Chicken Tikka Masala is an addictive, classic dish for lunch or dinner where the chicken marinated in aromatic spices is first grilled and then mixed in a finger licking sauce or tikka masala.
It’s very easy to make at home than you actually think. Homemade tikka masala or sauce tastes better than any restaurant or dhaba.
What is chicken tikka masala?
Chicken tikka masala is one of the popular chicken dishes around the world. Marinated chicken pieces in Indian spice mix are grilled to perfection in tandoor or oven or barbecue and then tossed in a spicy gravy or curry called masala. Tikka masala is a smooth and silky blend of onion, tomato and Indian spices.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BUTTER CHICKEN (MAKHANI) AND CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA?
Both are popular dishes around the world. Butter masala or makhani originates from Delhi, North India and tikka masala is a British invention.
Kundal lal Gujral , who ran a restaurant in Delhi called Moti mahal did not want any leftover cooked meat in his restaurant to dry out. To avoid this, he cooked them in aromatic-spiced tomato-based gravy along with butter and cream adding richness to the overall dish and named it Butter chicken or Murgh Makhani.
On the other hand, tikka masala was developed in UK by a person from subcontinental region. Chicken tikka refers to pieces of chicken grilled on skewer and masala means Indian spice blend used to make tikkas or gravy. Butter masala is on the sweeter side and Tikka masala on the spicier side.
This delicious entree can be prepared for your upcoming tailgating events or game nights (football or super bowl) or potluck or Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holiday dinner parties!
WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHICKEN TIKKA AND CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA?
Chicken tikka is a dry item served as side or starter or appetizer, where marinated chicken in Indian spices are grilled to perfection on bbq (tandoor) or stovetop or oven.
Chicken tikka masala is nothing but chicken tikka cooked in a tomato-onion gravy along with additional spices, thus making it more hot and spicier. This can be served as an entrée or main dish with Indian breads like naan or roti.
All ingredients required for tikka and tikka masala are very basic and available at any Indian stores. But these days you can find at all big stores like Walmart, Target, Kroger.
Is Chicken Tikka Masala Keto?
Homemade version of tikka masala has low carbs, no sugar and is one of the best chicken dishes option for ketogenic diet.
How to make the best chicken tikka masala at home ?
In short, its just 4 easy steps
- Marinate the chicken
- Cook the chicken on skewers – grill (tandoor), barbeque, oven or stovetop
- Make the tikka sauce or masala or gravy
- Combine tikka masala sauce and Chicken tikka
Once you have the Chicken tikka or paneer tikka or any meat or vegetarian tikkas ready, preparing the masala (gravy or curry or sauce) is super easy. This recipe below gives you a spicy curry and that is what my family and friends love. But based on the heat level you can tolerate adjust the amount of red chili powder you add to the dish. You can even skip adding red chilli powder to the tikka masala to obtain a milder gravy.
In USA, you really get good tomato sauce and thus I have substituted tomatoes with this tomato sauce. If you do not find store bought tomato sauce, add 2 pureed tomatoes to the recipe. (Tomato sauce in USA is different from what we get in India)
To start with chicken tikka masala, heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds. When they splutter add onions, garlic, ginger and sauté till they become translucent.
To this add sour cream, tomato sauce, all the spice powders like chili powder, garam masla powder (tandoori masala), and coriander powder as per your taste. Because I had some extra marinade from preparing chicken tikkas I have added it to the gravy – this is completely optional.
Once this comes to a simmer, add the prepared chicken tikkas along with the grilled veggies if desired and continue to simmer for additional 5 minutes.
And you are done. Finally, add butter to this and serve with your favorite bread!
Which works best for tikka – chicken thighs or chicken breasts?
Both chicken thigh and breast meat works equally good – but I generally prefer using thighs over breasts as I love the fact that the meat is tender and juicy when cooked. An additional plus point is that the marination time for thighs is less compared to breasts. If you want to prepare this dish as quickly as possible even for your weeknight dinner, then use chicken thighs.
