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 Riceelse 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 Masalaand 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 kitchencomplaining 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 thusone of the most popular curries in the world was born. 🙂 And even though it’s not a traditional Indian dishthe 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.
RegretfullyI 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. Thighsmy 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 hourspreferably 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 thatwe make the saucethen 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 Masalamade from scratch. With the signature deep orangey red saucewafting with aromatic curry flavoursmothering 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 longbut 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 longhere’s the best news – no hunting down unusual ingredients. You can get every single ingredient from the major supermarkets here in Australia (WooliesColesHarris Farmsmost Aldi’s and large IGA’s).
RECIPE REFERENCES
This recipe is the result of a mountain of readingresearchingtasting 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 masalaand 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 unknownincluding 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 Chickenthe main thing is the char grilled flavour of the chicken which Butter Chicken does not have. Alsothe sauce of Tikka Masala is more intense and complex. 🙂
For curry lovers everywhereit’s truly worth making your own curry from scratch at least once in your life. Like Thai Red Currya store bought curry paste (even a really great one) simply doesn’t compare. If I were to make this using a jar of pasteI would pimp it up quite a bit with fresh garlicginger and spicesand 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 togethertag teaming with the recipe until we “got it right” (meaningas 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- 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! Chewystretchyfluffy – the ultimate homemade naan recipe right here
- No Yeast Easy Soft Flatbread. Perfect to use as naanbut 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 (bonelessskinless)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 saltcuminground corianderpaprika (sweetnormal 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 onionfinely chopped (brownwhite 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 4also 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 meltedadd onionsginger and salt.
- Cookstirring constantly to ensure it doesn’t burnuntil the ginger is starting to turn golden and the onions smell sweetabout 5 – 7 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic and paprikaand cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the Curry Sauce Spicesand cook a further 2 minutesstirring.
- Add tomato passata and waterand mix. Bring to a simmerthen cover and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer for 15 minutesstirring occasionally.
- Pour curry into a bowlthen use a stick blender to puree until smooth (Note 5).
- Return sauce to skillet. Add creamsugar and butter. Stir to melt the butter.
- Add chickenstir. 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 ricesprinkled 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 recipeit 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 + oilit 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. Generallyintense flavours = more salt required. 5. Storage / make ahead – Chicken can be marinated for up to 48 hours in the fridgeor 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 daysor freezer for 3 months (defrost then reheat in microwave or on stove with splash of extra water). Howeverunlike stewscurries are at their prime freshly madewhen 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 servingassuming 5 servings (excludes ricenaan 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
Miserablesulky post-swim hose down. No feeling sorry for him! He just spent the last hour swimming and rolling in sand!!!
I love nagis butter chicken recipe so this one felt like a bit of faff while I was making it. Extra stepsloads of spices usedblending requirement etc. But wow. It’s much closer to a ‘real’ curry than the butter chicken and the family absolutely loved it. Used chicken breast an as others have said just don’t overcook it at the beginning and it’s fine. I’ll have to perfect my charring technique but otherwisewow – what a curry. Yum! Thanks nagi.
I figured since we are both in Australia that a tablespoon was 20ml…?
Nouse 15ml tablespoons for all Nagi’s recipes as she does. It may not matter for smaller amounts like 1 Tbspbut for 6 Tbsp it definitely could matter!
I’m wanting to use the Tikka recipe here to have with rice and salad tomorrow. Will marinade it tonight…anyone just eaten the tikka in it’s own from this recipe?
Best tikka masala recipe I’ve found! Didn’t have any chickenso I did prawns and spinach from the freezer. So I just skipped the chicken tikka sectionmade the sauce and fried prawns in some dry spices when the sauce was done. Added a bit of chicken stock in lieu of chicken. Love all of Nagi’s recipesalways so yummy and well written. Plus the portion scaler is sooo handy (I made this tikka masala just for me!).
Absolutely delicious!!
I make this every week it my absolute favourite even my work colleagues love it
5 stars…I have made it on rotation.. but I use chicken breast instead.. it’s bloody good.. and so tender.. marinate as normal.. quick sear in a hot pan..out while still undercookedpoach in the sauce at the end to cook it through.. divine 🤤 thanks Nagi x
Scaled this up for a party of 30. It was absolutely delicious and they loved it.
I have made lots of Nagi’s recipes. They’re amazing. The butter chicken was an amazing discovery.
I though this would be a another level above the butter chicken but I felt the flavour was much less intense. It was more tomatoey and felt a little watered down. The consistency was great and it looked amazing. But the flavour although still nice just didn’t feel as intense? Is that just me? Will try again and see if I missed something.
Wellthat was pretty bloody yummy! The spices are bright and vibrant. Despite the butter it’s not the same creaminess profile as butter chicken (another favourite in this house). Is it a bit more work? Yes. Is it still worth it? Yes! Do try it. I used beautiful fresh free range chook thighsand marinated 24 hours. I also charred the chicken in my blackened steel wok outside on the BBQ wok burner. Everything else was done in my Le Creuset Dutch oven on the stove. I might’ve been a bit heavy handed with the cayenne but it was still mild enough for all the family to enjoy.
Forgot to rate it! 5 stars of course!
(PS: I served this with snow peas and Aldi Roti – which is surprisingly fantastic (find it in the freezer section)
I’ve made many of your recipes because of how reliable and delicious you approach cooking and enjoying food.
Many thanks!!
I only to have to say this is from Nagi to get the nod from the whole family.
A first time tika masala for me and I adapted it for prawns.
Absolutely devine.
Used 2tblspn of oil instead of 3 and will next time try for 1 but didn’t skimp on the ghee/butter.
Served with basmati rice and rotithis was such a full on flavoursome and satisfying dish.
How many Nagi recipes can I have on rotation!?
I like this womans indian recipesbecause not only do they taste great they are much simpler and easier to make than the other indian food recipe sites which use 8-10 ingredients which you probably wont have.
Love this recipeso tasty.
I find that it tastes just as good without the blended step – you can skip a bit of time by starting on the sauce firstand while it simmerscook the chicken
Just want you to know that this is my first time making tikka masala from scratch..and it did not disappoint! My family LOVE it!!! Even my extremely picky toddler likes her Naan dipped in the sauce before eating it (she only eats the bread). My wrong is that I didn’t read the entire recipe and found out the last minute that it takes a lot of preparation so I didn’t get to marinate the chixken that long. Anyway i saved some of the sauce and today I just pan sautéed some marinated chicken in garlic pepper and salt. And tossed the leftover sauce..and it is as amazing as the first time. I am thinking of making a big batch of sauce to freeze and just use grilled chicken for less fuss. Thank you for the recipe!!!
Hello I’m just wondering if the recipe is correct it says 3 tablespoons oil for the sauce and also (65ml) which is it? 3 tablespoons is only 45ml?
I made this tonight and it devoured by even the fussy toddlers!
I omitted the cayenne pepper because the family doesn’t do spice (I add chili oil to mine at the table!)and it worked a charm.
My only note is that next time I will leave the thighs wholeor potentially halve them and cook them on the BBQ to achieve the char more like what you’d get from a Tandoor oven.
first class Curry – absolutely delicious!
Absolutely amazing! I have made this numerous times it is the best chicken tikka masala I have ever made. I had friends round for dinner and they said it was better than restaurants. I also made the fluffy naan which were equally good.
I love trying your recipes Nagi. Thank you for sharing 🫶🏻 😊
This curry was incredible! Genuinely tastes as good as any tikka masala I’ve had in restaurants. Can’t wait to cook it again. Thank you!