Easy Chicken Tikka Masala
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10000x better (and faster) than take-out! And the chicken is perfectly tender with the creamiest, most flavor-packed sauce ever!
WHAT IS CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA?
Tikka masala is a very popular Indian dish (that may have actually originated from Great Britain) that consists of boneless chicken in a spiced curry sauce of tomatoes, cream, and traditional Indian spices such as garam masala and turmeric.
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA
- Cook the rice. Let’s get the rice going first so it can cook while we prep everything else. Now we love this over basmati rice but Jasmine rice can be substituted.
- Brown the chicken. Cook the chicken until nice and golden brown – we want a good sear to lock in all the flavors and juices inside the meat.
- Add your spices. Stir in all your spices and aromatics until fragrant – tomato paste, garlic, ginger, garam masala, chili powder and turmeric.
- Make the sauce. Simmer simmer simmer to let all the flavors blend together, about 10 minutes.
- Serve. Stir in heavy cream and sprinkle with cilantro, serving over rice and naan.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SUCCESS
- Chicken breasts can be substituted, but chicken thighs are highly recommended here.
- Make sure you have plenty of naan for serving, dipping, sopping.
- For a dairy-free version, coconut milk can be substituted for the heavy cream.
Easy Chicken Tikka Masala: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, chicken breasts can absolutely be used here but chicken thighs have more dark meat and a higher fat content which will yield juicier, more flavorful chicken.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the heavy cream in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding heavy cream when serving.
Easy Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ medium sweet onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons garam masala
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Season chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken and onion to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, garlic, ginger, garam masala, chili powder and turmeric until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in tomato sauce and chicken stock; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in heavy cream until heated through, about 1 minute.
- Serve immediately with rice, garnished with cilantro, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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This is absolutely delicious! My husband says it is better than take out from a restaurant!!
Soo good! Ready to follow instructions and simple ingredients… most of which I already had on hand.
Thanks for sharing your recipe. Is the chili powder you mention chili powder like the southern western mix including cumin and chile powder or is it pure chile powder like Kashmiri chile powder?
Made it last night and it was wonderful. I have a Pinterest board of my husband’s favorite meals and he said to please add this recipe to his board. Easy to make and packed with flavor. Thank you.
Hello I’m from Australia what is a can of tomato sauce please?
I believe Australians call Ketchup tomato sauce. Is that right? Tomato sauce is crushed tomatoes with seasoning in a can. I couldn’t find what it is called for you though.
Tinned tomato sauce is made from fresh tomatoes that have been pureed into a sauce sans the seeds. Name brands here in the U.S. include Hunts for example. You can also buy tinned crushed tomatoes. I have not made this recipe, although I plan to do, but I would add some crushed tomatoes to it to give it more texture. Any time you see “canned tomatoes” or “canned beans” or “canned carrots,” etc., it just means they come in tins, but in the U.S., they call them cans instead of tins. Hope this helps.
In Australia, you would call this passata, I believe. Definitely not not not what you call tomato sauce! Totally different things.
I’ve made this a few times and it is sooooo tasty, and easy/fast. I only add half a tsp chili powder since I have toddlers, and it still has a kick!
So simple but has rich flavors. My son and I love it!
Huge fan of your blog for a while now. Many of your recipes are a staple in my house.
This one joined the rotation. Simply amazing and BETTER then take-out.
Thank you! 🙂
Delicious, quick with straightforward recipe. Instantly applauded by family. Thank you
Made this exactly as instructed and it came out fantastic!
Yes, this recipe rocked! Easy, quick, really tasty.
We did marinade the chicken in yogurt, lemon, & spices, not sure if it made a big difference. Perhaps the lemon was noticeable; there was a little tang in the background.
We also added a little mint at the end with the cilantro; that was really nice.
Will definitely use this recipe again!
It tastes like I got it at a restaurant! I only used 1tsp of garam masala, as I don’t prefer those “sweet” spices & added an additional 1/2 teaspoon of the chili. Used freshly grated ginger, I was worried the ginger would be too strong but it was fine. I have a lactose intolerant eater so initially I left off the cream. It was great (& even better when I added the cream to my own bowl)! My try coconut milk next time for the lactose issue.
Made this times in a huge batch (9lbs of chicken thigh) and calorie counted across 18 servings to freeze.
Overall, pretty good!
I ended up only using 1/2 of the tomato sauce called for.
I used the chili powder asked for, but used real Indian chili powder which is quite spicy. I would reduce the chili powder to 2/3’s if you want a more typical Indian “buffett” style. (Maybe even 1/3 — I like it spicy though!).
I reduced the turmeric to 2/3’s as well since it looked a little heavy handed in comparision to my garam masala.
For Garam Masala have a big bag I made from Madhur Jaffrey (https://www.masterclass.com/articles/garam-masala-recipe-by-madhur-jaffrey).
For the garlic & ginger, I used 1 tsp of garlic ginger paste for 1 clove of the stated garlic and ginger (usually garlic / ginger paste is 50/50 ratio for Indian dishes).
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I have some experience cooking authentic Indian and this mostly came together as expected.
I used a huge 15 qt brazzier and my stove couldn’t sear all the chicken so I ended up having to drain a bunch of chicken liquid to try to get some sear on the chicken thigh.
I added some oil at the start, and browned the onions. Then I salted the chicken (1 tsp per lb of chicken) and seared it. Once the chicken was 2/3’s cooked, I threw in the Indian spices and garlic ginger and cooked for 2 minutes. Then I added in the tomato paste and cooked for 1 minute. And then added the rest of the liquid and boiled and simmered until ready. Once the tomato sauce cooks down, add the cream and heat and stir for a few minutes until you get the consistency you want.
I love all of your recipes, and this recipe was no different! I couldn’t find garam masala anywhere locally, so I subbed it out for curry powder and added 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove to give it the warmth and it was a great substitution! Definitely going to become a staple in my house for easy weekday dinners.
this was amazing! i’m indian and it was so flavorful. This one is going into my recipe book.
Love this recipe, I’ve made it so many times and never get tired of it. We are dairy-free so I use coconut milk or cream instead, doesn’t taste “coconuty” at all, it’s wonderful!
I made some modifications, less chili powder for my young children and more veggies ( sweet peppers, carrots, spinach, but this a seriously delicious quick and easy weeknight dinner that more than fulfills an Indian cravings! Thank you for this great recipe!
I made this recipe tonight for my Hubbie with a couple modifications-I used chicken breasts (that’s all I had), and didn’t have Garam Marsala, do I made some out of all spice and cumin. Also put a dash of cinnamon and a tad more tomato paste. Finally, didn’t have heavy cream so used sour cream. (I know these are a lot of changes☺️) My Hubbie who lives in Koala Lumpur said the flavor was fantastic! I have never made anything like this and am so happy it turned out so good. Thank you for sharing.
This was very good. Took more than 30 minutes, though. Made a couple of adjustments based on what we had on hand: only had a small can of tomato paste, so used the 3 tablespoons & then made sauce out of the rest – it was just right after adding a small amount of salt. Didn’t have heavy cream, so mixed 1/2 & 1/2 with plain yogurt (also better for you). Finally, discovered too late that the garam marsala I thought I had was actually tikka marsala, so I ended up with extra garlic & ginger. But who can have too much garlic & ginger? I would definitely do this one again. Thank you!
This is an outstanding recipe suitable for a dinner party or a midweek delicious meal with very little effort, especially if all ingredients are laid out before you start.
The taste is there !!!