Dal Makhani is a North Indian spiced and creamy lentil dish.
This recipe is a budget-friendly, one-pot, vegetarian and gluten-free dish.
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📕 What is Dal Makhani?
Dal Makhani means butter lentils. Dal are the lentils, and butter is called Makhan in Hindi.
It's a creamy north Indian dish, which originated in Punjab, a northern region known for its rich use of milk products.
Dal Makhani is healthy and a rich dish. It's pure Indian comfort food!
📜 Which lentils and beans can be used?
Whole urad dal lentils and kidney beans (called rajma in hindi) are used in this lentil curry.
Urad dal lentils are also known as black lentils, black grams, matpe beans, mungo beans (don't confuse with mung beans!) and vigna mungo.
Urad lentil/black lentil look like Mung beans, which are green, yet both have the same distinct shape.
Black lentils are simply... well black, as you can see.
I use whole black lentils in this dal makhani recipe, you can use split urad dal/black lentil too.
The soaking time is less if you use split lentils, however, I think the dish looks better with whole lentils.
If you can't get urad black dal lentils, use brown whole masoor lentils or canned Mexican black beans instead.
Kidney beans can be skipped too.
🔪 How to make Dal Makhani?
The lentils and beans need to be cooked soft first.
I have never encountered urad lentils in cans, they only exist dried.
That means they need to soak and cooking them soft takes time. Use a pressure cooker to cook them fast!
On the other hand, you can buy kidney beans in cans. I recommend you buy the ones in cans because dried kidney beans take even longer to cook through. The ones in cans had time to soak, so they don't need to be cooked soft.
Here is a rough outline to make this lentil curry. Find all the details in the recipe card below.
Step 1
Keep lentils to soak for about 8 hours or over night.
Cook lentils and beans soft. Use a pressure cooker to save time and energy.
Step 2
Saute sliced onions with spices and diced tomatoes.
Stir in cooked lentils and beans with tomato sauce and broth and combine.
Step 3
Simmer and stir occassionaly.
Pour cream in and combine, just before serving. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.
🍱 Storing
This is a great dish to meal prep for the week or to freeze in batches.
You can keep batches ready in your fridge. Warm-up your dinner whenever you feel like it!
For frozen dal makhani, just place it into a pot over a low heat setting and stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks on.
Leftovers taste even better when warmed up the next day!
👁️ More Indian lentil recipes
- Masoor Dal Curry [Vegan]
- Mulligatawny soup
- Coconut Green Lentil Dhal by thebeanbites.com
Dear Reader, do you enjoy Indian lentil dishes?
📖 Recipe
Dal Makhani Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Black Urad Dal Lentils dried
- ½ cup Kidney Beans dried or canned, *see Notes
- 2 Tablespoon Clarified Butter or unsalted Butter
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 Green Chili Pepper slit lengthwise
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
- ½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground ground
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Whole ground
- ½ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Ground ground
- 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 Tomato diced
- 1 cup Broth vegetable
- 1 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce
- Salt to taste
- 1-2 Tablespoon Table Cream
- Cilantro Fresh aka Coriander leaves, chopped, optional
Instructions
- Cover lentils and beans with water. Soak overnight or for about 8 hours in water.
- Cook lentils and beans soft. Use a pressure cooker to save time and energy.
- Heat up a shallow pan with the clarified butter, and add in the bay leaf and slit green chili halves. Stir fry for a minute so that the aroma develop.
- Stir in onion slices and saute over medium heat.
- Lower heat and stir in ginger and garlic, Add spices: cumin, coriander, chili and garam masala and stir cook for a minute over low fire.
- Stir in diced tomato and sautee soft over medium heat.
- Throw in cooked beans, tomato sauce and vegetable broth. Mix well.
- Cover dish and cook for about 15 minutes so that flavors develop. Stir occasionally because beans can stick at the bottom of the pan.
- When it is cooked, and just before serving, add 1-2 tablespoons of liquid cream to the dish.
- Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)
Notes
- Canned kidney beans don't need soaking and cooking.
- Split lentils (instead of whole lentils) require less soaking and cooking time.
