Butter Chicken Calories: Home-Style vs Rich

By NYUS Inc. · Published 30 October 2026

"Butter chicken calories", with "per 100g", "1 bowl", "and protein", "murgh makhani" and "restaurant", is searched in India, and the answers online differ. No primary table has a butter chicken record: IFCT 2017, the Indian Food Composition Tables from ICMR-NIN, prints raw foods (its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no butter chicken, murgh makhani or other cooked chicken dish, and no cooking oil, butter or cream row, and USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy has no butter chicken record. So this page does not quote a number. It works one portion out line by line: the raw chicken thigh, tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, spices and cashew from named IFCT 2017 rows and the oil, butter and cream from USDA records, with weights that are our assumptions and the fats shown apart so you can see what they add, once as a home-style pot and once as a rich butter-and-cream pot. They are estimates, shown so you can change the weights to match your pan. For a plain chicken curry see our chicken curry guide, for the same butter and cream on a lentil our dal makhani guide, and for the spoon values our ghee, oil and sugar guide.

The short answer

By our working, one portion of home-style butter chicken (150 g raw skinless chicken thigh, tomato 150 g, onion 50 g, ginger 4 g, garlic 4 g, red chilli 1 g, turmeric 0.5 g, 1 teaspoon of oil, 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of cream) is about 555.6 kcal and 30.2 g protein, and the rich portion (150 g raw skinless chicken thigh, tomato 200 g, onion 50 g, cashew 15 g, ginger 4 g, garlic 4 g, red chilli 1 g, turmeric 0.5 g, 2 teaspoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of cream) is about 896.1 kcal and 34.4 g protein. Across 100 to 200 g of raw chicken the home-style runs 353.9 to 757.3 kcal with 0 to 2 tablespoons of butter and the rich 694.4 to 1097.8 kcal with 1 to 3 tablespoons, with the oil and cream in every cell. These are estimates from the weights below, not measured values, not from a butter chicken record and not a restaurant figure. Our reading: the parts of the home-style main case rank the chicken 299.7 kcal, the butter 101.8 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 63.3 kcal, the cream 51.0 kcal, the oil 39.8 kcal; the parts of the rich main case rank the chicken 299.7 kcal, the butter 203.6 kcal, the cream 153.0 kcal, the cashew 87.4 kcal, the oil 79.6 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 72.8 kcal; and the rich portion is 340.5 kcal above the home-style one at the same 150 g of chicken.

IFCT 2017 rows used, per 100 g

IFCT 2017 Table 1 prints, per 100 g edible portion, water, protein, ash, total fat, total dietary fibre, insoluble and soluble fibre, carbohydrate and energy in kJ, where the row has them. We read these 8 rows from the PDF text on 30 October 2026, as the mean of the regions shown (PDF pages in the Sources); the kcal is ours (kJ divided by 4.184, to 0.1). IFCT prints no portion weights; the chicken row is raw skinless meat without bone, so we count raw weight, and the cooked weight of a butter chicken is not printed in any table. N002 is skinless thigh; the page does not use the breast row.

The oil, butter and cream: USDA SR Legacy, per 100 g

IFCT 2017 has no cooking oil, butter or cream row, so the fats come from USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy; they are US records (the butter is the salted one, the cream the fluid heavy whipping one). Energy is USDA's kcal with the kJ beside it; water, protein, total fat and carbohydrate (by difference) are in g, then fibre (g), total sugars (g) and sodium (mg), all per 100 g.

The data-type label on each USDA field, as the records show it

USDA's record page shows a data-type label beside some fields and none beside others. This table copies what each record shows, read field by field from the nutrient table of the record page; "no label shown" means the record prints no label there, and "not printed" means the record has no row for that field. We do not interpret the labels beyond printing them. IFCT 2017 prints no such labels.

The household portions USDA prints for the fats

These are the entries in each record's Measures list, as printed; the other entry is 100 g. The kcal in the last column is ours: the printed kcal per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100, shown to 0.1.

The portion sums: 171410 1 tsp (4.5 g): 884 × 4.5 / 100 = 39.78, so 39.8 kcal; 171410 1 cup (216 g): 884 × 216 / 100 = 1909.44, so 1909.4 kcal; 171410 1 tbsp (13.5 g): 884 × 13.5 / 100 = 119.34, so 119.3 kcal; 173410 1 pat (1" sq, 1/3" high) (5 g): 717 × 5 / 100 = 35.85, so 35.9 kcal; 173410 1 stick (113 g): 717 × 113 / 100 = 810.21, so 810.2 kcal; 173410 1 cup (227 g): 717 × 227 / 100 = 1627.59, so 1627.6 kcal; 173410 1 tbsp (14.2 g): 717 × 14.2 / 100 = 101.81, so 101.8 kcal; 170859 1 cup, whipped (120 g): 340 × 120 / 100 = 408.00, so 408.0 kcal; 170859 1 cup, fluid (yields 2 cups whipped) (238 g): 340 × 238 / 100 = 809.20, so 809.2 kcal; 170859 1 tbsp (15 g): 340 × 15 / 100 = 51.00, so 51.0 kcal; 170859 1 fl oz (29.8 g): 340 × 29.8 / 100 = 101.32, so 101.3 kcal. By the same arithmetic 1 teaspoon of oil (4.5 g) is 39.8 kcal, 1 tablespoon of butter (14.2 g) is 101.8 kcal, 2 tablespoons 203.6 kcal, 3 tablespoons 305.4 kcal, 1 tablespoon of heavy cream (15 g) is 51.0 kcal and 3 tablespoons 153.0 kcal.