If using chicken breasts for health reasons make sure you marinate it a little longer. Overnight would give you the best results. And let the breast meat rest for a few minutes after it is cooked before serving or slicing through to retain its juiciness.
How to prepare paneer tikka masala or vegetarian tikka masala?
Vegetarians can still prepare this tikka masala sauce by substituting meat with paneer or tofu, cauliflower, babycorn or mushroom.
SOME OF THE BEST POPULAR CHICKEN RECIPES TO MAKE AT HOME
- Orange chicken
- Butter chicken
- Chicken tikka
- Satay Chicken
- Cranberry chicken
- Chicken tikka biryani
- Tandoori style grilled chicken
- Chicken kali mirch
- Easy chicken biryani
- Tandoori chicken wings
- Spicy sriracha chicken wings
SOME OF MY FAVORITE, BEST AND EASY, POPULAR FLATBREAD (ROTI, NAAN) RECIPES THAT ARE PERFECT ACCOMPANIMENT FOR TIKKA MASALA
- 15 quick and easy vegan flatbread recipes – don’t miss to check this out.
- Pita Bread – popular on blog
- Thai roti bread – popular on blog
- Tava Naan
- Garlic butter Naan
- Garlic Cheese Naan
What to serve with chicken tikka masala?
Tikka Masala is a classic accompaniment for breads like naan, roti, chapatis and ghee rice or brown butter rice. Today, I have served with Garlic butter naan and this is one of the best combination ever.
Make ahead chicken tikka masala?
This dish can be made 2 days ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate it. Dishes like this which uses lot of spices enhances the flavors over the dish over time as it has chance to infuse its aroma in the dish.
Can you freeze chicken tikka masala?
You can freeze this dish upto 2 months and reheat and use as desired. Make sure you store in a zip lock bag and lay them flat.
Detailed recipe for homemade chicken tikka masala or tikka sauce
Chicken Tikka Masala is an addictive, classic dish for lunch or dinner where the chicken marinated in aromatic spices is first grilled and then mixed in a finger licking sauce (masala). Vegetarians can prepare tikka masala with same recipe, but substituting meat with paneer, babycorn, mushroom, tofu or potatoes or combination of all.
- 4 Chicken tikka skewers (12-inch skewers) (use our recipe , check tips)
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 Onion, finely chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/2 inch Ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Cooking oil
- 1 can Tomato sauce (8 oz) ( or puree from 2 large tomatoes)
- 2 tbsp Sour cream or heavy cream (check tips)
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, for color
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder, for spiciness, adjust to taste (check tips)
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1
tsp
Garam masala powder or Tandoori Masala Powder or Curry powder
- 2 to 3 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Salt, or to taste
- 1 tbsp Butter or Oil
- 1/4 cup Water
- 2 tbsp Chicken tikka marinade, completely optional
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In a sauce pan on medium heat, add oil and cumin seeds.
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When cumin seeds turn light brown, add finely chopped onions, garlic, ginger and saute until onions turn light golden brown. This should take about 5 to 8 minutes on medium flame.
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Add tomato sauce, water, sour cream, kashmiri chilli powder, spicy chilly powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder, salt, leftover marinade {optional) and mix well.
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Once this comes to a simmer, add chicken tikka (and grilled veggies if preferred) from four 12-inch skewers and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
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Chicken Tikka Masala is ready. Add a dollop of butter and serve with your favorite rice or naan.
- Complete recipe for chicken tikka
- I have used tandoori masala instead of garam masala powder.
- I added veggies from one skewer and served the rest as a side.
- This gravy was spicy, so you may reduce the extra spicy red chilli powder by half, or skip completely if you prefer mild curries.
- Kashmiri red chilli powder gives this dish the signature red color.
- If you have any leftover marinade from preparing chicken tikka, you may add it along with tomato sauce. I had about 2 tbsp of marinade left over from preparing chicken tikka which I added to this dish.
