Air fryer Butter chicken or Chicken makhani is a rich, creamy and delicious side dish prepared by adding grilled/ air fried chicken in sweet and spicy tomato sauce. Chicken makhani/ Murgh makhani is the most sought after side dish by many of them. For veg option we have this scrumptious butter paneer.

This Air fryer butter chicken dish takes little while to prepare. But once prepared it is surely to vanish from the pan as it is super yummy. I rarely make such dishes at home. As we have restaurants always handy/ at service. But I realized having learnt to cook such awesome recipes has really helped enjoy such foods in home style without boredom because of this pandemic.

Coming back to the dish the recipe is cooked in 3 parts:

Marinating and Air frying chicken
Making the base gravy
Cooking chicken in the prepared gravy.

Voila the yummy butter chicken is ready to be served with recipes like Naan, Whole wheat naan, Kulcha or Jeera rice. In this chicken makhani recipe I have not added any food color. Instead chose to use red ripe tomatoes and Kashmiri chili powder. Hence restaurant look alike color is achieved. Also I have used cream in this recipe. If you don’t have it at home you can use milk instead. For a much easier version you could use tomato paste available in the stores.

You may be interested in other dishes like these Dal makhani, Fish tikka masala, Chicken karahi, Chicken kurma.

I have earlier posted the Butter chicken recipe in the blog but thought to post an Air fryer version as it simplifies the process and time. So let’s get to the making of Air fryer butter chicken/ Murgh makhani!

Other recipes that might interest you:

Air fryer butter chicken, Murgh makhani

Recipe by Sandhya Riyaz

5.0 from 1 vote

Course: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Air fry time

minutes

Marination time

minutes

Air fryer Butter chicken or Chicken makhani is a rich, creamy and delicious side dish prepared by adding grilled/ air fried chicken in sweet and spicy tomato sauce.

Ingredients TO GRIND for Air fryer butter chicken

1 nos., Onion (medium sized)
3 nos., Tomatoes (large sized)
1 chunk, Ginger
2 nos., Garlic
2 tablespoon, Cashews
Salt – to taste
1 teaspoon, Red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon, Garam masala powder
2 teaspoon, Butter
INGREDIENTS FOR MARINATION
200 grams Chicken breast
1/2 teaspoon, Ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon, Red chili powder
1/4 teaspoon, Turmeric powder
Salt – to taste
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE AIR FRYER BUTTER CHICKEN
2 tablespoon, Butter
1 teaspoon, Kasuri methi
1/4 cup, Fresh Cream
2 tablespoon, Oil (for chicken)
2 tablespoon, Butter

Directions to make AIR FRYER BUTTER CHICKEN

Divide chicken breast vertically so that each chicken breast will yields 2 thin slices of the same. Now cut each thin slices of chicken breast into 3 pieces. Wash it thoroughly.
In a bowl add sliced chicken breast, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and chili powder. Mix it well and allow it to marinate for about 30 minutes.
Preheat Air fryer at 400F/ 204C for 5 minutes. ( I have CRUX air fryer at home and the below mentioned cook time suits me, timing may vary a little according to the brand)
When the air fryer is preheated brush a tbsp of oil/butter on the baking rack/ place a parchment paper on the baking rack (prevents chicken from sticking) then place the chicken pieces one by one evenly without overcrowding. Now Air fry for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes remove the rack from the air fryer and flip the chicken pieces gently and cook for 3 more minutes again. After 3 minutes you will notice that the chicken is evenly and cooked. If its undercooked cook for another 1 minute or 2. Cook time might differ slightly for each air fryer brand so air fry it accordingly. Keep it aside.
Heat a pan with oil, to it add chopped garlic, ginger and chopped onion. Saute well until the onions turn soft and the raw smell of ginger and garlic goes. When the raw smell is gone add chopped tomato, chili powder, garam masala powder and cashews. Saute well for about 4 – 5 minutes in low to medium flame. When the onions and tomatoes looks sauteed/ put off the flame and allow the mixture to cool down.
Now add this cooled mixture to a blender and grind it into fine paste adding around ½ cup water. Keep this ground paste aside.
Now heat 2 tsp butter and add ground paste and mix well. Now to the mixture add the air fried chicken. Mix it well. Now add cream and mix well. If required you can add around ¼ cup water to adjust/ get right consistency. Allow the mixture to simmer well for 2 to 3 minutes.
After 2 to 3 minutes of simmering add a dollop of butter or even more because the title itself calls butter chicken, so once in a while its okay to cheat serve this hot with roti, naan or jeer rice.

Notes

* 1 cup = 235 ml

how to make AIR FRYER BUTTER CHICKEN with step by step images

Divide chicken breast vertically so that each chicken breast will yields 2 thin slices of the same. Now cut each thin slices of chicken breast into 3 pieces. Wash it thoroughly.
In a bowl add sliced chicken breast, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and chili powder. Mix it well and allow it to marinate for about 30 minutes.
Preheat Air fryer at 400F/ 204C for 5 minutes. ( I have CRUX air fryer at home and the below mentioned cook time suits me, timing may vary a little according to the brand) When the air fryer is preheated brush a tbsp of oil/butter on the baking rack/ place a parchment paper on the baking rack (prevents chicken from sticking) then place the chicken pieces one by one evenly without overcrowding. Air fry for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes flip the chicken gently and again air fry for 3 minutes Totally after 8 minutes chicken will be evenly cooked. If its undercooked cook for another 1 minute or 2. Cook time might differ slightly for each air fryer brand so air fry it accordingly. Keep it aside.
Heat a pan with oil, to it add chopped garlic, ginger and chopped onion. Saute well until the onions turn soft and the raw smell of ginger snd garlic goes.
When the raw smell is gone add chopped tomato, chili powder, garam masala powder and cashews. Saute well for about 4 – 5 minutes in low to medium flame. When the onions and tomatoes looks sauteed/ put off the flame and allow the mixture to cool down.
Now add this cooled mixture to a blender and grind it into fine paste adding around ½ cup water. Keep this ground paste aside.
Now heat 2 tsp butter in a pan and add ground paste and mix well. Now to the mixture add the air fried chicken. Mix it well. Now add cream and mix well. If required you can add around ¼ cup water to adjust/ get right consistency. Allow the mixture to simmer well for 2 to 3 minutes. After 2 to 3 minutes of simmering add a dollop of butter or even more because the title itself calls butter chicken, so once in a while its okay to cheat serve this hot with roti, naan or jeer rice.