Worked example 1: home-style butter chicken

Every weight here is our assumption for one portion, counted raw: skinless thigh, tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, red chilli and turmeric powder, cooked in peanut oil with butter and cream stirred in. Each IFCT line is the kJ divided by 4.184, times the grams, divided by 100, to 0.1 kcal; each USDA line is the printed kcal per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100; protein is the table's protein per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100. Curd, sugar, kasuri methi, garam masala, tomato paste and salt are not counted.

The grid varies the raw chicken (100, 150 or 200 g) and the butter (0, 1 or 2 tablespoons); the oil, cream, tomato, onion and spices stay as above.

Worked example 2: rich butter-and-cream butter chicken

Same method and the same 150 g of raw thigh, onion and spices; the tomato goes up to 200 g, 15 g of cashew is added, and the oil, butter and cream go up to 2 teaspoons, 2 tablespoons and 3 tablespoons. This is our assumed recipe for a richer pot, not a measured restaurant dish.

The grid varies the raw chicken (100, 150 or 200 g) and the butter (1, 2 or 3 tablespoons); the oil, cream, cashew, tomato, onion and spices stay as above.

The two main cases side by side

These are the single examples used in the short answer; each follows from the tables above and from the weights in the cell.

What stands out in the numbers

• Home-style, part by part: the chicken 299.7 kcal, the butter 101.8 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 63.3 kcal, the cream 51.0 kcal, the oil 39.8 kcal. Raw skinless thigh is 199.8 kcal per 100 g (IFCT N002).
• Rich, part by part: the chicken 299.7 kcal, the butter 203.6 kcal, the cream 153.0 kcal, the cashew 87.4 kcal, the oil 79.6 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 72.8 kcal; against the home-style pot the cashew and larger tomato base add 96.9 kcal, the extra teaspoon of oil 39.8 kcal, the extra tablespoon of butter 101.8 kcal and the two extra tablespoons of cream 102.0 kcal.
• Chicken weight against butter: in the home-style version the butter (0 to 2 tablespoons) moves it more than the chicken weight (100 to 200 g): 203.6 kcal against 199.8 kcal; in the rich version the butter (1 to 3 tablespoons) moves it more than the chicken weight (100 to 200 g): 203.6 kcal against 199.8 kcal. Each tablespoon of butter is 101.8 kcal.
• Protein: about 30.2 g in the home-style main case and 34.4 g in the rich one; the 150 g of raw thigh supplies 27.3 g of it.
• These are estimates: no butter chicken record exists, the weights are ours, and curd, sugar, more butter or a bigger portion will change them.

Why these are estimates, not your butter chicken

• No record exists for the dish. IFCT 2017 prints raw foods and no cooked dish, and USDA SR Legacy has no butter chicken record.
• The weights are assumptions. No table prints how much chicken, tomato, butter or cream one portion takes; ours are stated so you can replace them.
• Raw weights. Chicken loses water in cooking and the gravy cooks down, and no table prints the cooked weight, so the page counts raw weight and cannot say how many bowls or plates the portion makes.
• Thigh only. The IFCT row used is skinless thigh without bone; a breast version is lower in energy per 100 g raw (see our chicken curry guide).
• No restaurant figure. The rich version is a recipe we assumed, not a measured restaurant dish; no table prints a restaurant weight or fat use.
• No per 100 g figure. No table prints a cooked butter chicken weight, so a calories-per-100-g number cannot be derived from these rows.
• US fat data. The oil, butter and cream rows are US records; IFCT has none.
• Labels are printed, not judged. Calculated, Analytical and the other labels are USDA's words on the records; we print them and draw no conclusion from them.

How to log it so the numbers hold

• Log it by parts. Weigh the chicken raw, estimate the tomato and onion, and log the oil, butter and cream by their own weight (weight × figure ÷ 100); our ghee, oil and sugar guide has the spoon values.
• Say how much butter and cream. They are inputs this page cannot know; a tablespoon of butter is 101.8 kcal and a tablespoon of cream 51.0 kcal.
• Say what else went in. The cashew and the larger tomato base are 96.9 kcal here; curd, sugar and tomato paste are not counted.
• Log the naan or rice separately. They are not in these figures.

