Butter chicken calories
A home serving of butter chicken, 125 g of chicken with its share of butter and cream, has about 350 calories. A 200 ml katori is about 260. Butter and cream matter most: a tablespoon of butter adds about 100, a tablespoon of cream about 30. A restaurant serving, richer and larger, runs about 400 to 675.
Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, is chicken in a smooth tomato gravy enriched with butter and cream, lightly sweet and spiced with garam masala and kasuri methi. It came out of Delhi's Moti Mahal kitchen and is now the most ordered chicken curry on Indian delivery apps and restaurant menus.
In this textbook version the chicken is about 60% of the calories and the butter and cream about 30%. Restaurants use a lot more of both, which is where the big numbers come from.
Typical values for a home kitchen, for the portion named next to each number. Other sites often show bigger numbers because they count a bigger serving or a restaurant recipe. Your own katori, roti and oil change the number; Slate adjusts for them.
How many calories are in butter chicken?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (150 ml) about 150 g | 195 | 16 g | 5 g | 13 g |
| 1 katori (200 ml) about 200 g | 260 | 22 g | 6 g | 17 g |
| 1 serving (125 g chicken) about 269 g | 350 | 29 g | 8 g | 22 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 130 | 11 g | 3 g | 8 g |
How does home butter chicken compare with outside?
Restaurant butter chicken is usually made with far more butter and cream than a home or textbook version, often finished with another knob of butter and a swirl of cream, and delivery portions tend to be large.
No lab has measured one, so the range below allows 1.5 to 2 times the butter and cream, in a serving up to 1.5 times as big.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 350 | 22 g |
| Restaurant or delivery | 400 to 675 | 28 to 50 g |
What changes the calories in butter chicken?
- Butter and cream are the biggest variables. A tablespoon of butter adds about 100 calories, and a tablespoon of cream about 30.
- Serving size comes next. Delivery boxes often hold more chicken and gravy than a home serving.
- Thigh meat or chicken with skin has more fat than breast. Tandoori chicken pieces, marinated in curd first, add a little.
- Naan or rice is extra: a home butter naan is about 210.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the butter chicken in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 250 g of boneless chicken with 150 g of tomato, 2 tablespoons of tomato purée, onion, ginger, green chilli and pepper, finished with 1½ tablespoons each of butter and cream, for 2 servings, all the butter and cream counted. IFCT 2017 supplies the values, with butter, cream, purée and sugar from USDA. The textbook adds no water, so the cooked weight is the ingredients added together, about 537 g: a serving with 125 g of chicken is half of it, 350 calories, and the pot is 130 per 100 g. No analysed butter chicken exists in IFCT 2017, NIN or USDA FNDDS, so there is no cross-check. The restaurant range assumes up to twice the butter and cream in a serving up to 1.5 times as big, as on the paneer butter masala page. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken, breast, skinless Boneless weight | 250 g | IFCT 2017 N003 |
| Tomato, ripe, hybrid | 150 g | IFCT 2017 D075 |
| Tomato puree 2 tablespoons | 31 g | USDA FDC 170460 |
| Onion, big | 40 g | IFCT 2017 G017 |
| Ginger, fresh | 10 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Chillies, green | 6.7 g | IFCT 2017 G008 |
| Black pepper 1½ teaspoons | 3.5 g | IFCT 2017 G031 |
| Butter 1½ tablespoons | 21.3 g | USDA FDC 173430 |
| Cream, single (about 19% fat) 1½ tablespoons | 22.5 g | USDA FDC 170857 |
| Sugar, white half a teaspoon | 2.1 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Chicken breast skinless (N003), tomato, onion, ginger, green chilli, black pepper; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. The Art & Science of Cooking recipe ASC242, butter chicken
- USDA FoodData Central, Butter, without salt (173430). 1 tbsp = 14.2 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Cream, fluid, light (170857). Cream, 19% fat
- USDA FoodData Central, Tomato products, canned, puree (170460). Tomato puree
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 serving of butter chicken?
About 350 for a home serving with 125 g of chicken. A restaurant serving is often 400 to 675.
How many calories are in 100 g of butter chicken?
About 130 for this home version. Restaurant butter chicken with more butter and cream is higher.
How much protein is in butter chicken?
About 29 g in a home serving with 125 g of chicken.
How many calories are in butter chicken and naan?
A home serving is about 350, and a home butter naan about 210. In a restaurant, with a large butter naan, the meal can pass 1,000.