Madhur Jaffrey CBE (Hindi: मधुर जाफ़री madhur jāfrī; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian actress and food writer who introduced the Western world to the many cuisines of India.

She was born Madhur Bahadur in Delhi, British India, and was educated at Miranda House (of the University of Delhi). After college, she worked for All India Radio. She then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), from which she graduated with honors in 1957. She then met and married Indian actor Saeed Jaffrey and moved to New York City. She and Saeed divorced in 1965. They have three daughters, Meera, Zia and Sakina Jaffrey. In 1969, she married Sanford Allen, a violinist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She is the aunt of the British journalists Rohit Jaggi and his sister the literary critic Maya Jaggi (their mother Lalit being one of Madhur's older sisters).

Madhur Jaffrey is said to have been responsible for introducing James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. She appeared in a number of their earlier films: Shakespeare Wallah (1965) (a role for which she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival),The Guru (1969), Autobiography of a Princess (1976), Heat and Dust (1983), directed by Ivory, and The Perfect Murder (1988). She starred as the title character in their film Cotton Mary (1999) and co-directed it with Merchant.