Recipe archive
Recipe archive
The Melting Pot
Butter Chicken hero image coming soon
1970s-present - Punjabi restaurant cooks and Indian American restaurateurs bringing butter chicken to U.S. diners
Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, is associated with Moti Mahal and Punjabi cooks who turned tandoori chicken into a rich tomato-butter gravy. In the United States, Indian restaurants, immigrant cooks, supermarket sauces, and suburban takeout made it one of the best-known Indian dishes for American diners.
Difficulty
Moderate
Prep time
25 minutes plus marinating
Cook time
35 minutes
Total time
1 hour plus marinating
Servings
4 to 6 servings
Region
Indian American restaurants and suburban kitchens
Era introduced
1970s-present
Introduced by
Punjabi restaurant cooks and Indian American restaurateurs bringing butter chicken to U.S. diners
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Butter chicken is not American in origin, but it is deeply present in American eating through Indian restaurants and home kitchens. Its origin story is contested in detail, but it is strongly tied to Moti Mahal, Punjabi cooks, tandoori chicken, and a tomato-butter gravy. This archive version presents it as a global suburban favorite: simplified for a home kitchen while acknowledging its South Asian roots.
Drafted with butter chicken origin context from Cooks Without Borders (https://cookswithoutborders.com/new-story/moti-mahal-butter-chicken-recipe-origin-story), broader background from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_chicken), and origin-dispute context from The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/25/indias-courts-to-rule-on-who-invented-butter-chicken).
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