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!!!
I’ve never made a dish that’s tasted so well-researched! So happy with how this turned out & thanks
That’s so great to hear Emily! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x
I made this for dinner this evening, and it was absolutely amazing! Better than some restaurants I have ordered it. Excellent recipe!
WHOOT!!! So pleased to hear that Angie! N x
Hello Nagi we’ve done it tonight. it’s delicious…. I just have to remember to double any of your recipe…. it’s not enough for my voracious boys!!! Your recipes are so well written, you do an amazing job. really. thanks.
Glad you enjoyed this Fracnesca!!! Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback! N x
Hi Nagi,
Just wanna say I LOVE your butter chicken recipe and have made it many times!
I’m wondering with this recipe and the butter chicken recipe could I throw the marinated chicken in a ziplock bag into the freezer and then defrost at a later date and continue with the remaining steps to make this recipe/butter chicken recipe?
As always, thank you, Nagi!
So glad you love the butter chicken! Absolutely re: making ahead this OR the butter chicken that way! N x
Wonderful, thank you Nagi. 🙂
It was really good. I did an audible, and made the marinade and skewered the chicken and grilled it. I made the sauce as above and added the chicken to simmer for a couple of minutes. It was a good recipe, thanks for posting it.
I’m glad you enjoyed this Alex! Thank you for letting me know 🙂 N x
This was terrific and the entire family went crazy for it! Thank you, Nagi!
That’s so great to hear Brooke! I’m so happy to hear that! N x ❤️
This looks amazing. I think I would definitely also use coconut cream too, can’t miss that taste out of Tikka! What sort of rice is best with this kind of curry please?
Basmati!!!
I loved this and the family did too, definitely a keeper. I skip the fresh coriander at the end because I can’t stand coriander. There is a bit of work to this recipe but it is well worth it and my son has leftovers for lunch the next day.
That’s great to hear Ann! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x ❤️
I love Indian food, but then again the village where I grew up in the North of England has more people of Asian origins than Anglo-Saxon.
As you say, many shops do sell Garam Masala, but I usually make my own as the fresher the spices the better the flavour. There are plenty of websites out there with the recipe or I can give you mine if you are interested.
I would LOVE yours Lincoln. I’ve used several but none have quite the right flavour that I’m after for Indian cooking! N x
A masala is just a spice mix, and I guess every Indian family has its own blend! My brother-in-law worked in India for a few years and he gave me the following recipe:
6 Black Cardamoms
8 Green Cardamoms
5″ Cinnamon stick
16 Cloves
25g Cumin seeds
Roast all the ingredients in a dry pan until you can smell all those lovely aromas. Leave to cool then grind up.
This is the recipe as he gave it to me. It obviously makes a lot, so I reduce the quantities as there are just the two of us at home and I prefer to make fresh each time.
I hope you like this one, but if not just feel free to adjust as necessary. There are no fixed rules!
Thank you Lincoln! I’ve filed it away!! 🙂 N x
Could you suggest a good substitute for tumeric. I just don’t like the flavor of that spice, but all the curries, etc look delicious and I would love to try, but do not like tumeric!
Just leave it out Laura! 🙂 I promise it will still be amazing! N x
Wow this looks awesome, I plan on making it with chicken but I tought about using beef the next one, do you think its a good idea?? I saw the naan and it look kinda like a flour tortilla a lil bit thicker, quite common here in Mexico I will try making it too, cant wait to taste it.
This was amazing! It was the best tikka recipe I have made. All the flavors really came through, you really did your research! I am very picky with my recipes, and this is going in my recipe book. It had the restaurant style taste, and surprisingly was one of the healthiest tikkas I’ve made. Thank you so much, and keep going!
Hi Nagi,
I made this but used coconut cream(from the top of the can) instead of cream. I’m from the UK and have never in my life had Tikka Missaka without coconut in. I note one of your replies to a comment above says this recipe shouldn’t have coconut in but I didn’t dare not use it, that’s how common it is here.
Anyway – I served it with your coriander lime rice and my friends thought it was absolutely GORGEOUS with a squeeze of lemon. The chicken was the juiciest I have had in a curry!
Another winner! 🙂
That’s totally OK Jason! You can definitely add coconut if that’s how you know Tikka 🙂 So glad you loved it!! N xx
Hi Nagi,
I love your research for recipes and obsessive attention to all the details. I love CTM and love looking at the top few recipes and to a mashup. Usually I make multiple tweaks but the only one I am going to make tonight is to add 1 T of dried methi leaves (fenugreek) 5 minutes before the blending step. I have a new (to me) cookbook by Denise D’Silve Sankhe called Beyond Curry India Cookbook that I am loving.
I will report back after serving.
Thanks for all your hard work!
You’re so welcome Alonna! I would love know what you think! N xx
Wwwwooowwzas. This curry is the best I’ve ever tasted! Soooooo rich and creamy …mmmm
Making it again for friends next week…I promise i won’t take all the credit! 😉 Thank you!
Another bonus of this recipe, is if you have too much sauce left (we usually do)..I freeze it in serves, then all I need to do is marinate some chicken, as per recipe, fry, then add to the sauce!
Super quick and easy!!
I’m thinking to double the sauce anyways, while going to all the effort, then freeze mass lots.
Tikka masala on tap..whoooop!!😁
Ha! So much more interesting than beer on tap to me! 🙂
Been trying to search for a good restaurant style chicken tikka recipe for 5 years and hands down this is the best one. Never going back! Goes without saying it’s not healthy at all but could be worse. But, brings sheer joy and pleasure; it’s real Indian food at heart. Love it and thank you!
So great to hear MissArtist0001!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this – N x
I just realised I didn’t submit any stars with this – I’m not sure what happened; sorry about that, I would give this a minimum of 5 stars!! 🙂
No problems at all! Loads of people leave feedback without leaving a star rating 🙂 Thanks so much for coming back, that’s really thoughtful of you! N xx
Nagi is it ok to use coconut milk instead of cream?
Hi Shaki! It will work but it will give the sauce a slight coconut flavour that restaurant Tikka Masala doesn’t have 🙂 N xx
Wow did this ever turn out awesome. I can see using this curry for a lot of things and I will be experimenting with just that in the future. You knocked it out of the park again Nagi. Thank you so much.
Nagi is ther a way to make tomato passata at home?
Hi Shaki! For this one, just blitz canned tomato 🙂 N xx
The bomb! Excellent recipe.
My daughter’s boyfriend is from India and will be visiting in the summer. I need to practice some Indian recipes to get his approval, being I am a chef.
The only thing missing was the naan bread
Oooh, I’m honoured a professional made this – and approved! 🙂 Working on the naan recipe… working on it! It’s the chew… struggling to get that real chew! N xx
Re naan bread. You’re probably working thru all these tips already but I found this recipe has a lot of comments that sound authentic… If any of these ideas help, regard this as my tiny contribution to the cause lol
Which recipe?? Which recipe??? OMG I have tried SO MANY!!!!😩 I need every bit of help I can get!!!