Where NYUS fits (our app)

We make NYUS, so read this as ours. NYUS is an AI fitness and nutrition coach in early access on Android, with no ads and no data selling. You log foods yourself by searching 8,900+ Indian and global foods or by barcode, and a weekly check-in adjusts your calories, macros and step goal once enough is logged. Barcode coverage of Indian packaged foods is not complete, so search by name when a scan finds nothing.

What this page leaves out

• A measured calorie figure for butter chicken as a dish: no primary record prints one, so every figure here is an estimate from stated weights.
• A calorie target, and any claim about what chicken, butter or cream do to your body: we have not looked up any for any person, so we give none. If you have a medical condition or are pregnant, ask your doctor or dietitian.
• Curd or yogurt marinade, sugar or honey, kasuri methi, garam masala, tomato puree or paste, salt and spice powders other than red chilli and turmeric, and other versions such as chicken tikka masala, butter paneer or a breast-meat version: not covered here; log them from their own rows (our chicken curry guide works breast and thigh out, and our chicken tikka guide a yogurt-marinated grilled chicken).
• Restaurant, takeaway and packaged butter chicken: no table prints a restaurant weight or fat use, so we give no such figure; read the pack for packaged ones.
• Chicken with bone, and cooked or tandoori chicken: IFCT prints raw boneless rows; no per 100 g figure for them is given here.
• Nutrients beyond energy, water, protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, total sugars and sodium: not covered here.

Sources

• ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017), Table 1, per 100 g edible portion, mean of the regions shown (read from the PDF text 30 October 2026): N002 Chicken, poultry, thigh, skinless (6 regions, 836 kJ, PDF p. 58); G017 Onion, big (6 regions, 201 kJ, PDF p. 54); D075 Tomato, ripe, hybrid (6 regions, 79 kJ, PDF p. 48); G014 Ginger, fresh (6 regions, 230 kJ, PDF p. 54); G011 Garlic, big clove (6 regions, 518 kJ, PDF p. 54); G022 Chillies, red (6 regions, 990 kJ, PDF p. 54); G033 Turmeric powder (6 regions, 1174 kJ, PDF p. 55); H005 Cashew nut (6 regions, 2438 kJ, PDF p. 55). IFCT 2017 prints raw foods (its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no butter chicken, murgh makhani or other cooked chicken dish, and no cooking oil, butter or cream row (PDF text searched for butter chicken, murgh, makhani, masala, gravy, butter, cream and oil; the chicken row used is N002, skinless thigh).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 171410 (Oil, peanut, salad or cooking): Energy 884 kcal (3700 kJ), protein 0 g, total fat 100 g, carbohydrate by difference 0 g, fibre 0 g, total sugars 0 g, sodium 0 mg per 100 g; labels as printed: kcal Calculated, carbohydrate by difference no label shown, total sugars Assumed zero (Insignificant amount or not naturally occurring in a food, such as fiber in meat); portions used: 1 tsp (4.5 g); 1 cup (216 g); 1 tbsp (13.5 g) (read 30 October 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 173410 (Butter, salted): Energy 717 kcal (3000 kJ), protein 0.85 g, total fat 81.1 g, carbohydrate by difference 0.06 g, fibre 0 g, total sugars 0.06 g, sodium 643 mg per 100 g; labels as printed: kcal Calculated, carbohydrate by difference Calculated, total sugars Nutrient that is based on other nutrient/s; value used directly, ex. Nut.#204 from Nut.#298, kJ Calculated, water Analytical, sodium Nutrient that is based on other nutrient/s; value used directly, ex. Nut.#204 from Nut.#298; portions used: 1 pat (1" sq, 1/3" high) (5 g); 1 stick (113 g); 1 cup (227 g); 1 tbsp (14.2 g) (read 30 October 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 170859 (Cream, fluid, heavy whipping): Energy 340 kcal (1420 kJ), protein 2.84 g, total fat 36.1 g, carbohydrate by difference 2.84 g, fibre 0 g, total sugars 2.92 g, sodium 27 mg per 100 g; labels as printed: kcal Calculated, carbohydrate by difference Calculated, total sugars Analytical, kJ Calculated, protein Analytical, fat Analytical, sodium Analytical; portions used: 1 cup, whipped (120 g); 1 cup, fluid (yields 2 cups whipped) (238 g); 1 tbsp (15 g); 1 fl oz (29.8 g) (read 30 October 2026).
• nyus.in, the NYUS landing page, read on 30 October 2026 for the app statements in the NYUS section and the CTA.

The ingredient weights, the kJ to kcal conversions, the line values, the sums, the grids, the portion kcal, the rounding, the comparisons and every sentence starting "Our reading" are NYUS's own assumptions, arithmetic or opinion, not from USDA or IFCT. The IFCT values are the means printed in IFCT 2017 Table 1; the USDA values, data-type labels and Measures-list portions are exactly as shown on the USDA record pages. The names in the first column are the tables' own names.

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