-the-tandoor garlic naan."
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