Butter Chicken vs Tikka Masala: What's the Difference? Malmö Guide

Butter chicken and chicken tikka masala look alike on the plate, but they are different dishes. Butter chicken is a Delhi dish: tandoor-roasted chicken folded into a smooth, mildly spiced sauce of fresh tomatoes, butter, cream and a little cashew, finished with dried fenugreek. Chicken tikka masala starts with the same tandoori chicken but puts it into a thicker, more assertive onion-and-tomato masala with more chilli and garam masala and far less butter. At Masala & More, an Indian restaurant in Malmö at Baltzarsgatan 12, both cost 169 kr, and the kitchen cooks each one from scratch, so this is the place to settle the question for yourself.

Butter chicken vs tikka masala: the short answer

Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, is sweet, rich and gentle. The tomato is cooked down slowly, the butter and cream round it off, and the heat is barely there. It is the dish to order if you are new to Indian food, if you are eating with children, or if you want something to mop up with garlic naan.

Chicken tikka masala is savoury rather than sweet. Onions are browned first, the tomatoes go in afterwards, and the ground spices are more forward: coriander, cumin, Kashmiri chilli and a heavier hand with garam masala. There is cream in it, but it supports the masala rather than defining it. It is the dish to order if you want more spice, more texture from the onions, and a sauce that tastes clearly of the tandoor-charred chicken inside it.

Where they come from explains the rest. Butter chicken was created in Delhi in the years after Partition as a way to use leftover tandoori chicken, which is why the sauce is built to be soft and buttery. Chicken tikka masala is generally credited to the British curry house, where cooks added a spiced tomato gravy to dry chicken tikka for diners who wanted sauce with everything. One is Indian home and restaurant cooking; the other is Indian cooking adapted abroad. Both have earned their place.

How each dish is cooked at Masala & More in Malmö

Both dishes begin in the same place: chicken marinated in yoghurt, ginger, garlic and our own masala, then cooked in a real clay tandoor at around 480°C. The high heat chars the edges and seals the juices, and that smoke is what you taste through the sauce. All our chicken is halal.

From there the two dishes part ways. For butter chicken we cook fresh tomatoes, never canned, with ginger and garlic until they collapse, pass the sauce smooth, then finish it with butter, cream, cashew and kasuri methi, the dried fenugreek leaf that gives the dish its faint bitterness under the sweetness. No artificial colour: the orange comes from tomato and Kashmiri chilli.

For chicken tikka masala we build a classic onion-tomato base, the same slow-cooked foundation under most of our curries, with onion, garlic and ginger browned in oil, fresh tomatoes, coriander powder, freshly ground turmeric and red chilli. The sauce is left thicker than butter chicken so it clings to the meat, and the chicken tikka goes in at the end so the char stays crisp. The menu lists spice options for this dish, so ask for mild, medium or hot when you order. Butter chicken is always served mild.

The spices in both are ground in-house, which is the single biggest reason they taste different from each other rather than like two colours of the same sauce. If you want the detail on what goes into our curry bases, we have written it up here.

Which should you order first?

Order butter chicken if you prefer mild, creamy food, or if the table includes children. Our kids' menu has a Butter Chicken portion of four pieces for 99 kr, and the full dish at 169 kr is one of the most ordered dishes in the restaurant for good reason. Pair it with butter naan (30 kr) or garlic naan (35 kr) and a mix raita (39 kr).

Order chicken tikka masala if you like spice, or if you usually find butter chicken too sweet. It stands up to tandoori roti and to plain basmati rice, and it is the better of the two with a cold lassi. The same masala is available with lamb, prawns, fish or paneer, so a mixed table can eat the same sauce with different proteins.

Cannot decide? The Non-Vegetarian Thali (219 kr) puts both on one platter alongside mixed vegetables, raita, rice, butter naan, a gulab jamun, pickle, papad, mango chutney and salad, and is the simplest way to taste them side by side. Vegetarians get the same comparison in the Vegetarian Thali (199 kr), which comes with Paneer Tikka Masala or a mild Butter Paneer plus Dal Makhni.

Dairy, nuts, spice and other practical notes

Both dishes contain dairy. Butter chicken also contains tree nuts, because the sauce uses cashew. Neither dish is vegan, and neither can be made vegan without becoming a different dish; if you want a plant-based curry, Pindi Channa Masala (149 kr) or Lehsuni Dal Tadka (149 kr) are the ones to choose. Please tell our staff about any allergies when you order, whether in the restaurant or in the order notes online.

On heat: butter chicken is mild, full stop. Chicken tikka masala is served medium unless you ask otherwise, and we will happily turn it up or down. If you are unsure, our FAQ covers how spice works across the menu, and our team can steer you at the table.

Both reheat well, which makes them two of the most popular dishes for takeaway and delivery across Malmö, from Möllevången to Västra Hamnen. The naan is baked when your order comes in, so collect it within the quoted time if you want it at its best.

Visit, book or order

Masala & More is at Baltzarsgatan 12, 211 36 Malmö, a few minutes' walk from Malmö Central Station and 20 minutes from Lund by train. We are open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 11:30–21:30, Wednesday 11:30–20:30, Friday 11:30–22:30, Saturday 12:00–22:30 and Sunday 12:00–20:30, with a daily lunch menu on weekdays.

Book a table for dinner, or call +46 70 304 76 42 for groups. For pickup and delivery, order on our own website: delivery is 89 kr with a 249 kr minimum, and free on orders over 599 kr. The full à la carte, with every curry and bread, is on our menu page.