A made-from-scratch Chicken Tikka Masala recipe with the signature yoghurt marinated chargrilled chicken smothered in an incredible spice infused curry sauce. It’s astonishingly straightforward – and no hunting down hard to find ingredients!
Chicken Tikka Masala is an Indian favourite along with Butter Chicken and Biryani. Serve with Basmati Rice, else add a side of chewy and fluffy Naan or basic Homemade Flatbreads to mop up the sauce!
Chicken Tikka Masala
There are various tales about the origins of Chicken Tikka Masala, and most are along the lines of the following: That a British aristocrat was served Chicken Tikka (chicken on skewers chargrilled in a tandoor) and sent it back to the kitchen, complaining it was dry. In response to which the enterprising chef added a curry sauce and sent it back out again where it was well received.
And thus, one of the most popular curries in the world was born. 🙂 And even though it’s not a traditional Indian dish, the roots of it certainly are!
Proper Chicken Tikka Masala served at good Indian restaurants is made with yoghurt marinated chicken which is then chargrilled so it has that gorgeous smokey flavour.
Regretfully, I don’t have a tandoor sitting in the middle of my kitchen. So this recipe aims to replicate the flavour using my good old stove.
How to make Chicken Tikka Masala
We start off with a Chicken Tikka yoghurt marinade for chicken thighs. Thighs, my friends. Not breast! We need juicy meat for this recipe because we’re going to blast it with some serious heat to replicate the char grilled flavour of Chicken Tikka!
Leave it to marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Then heat your pan until it’s smoking hot – and I mean smokin’ hot!! – then cook those chicken pieces so the yoghurt coating gets chargrilled.
After that, we make the sauce, then toss the chicken back in to bring all the flavours together. And this is the vision that you will be bestowed with – your very own homemade Chicken Tikka Masala, made from scratch. With the signature deep orangey red sauce, wafting with aromatic curry flavour, smothering chicken with a beautiful chargrilled flavour.
Tikka Masala is deceptively easy!
This isn’t your everyday mid week meal. The ingredients list in the recipe looks alarmingly long, but it’s deceptive because there are duplicate ingredients. And we’re making a serious curry here! We can’t skimp on flavour!
And though the list might be long, here’s the best news – no hunting down unusual ingredients. You can get every single ingredient from the major supermarkets here in Australia (Woolies, Coles, Harris Farms, most Aldi’s and large IGA’s).
RECIPE REFERENCES
This recipe is the result of a mountain of reading, researching, tasting and cooking we did in pursuit of the ultimate Tikka Masala recipe for the home cook.
We visited some of our favourite Indian restaurants in Sydney just to taste the chicken tikka masala, and recounted our memories of curries we experienced in the UK and India.
We looked at existing recipes by authors both well known (Madhur Jaffrey and Heston Blumenthal) and unknown, including many Indian food bloggers. We even watched Youtube videos in Hindi and went to the library and dug up faded old Indian cookbooks!
We pulled out the best bits from every source of inspiration as well as adding our own ideas to come up with this recipe!
Difference between Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken
In case you are wondering about the difference between Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken, the main thing is the char grilled flavour of the chicken which Butter Chicken does not have. Also, the sauce of Tikka Masala is more intense and complex. 🙂
For curry lovers everywhere, it’s truly worth making your own curry from scratch at least once in your life. Like Thai Red Curry, a store bought curry paste (even a really great one) simply doesn’t compare. If I were to make this using a jar of paste, I would pimp it up quite a bit with fresh garlic, ginger and spices, and it would be not much less effort than making it from scratch!
I really hope you love this. This is a recipe that my brother and I developed together, tag teaming with the recipe until we “got it right” (meaning, as close as possible to good Indian restaurants). Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
MORE GREAT CURRIES OF THE WORLD!
- Butter Chicken – one of the most popular curries in the world
- Rogan Josh – fall apart lamb in a rich creamy tomato sauce
- Biryani (it’s amazing!)
- Dal (Indian lentil curry)
- Thai Red Curry
- Beef Rendang
- Massaman Curry
- Goan Fish Curry (Indian) – an amazing seafood curry from the tropical beaches of Goa
- Browse the Curry Collection
ON THE SIDE
- Indian Tomato Salad
- Samosas – The perfect appetiser / starter. Or snacks and lunch tomorrow!