- Use fresh ginger and garlic finely chopped (ration 1:2) or use ginger and garlic in paste form
- Use a pressure cooker to cook lentils and beans soft.
A really nice and perfect recipe for Dal makhani. Have tried most other recipes out there but yours helped me to make a perfect tasty dal makhani. Looking forward for more recipes like this. Can you share some chinese style recipes like kung pao chicken, manchow soup.
Thanks! I'm working on some Chinese recipes for the coming months. I recommend setting up page notifications with the help of the red bell. That way you can receive mobile notification updates whenever I post new stuff.
I tried your recipe, it is so yummy. Definitely putting it in my favourites list. So creamy and packed with flavour.
Hi Maureen, Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! =)
Lentils are one of my favourite pulses so this curry is definitely one I would love. For me, it's the combination of spices and textures. Red lentils are my favourite but I have the black lentils on hand too, they don't break down as readily as the red ones. Often, I use creamed red lentils as a thickener instead of flour.
I really love how easy is to make this lentil dish. And it's super healthy too, full of wonderful Indian flavours. I just have to put this on my to-try list. Sounds like a great weekday family dinner. Delicious!
You had me at "dal" - I love it and rarely make it myself anymore. Must change that, this recipe looks to-die-for!
This looks so amazing! I have been wanting to try making dal before and have some lentils but I'm always waiting for them to soak. I love the idea of putting them in the pressure cooker and getting them ready. Is it wrong that I want to add this on top of some basmati rice?
Jennifer you can serve it with basmati rice, that's absolutely fine. 🙂 Everybody has their own preferences, I just like to gobble dal makhani out of a bowl without rice or rotis. 🙂
Helene, this looks so comforting! I watched the video twice. LOL. I'm going to pin this one for later; I've got to try it!
I don't get to cook with lentils as often as I would like to, but this dish sounds wonderfully tasty and easy to make. I love the instructions and the video, I can't think of a better comfort food. Excellent!
A friend from India just came last week for a visit and brought me some lovely spices from there. Now, I have this yummy recipe of yours to try those spices! Love me a good dal!
Your recipe took me back to India and all my visits these days as its on my menu everytime I eat there and still can't get enough!!! I literally can live on Dal Makhani and it's our house favorite. Love your recipe 🙂
Dal Makhani is one of my favprite dal and just love the flavor of the whole Urad. Love how creamy your dal makhani has turned out and I am tempted to make some soon.
Indian food is my favorite, I enjoy how you use the spices to make a vegetarian meal be so flavorful and satisfying. I must try this butter lentils soon =)
I love Dal Makhani but have never made my own! It used to be one of my go-to comfort foods when I was in college many, many years ago. This looks so good! Thank you for the easy tutorial and video.
Your dal makhani looks perfect and creamy just like restaurant I can eat them with chapathi or poori.
This sounds like the perfect comfort food. Anything with beans and lentils is a good foundation for a terrific meal.
This dish sounds really yummy and like something I would love. I've really been trying to experiment with more Indian dishes so this sounds like a good one.
Today v had dal makhani for lunch with ghee rice. Such a flavorful dish with rich butter flavour. Ur picture lets how perfect the dish turned out
I love using lentils because they're full of vitamins and protein - and they cook up quickly. I'm also fascinated with Indian foods and this curry seems like one this Western .... (Ohio) .... girl can use to dip her toes into the Indian cuisine.
What a great video showing to how to make this wonderful dish, I love experimenting with Indian cooking. All those wonderful spices are amazing.
I love dal makhani. In fact we made some last week and the kids kept asking for more. I love when it turns out nice and creamy like yours.
I love dal makhani and have a great recipe that I always use. Yours looks great too, would love to give it a try!
I have a soft spot for all of those comforting creamy northern Indian dishes! This one looks amazing!
This looks delicious! Lentils are one of my go-to foods, so I love finding new ideas! Yum!
I love Dal so you know that I'm going to try your recipe!
I ordered something similar from a takeaway the other day. I am going to have to try making it myself.
I love anything lentils and beans. This looks so comforting and tasty.