12 of the Best Affordable Butter Chicken in Auckland

This bright orange stuff is certainly a Kiwi’s favourite, while the original dish came from the Indian cuisine, the butter chicken we get here in New Zealand is a home-grown Kiwi version of the not so popular Indian curry, its thick, it creamy, a bit tangy, sweet and not spicy. Kiwis love this version, and you can see this affection on food courts and Indian restaurants where this dish is the go-to curry for many of us who lives here. There are many published stats to show that this is the countries favourite curry but even without those stats, you surely will know becuase it everywhere, used as a pie filling, as a pizza topping, even potato chips have a butter chicken flavour. So, to celebrate that love for Butter Chicken, we are sharing this 11 of the Best Affordable Butter Chicken in Auckland lists, all of which I tried and they are all good.

Yellow Mirchi
The butter chicken here was not as sweet as the most, still sweet but it was more on the tomato tangy side which we really liked. The gravy was thick and we loved the fact that the chicken has that smoky taste due to it being partly cooked in a tandoor first. The cut used are boneless chicken thighs which gave it a juicier meat rather than dry compared to the restaurants that uses breast.

Punjabi Kitchen
The butter chicken at this place is somewhere in between the Kiwi Style Butter Chicken and Indian Style Butter Chicken, meaning it’s not too sweet, not too creamy and not too tangy, just perfectly sits in between, which I think is good because it caters for the two types of butter chicken lovers.

1947 Eatery
They call it Bang Bang Butter Chicken here, definitely it’s called like such for a reason, it was banging good, sweet and creamy like most butter chickens in Auckland but it has that great ingredient feel about it.

Jewel of Bombay
Perhaps one of my favourite butter chicken on this list, perhaps the perfect balance of sweetness, tanginess and creaminess, it is one of my go to butter chicken before the COVID lockdowns, sadly the place I use to visit closed down but luckily, they have other branches.

Paradise Restaurant
For those who don’t like it sweet then this is the butter chicken for you, perhaps this is close to the real original butter chicken, tomatoey goodness.

Chand Indian
Another sweet style butter chicken with hints of tomato, not a lot of spice on the dish so this would be good choice for those who are starting to know the Indian cuisine.

Satya South Indian Restaurant
You can order it hot at this place, and it was legitimately hot. If you want a bit of heat on your butter chicken then give this place a visit, definitely they are creamy and sweet but with a zing!

Ravis
If you’re in the city and looking for a quick and cheap butter chicken then this is it, it’s not as generous as other butter chicken places that we tried but for a quick fix then this is your place, what’s even better they close very late too. So, if you crave for butter chicken before 12 midnight then you know where to get it sorted.

Spice Klub
One of those few butter chickens where the chook is grilled first, it was also sweet and creamy with a nice heat on it. Definitely one of the boldest tasting butter chickens out there.

Spice Traders and Shamiana
This list won’t be complete without this two, the champ of food courts here in Auckland. If burgers are to McDonalds or Burger King, these two are its counterpart in the butter chicken world. Like many fast foods, the quality felt like a fast food, it was bad yet tasted so good 🙂 It gives you that feeling you want more but when you go home all that guilt sets in. Like those burger chains, even people despise it, I honestly can’t live without any of these two.

Eat Indian
Perhaps the sweetest of the bunch, it is also buttery, located in Commercial Bay, its one of the few if not the only Indian option at this posh Food Court.