- You may easily substitute chicken with grilled veggies or Indian cottage cheese (paneer), babycorn, mushroom or even tofu in this dish to make it vegetarian.
- Always adjust all the spices to taste.
- Be sure to marinate chicken for better results. check chicken tikka
- If you want creamy, sweeter dish then check our butter chicken recipe.
- You can substitute sour cream with yogurt or heavy cream. If you feel adding cream will curdle the gravy simply take sour cream in bowl, add small amount - say few tablespoons - of hot gravy and mix it well and then add this back to the gravy.
If you like this chicken tikka masala or chicken curry (gravy) recipe,
Don’t miss to check out other delicious bread and flatbread, Indian curry and gravy recipes
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This rich sauce is the star of the show in this dish. So full of flavor. Perfect for dipping homemade bread into.
Oh my. This looks absolutely delicious. I have eaten this a ton of time and have always wanted to try and make it on my own. Recipe looks doable and I have a very well stocked Indian grocer near my house. Will let you know how I go!
This looks so delicious and tasty! My husband is going to love this! So excited!
This tikka massala was SO good! The flavors were delicious and everyone enjoyed it around the dinner table.
Wow I am drooling over these pictures. This tikka masala looks so good
Wow! This looks incredibly delicious and so enticing. The sauce makes it more so tempting and yummy. Love the presentation and it really a great perfect match to the masala.
I know this is a British invention, but I don’t care. This is so dang delicious. This is a great recipe and the instructions were easy to follow. Thanks for sharing.
I’m a huge fan of tikka masala! It’s such a comforting meat and has a lot of flavors! Need to make it again this weekend!
My mouth is watering! I could go for this for dinner tonight. I love tikka masala..such a fabulous and comforting dish that isn’t too heavy either. Looks fantastic 😀
This looks incredibly delicious. Can I hire you as my personal chef? lol.
I’m so thankful this is keto-friendly! I’ve been looking for some new keto recipes to put into my dinner rotation! Thank you!
Thank you so much for educating us on the different Marsalas. I think India is like Italy. Every region has their specialty dishes! I am a huge fan of Indian food, and you have definately inspired me to want to try your Chicken Tikka Masala!
Thank you!
You can’t beat homemade chicken tikka masala. So much flavour. YUM
This chicken masala is delicious! It is one of my new favorite recipes! The flavor is wonderful and my family loved it for dinner. I will definitely be making it again!
Yummy! This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to give this a try! So excited to try this recipe!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! My husband and I always order tikka masala from restaurants.
This recipe looks delicious,Iam in love with indian food🤤i love your recipes thank you for sharing!
I actually didn’t know the difference between tikka and tikka masala. This was an interesting read and I love both butter chicken and tikka masala. This chicken tikka masala looks perfect, perfectly spicy!
This tikka masala was delicious! I made a vegetarian version and used potatoes as you suggested and it turned out amazing! Will definitely be making again.
This recipe is a masterpiece, the chicken and its sauce are perfect plus the addition of masala makes this a great fit that whoever eats it. I love this kind of recipe that has an incredible combination.
I love, love, love a good tikka masala made from scratch! Your recipe looks so delish, cannot wait to try it!
I LOVE that this is keto friendly! What a great dinner option for me to add to my rotation! YUM!!
My family loved this Tikka Masala and can’t wait until I make it again~!!
I was looking for a good tikka masala recipe and this is it! So tasty and delish. The flavors in this are perfect.
From my days of living in Dubai for many years, Chicken Tikka Masala was one of my favourite Indian dishes but I have never tried to make it at home before now. Thanks for bringing back great memories.
Chicken tikka masala is my go to dish in Indian restaurants. But I’ve never made it myself. Yours looks delicious and sounds quite easy, so definitely on my to-make list!
Oh my!! This chicken tikka masala looks absolutely incredible. I need to make this immediately. I’ve got all the ingredients so it’s going to be our dinner tonight. I’m drooling 🤤
Wow, that sauce looks so rich and delicious. I can’t take my eyes off it!
Katie xoxo