Chicken Tikka Masala is a classic, spiced, tomato-based curry.
This curry is for you if you enjoy dipping your warm naan bread in a creamy butter chicken curry!
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After a long day at work, you just want to have a wholesome, comforting dish to feed your hunger.
You want a dish that makes you happy, food which takes you over and which numbs your mind.
When this happens, your smell, and especially your taste senses, go berserk. The solution? Homemade easy Chicken Tikka Masala!!
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Ingredients Overview
For the Marination
- Chicken boneless — Breast or thighs.
- Yogurt or curd
- Cumin seeds powder
- Coriander seeds powder
- Black pepper powder
- Turmeric powder
- Cinnamon powder
- Red chili pepper or cayenne pepper powder
- Ginger & garlic — A paste of the two is my choice, but you can use crushed garlic and grated ginger too.
To cook the curry:
- Onion — white, yellow or purple, chopped.
- Bay Leave
- Tomato — diced
- Butter or clarified butter
- Tomato sauce — unseasoned
- Table Cream or heavy cream
- Water
- Salt to taste
How to make it?
Step 1
Combine in a bowl the marination ingredients, the yogurt, and spices, and coat the chicken with it.
Step 2
Sauté onion and briefly cook the bay leaf with the onion.
Cook diced tomatoes soft.
Step 3
Stir in the tomato sauce, cream, and water to create the sauce base.
Toss in your chicken marination and combine everything well.
Step 4
Simmer everything until the chicken is cooked and soft.
Take out bay leaf and discard before serving your curry hot.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe
Ingredients
For the marination:
- 10.6 Ounces Chicken Boneless cut into cubes
- ⅛ Cup Yogurt
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Whole
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper or Cayenne Pepper Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic *see Notes for options
For the curry cooking:
- 2 Tablespoons Butter or Clarified Butter
- 1 Onion choped
- 1 Piece Bay Leave
- 1 Tomato diced
- 5 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce unflavored
- 3 ½ Tablespoons Table Cream or Heavy Cream
- ½ Cup Water or Broth for extra flavor
- To Taste Salt optional
- Cilantro fresh, to top
Instructions
- 10.6 Ounces Chicken Boneless
- Add in the yogurt, coriander seed powder, cumin seed powder, black pepper powder, turmeric, cinnamon, red pepper powder/cayenne powder, and ginger garlic.⅛ Cup Yogurt, 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Whole, 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground, ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground, ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper, 1 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic
- Mix everything well so that the chicken is evenly coated with the marination. The longer you keep it marinate the better for the flavor, however, if you are in a hurry just marinate it as long as you can spare time and then continue with the preparation.
- For the cooking process, heat a deep pan and add the butter. Add in the onion and cook soft.2 Tablespoons Butter, 1 Onion
- Add a piece of bay leaf to the pan and let it cook for a minute. This will bring out the bay leaf flavors.1 Piece Bay Leave
- Throw in the diced tomato and stir cook until a bit soft. Don't let them burn on.1 Tomato
- Add in your tomato sauce with the cream and mix the whole pan contents well. Pour in the water, mix again, cover and let it cook until the tomato has softened considerably.5 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce, 3 ½ Tablespoons Table Cream
- Now you can add in the chicken with the marination, and the water and salt. Mix it all well!½ Cup Water, To Taste Salt
- Cover and cook on medium heat until chicken is soft.
- Pick out and discard bay leaf.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro (aka coriander)
Notes
Nutrition
Tips
For the best chicken tikka curry masala: The longer you marinate the chicken the more flavorful it will turn out.
For the quickest chicken tikka curry masala: Marinate the chicken for 5 minutes and move on to cooking it.
I adjusted the recipe over the years to make it easier for you while retaining all the flavors.
I skip garam masala in my chicken tikka curry because, to be honest, you don't really need it. The other spices with the yogurt add a lot of amazing complex flavors to your chicken.
Serving Ideas
We make this with Indian flat bread. Either plain roti or a cheesy nan. We prefer roti because they are easier to prepare.
Alternatively, steamed or boiled rice is a great addition to your chicken tikka masala. In that case, I still prefer lemon rice or cilantro lime rice because they are aromatic.
Storing & Meal Prepping
You can prep this meal in advance for the workweek in batches. I like to use rectangular glass containers for that because the food can be directly reheated in them.
The tikka masala with chicken is good for about 3–5 days in your fridge. Depending on the best before date mentioned on your chicken cuts.
Or freeze the meal after you are done preparing it. It will remain good for at least 1 month in your freezer.
What is Chicken Tikka Masala?
Chicken Tikka Masala is a flavorful spicy tomato based creamy curry.
A combination of spices is used to marinate the chicken before the meat is cooked in a gravy-like spiced sauce.
Origins
Chicken Tikka Curry Masala was created by North Indian Punjabis. There are numerous claims from the British and Indian side.
I think the curry meal was made popular by Punjabi immigrants in the UK because chicken tikka masala is better known in the UK and not in India.
Hence, why chicken tikka curry masala is the national dish of England (I'm not kidding!)
People will claim that chicken tikka masala is Indian, but to be fair, it's not. The dish rarely appears on Indian menus (and I traveled all over the country).
That is why this chicken tikka curry is a British Curry house dish, just like Chicken Balti and Chicken Pathia Curry.
To add to the confusion, the Chicken Tikka Masala curry is a derivation from the Indian Chicken Masala dish (curry meal), the Chicken Tikka (boneless dry tandoori chicken tikka) and the all famous butter chicken.
The Indian Chicken Masala is usually prepared with a nut (cashew or almond base) or tomato base. Besides, they don't taste the same at all.
This is the major difference between the Indian chicken masala and the British chicken tikka masala. YES, there is a difference!
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