- Pakoras – Spiced Indian vegetable fritters
- South Indian-style Cabbage & Carrot Salad with Coconut
- Refreshing Cucumber with Lemon Yogurt Dressing
- Give this Everyday Cabbage Salad an Indian spin by sauteing garlic and cumin seeds in oil before mixing up with other Dressing ingredients
- Real Naan! Chewy, stretchy, fluffy – the ultimate homemade naan recipe right here
- No Yeast Easy Soft Flatbread. Perfect to use as naan, but simpler and without yeast so you can get it on the table fast!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
Chicken Tikka Marinade:
- 600g/ 1.2lb chicken thigh (boneless, skinless), cut into 3cm / 2.2″ cubes (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup plain yoghurt, full fat best (Greek is fine)
- 6 cloves garlic , minced (~1.5 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger , grated
- 1 tsp garam masala (Note 2)
- 1 tsp each salt, cumin, ground coriander, paprika (sweet, normal or smokey)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- Pinch black pepper
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Cooking Chicken:
- 1 – 2 tbsp oil (Note 3)
Curry Sauce Spices:
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp garam masala (Note 2)
- 2 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Curry Sauce:
- 3 tbsp (65ml) vegetable oil (Note 3)
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter OR ghee
- 1 onion, finely chopped (brown, white or yellow)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger , grated
- 6 cloves garlic , crushed or grated
- 1 tbsp paprika (not smoked)
- 1 2/3 cups (400ml) tomato passata (tomato puree)
- 1 2/3 cups (400ml) water
- 100 ml (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) cream (thickened or pure is fine)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 50g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter OR ghee
Serving
Instructions
Chicken Tikka:
- Combine all ingredients except chicken in a bowl and mix. Add chicken and turn well to coat.
- Cover with cling wrap and leave in fridge to marinate overnight (3 hours minimum).
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non stick pan over high heat until smoking. Add half the chicken and spread out. Leave for 2 minutes or until charred. Turn each piece and cook the other side until charred – don’t worry if not cooked inside. (Note 4, also Video helpful here) Remove into bowl.
- Scrape out charred bits left in pan and discard. Add more oil if required and cook remaining chicken.
Sauce:
- Wipe skillet with paper towels (or do this part in a pot as you need a lid). Turn heat down to medium high.
- Add oil and butter. When butter is melted, add onions, ginger and salt.
- Cook, stirring constantly to ensure it doesn’t burn, until the ginger is starting to turn golden and the onions smell sweet, about 5 – 7 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic and paprika, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the Curry Sauce Spices, and cook a further 2 minutes, stirring.
- Add tomato passata and water, and mix. Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour curry into a bowl, then use a stick blender to puree until smooth (Note 5).
- Return sauce to skillet. Add cream, sugar and butter. Stir to melt the butter.
- Add chicken, stir. Simmer for a few minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
- Optional: Sprinkle with a pinch of extra garam masala at the end.
- Serve over basmati rice, sprinkled with coriander/cilantro if desired. Try this No Yeast Flatbread as a quick naan!
Recipe Notes:
* Indian cooking uses a lot of oil. Don’t be tempted to skimp on the butter and oil for this recipe, it really affects the resulting richness of the dish at the end. We were quite surprised at the difference it made. AT MOST you can reduce the cooking oil by 1 tbsp and omit the butter at the end (but taste it first!). And even using the full amount of butter + oil, it only works out at about 1.7 tbsp per serving which isn’t as obscene as one might expect. 🙂
* You can use ghee instead of the oil/butter used to sauté the onion. I find oil + butter produces a similar end result. I do use ghee sometimes – if I have it on hand (which I usually don’t).
* The dish is deliberately saucy because it’s SO GOOD!
* The salt level looks high but curries need it. Generally, intense flavours = more salt required. 5. Storage / make ahead – Chicken can be marinated for up to 48 hours in the fridge, or pop it straight into the freezer then it will marinate while defrosting overnight in the fridge. Cooked curry will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freezer for 3 months (defrost then reheat in microwave or on stove with splash of extra water). However, unlike stews, curries are at their prime freshly made, when the spices are at their most aromatic. A good trick to freshen up curries is to add a pinch of garam masala when reheating. 6. Recipe references: See in post. 7. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings (excludes rice, naan etc).
Nutrition Information:
More Curry For Curry Lovers
Thai Red Curry | Chickpea Potato Curry (Chana Aloo) | Beef Rendang | Vegetable Curry | Cauliflower Chickpea Curry | Queema (Indian Curried Beef Mince) | Chicken Satay Curry
LIFE OF DOZER
Miserable, sulky post-swim hose down. No feeling sorry for him! He just spent the last hour swimming and rolling in sand!!!
