Cut your chicken breast into bite-sized chunks—roughly 1.5-inch pieces work perfect. Toss them into a bowl with the yogurt, half the ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, and salt. Mix everything together so every piece gets coated. Let this sit for at least 15 minutes while you prep the rest. The yogurt does the heavy lifting here, tenderizing the chicken while you're getting organized.

Dice your onion into small pieces—smaller than you think you need, honestly. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it's melted and foaming, add your diced onion and cook for about 3 minutes until it starts turning golden and smells sweet.

Add the remaining ginger-garlic paste to the pan and stir constantly for about 1 minute. You'll hear it sizzle and pop as those aromatics wake up—that's your cue everything's cooking right. The whole kitchen smells incredible at this point. Add your cumin, turmeric, and chili powder now, stirring for another 30 seconds until it's fragrant.

Carefully add your marinated chicken pieces to the pan (don't dump the yogurt marinade yet). Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken gets some color on the outside. It won't be cooked through yet—that's totally fine. Now pour in the yogurt marinade and give everything a good stir.

Add the garam masala and 1/2 cup water to the pan. Lower your heat to medium and let this simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and keep an eye on it after minute 8—the sauce should be getting thicker and the chicken should be mostly cooked through by now.

Pour in the heavy cream and add the remaining butter, cut into chunks. Stir everything together gently and let it simmer for another 5-7 minutes. When your kitchen smells like warm, buttery spices and caramelized tomato-y richness, you're almost there. The sauce should look creamy and coat the back of a spoon now.

Taste your butter chicken recipe and adjust salt and spice as needed. Some days I add a pinch more chili powder, other days it's perfect as-is. Serve it hot over rice or with naan bread while it's steaming. Don't let it sit—the best part is eating it fresh from the pan.