In this paper, a novel architecture for device miniaturization of multimode interference-based (MMI) couplers is proposed. The coupling length of $N{ imes}N$ MMI couplers scales as the square of the MMI region width so that the use of these structures with large-N ports can require large chip size. To solve the design problem, the butterfly grating-assisted MMI couplers, that have smaller device dimensions than conventional MMI couplers, are discussed and evaluated. Numerical simulations and novel design rules for such structures derived through theoretical analysis are presented.