Un véritable délice
My 4 or 5th time making this recipe and I love it even more every time. More importantly, my family loves it!! Including my hard to please husband!!
Delicious it’s my easy go to curry! Thank you! Have you tried this recipe made with white fish?
Hi Sue, I’m so glad you love it! You can definitely use fish – just pick a hardy white fish that wont break apart! N x
My entire family loved this dish! My husband said he will be requesting this regularly!
I broiled the chicken (I had Chicken Breast so went with that) at 500F for 10 minutes, turning one. Then added it to the curry sauce. It was great.
slow cooked with chicken maryland ……………….nothing left fantastic……………..
Thank you Nagi for your excellent recipes and easy to follow instructions. We made the chicken tikka masala and it was the best tikka ever. It is so delicious, can’t wait to make it again.
It took a bit of time to get the ingredients ready but in the end it was so worth the effort! I made a double batch to take some to my Mum and Dad.
Surprisingly easy and so delish. I left out the cayenne for the kids. A huge hit! I love your recipes 💓
I made this today and ohmg it tasted amazing just like in the restaurant. Thank you so much. Your recipes are wonderful
Made this tonight with the home made flatbreads, was sensational. Loads of leftover sauce for freezing too
That’s great to hear Susan 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I look forward to cooking this dish. Question: do you use black cardamom powder or green cardamom powder in this dish?
If you were making this recipe for someone else would they simply reheat in a pan over the stovetop or in the microwave?
Hi Jackie, easiest is in the microwave 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
I got all my spices ready and have this on my cooking list in the next few days. I usually like the dish to contain vegetables as well, at which step should they be added? Which vegetables do you recommend to match the flavor? I was thinking of a mix of some of what I have on hand, cauliflower, peas, sweet potatoes and carrots.
Hi Yasmeen, I tend to add veggies on the side to not dilute the curry sauce in this recipe, although any of those veggies would make a great addition – cut into small chunks and add when simmering the sauce. N x
A 5 star recipe, as usual!
It was great, thank you Nagi. I added cauliflower, peas and carrots, and the sauce got a bit thinner as you predicted.
It was delicious nevertheless, and my son who isn’t a big fan of cauliflower went for seconds 🙂
Definitely going to make it again and will try different veggies as well.
Another winner! I used seitan (vegan chicken) and followed the recipe, minus the extra butter at the end. I’m sure it would have been even more delightful and rich, but since it was just for the two of us, I figured I’ll save the luxury for when we have guests. The seasoning is on point! And if you can pound or grind the spices fresh, even better (I love the smell of freshly ground cardamom). Thanks again, Nagi!
That’s great to know Sabrina!! N x
The perfect curry! Not too spicy for my husband and really delicious. Leftovers were fabulous too. The blending is definitely the key when I’ve made curry before the sauce is a bit thin and weedy but yours is fab! Thanks so much for your recipes 😋
That’s great to hear Jan, thanks so much! N x
Hi Nagi
Made this yesterday and it was delicious thank you, Your recipes are fabulous. My family is big so it’s great that I can increase the numbers and the recipe changes.
Wow! I’ve never made a curry like this before. Looks and tastes just like Indian restaurants. You’ve done it again, Nagi.
That’s great to know Caron – thanks so much!
This was delicious! The chicken especially was good. I do think it was a little tomato heavy, but I think that could be mitigated with more spice. I prefer my curries a little spicier than this—any recommendation for adding heat? Should I just increase the chipotle powder? I don’t want to ruin the flavor.
Hi Andy, sorry you found it tomato heavy – tikka generally is tomato based. If you want to up the spice you can increase the Cayenne (there’s no chipotle in this one) N x
Nagi,
Thank you for this great recipe.
I made this dish for my boyfriend on our first date he was very happy and impress with the result. I can not thank you enough for this great recipe and I can not wait to try other on your website. Please keep it coming.
Sounds like you nailed it – and scored a boyfriend 😉 N x
Such an authentic taste… my new favourite curry!!
Wahoo, that’s great Brendon!
Hi Nagi, I made your butter chicken and it was a hit! I want to make this next but I only have chicken breast. Do you recommend just cooking it normally and setting it aside? You mentioned not to char chicken breast. Thanks in advance!
Hi Abby, I talk about this in the recipe notes – I don’t recommend using breast in this recipe! N x
I did the tikkas on the grill which on their own were already great. Once popped into the gravy it was heaven. I think I’ve found my go-to chicken tikka masala recipe. This one is on point.
P.s.
I used fresh tomatoes as I had run out of puree and it was great.
WOOT!!! N x