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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Yesssssss! I made this and took some to work for one of my coworkers. She ran over to my desk and told me than any time I made this I HAD TO bring her some. This was easy, flavorful, and made enough to share (although I didn’t really want to :-)). I have just saved 3 more of your recipes!!!
Fantastic dish & needed no amendments, this will be a regular in our home
Outstanding! Very easy and delicious. My whole family loved it.
On it’s own, it does taste too tomato-y.I doubled the spice and it was perfect. Will make this again and again.
great flavor, super easy
Definately the best homemade curry I have ever made. I do not buy a take-away anymore just freeze what I do not eat. I have also used prawns instead of chicken and it is equally delicious. My wife loves it too and she is not a great curry lover. I would highly recommend.
Made this twice before with thighs. This time I used Chicken tenders—talk about easy! I laid the tenders on the cutting board, sliced across all of them at once with a cleaver—cutting any long portions one more time, and seconds later cooking them with the onions. Wonderful flavor. Thanks so much for this easy recipe.
A slight twist on this is to marinate the chicken in yoghurt and spices prior to cooking it. I’ve cooked this both ways and either way it’s delicious. Thank you 🙂
This is a good base recipe, but mine turned out quite tomato-y tasting. So I doubled the spices, and added some coriander, cumin and cinnamon, a little brown sugar and it tasted a lot better. Next time I would reduce the tomato sauce and chicken broth, as there was too much sauce. I also added some peas so there were some veg.
My entire family of 7 love this dish! I served with diced cherry tomatoes and green onion mixture on top (mixed with olive oil and salt and pepper) and it was amazing!
Okay- I’m literally only 16 and this was so easy to make for my entire family! I was craving food form one of my favorite Indian restaurants, but the restaurant we love is 50 minutes away. So what did I do? Look for a great chicken tikka masala recipe… and boy did I find it!
Oh my WORD this is delicious. Damn Delicious. My changes: I only had chicken breast, red onion, and half and half. I cut the chili powder in half because of kiddos, and it still had just enough spice. It’s not even time to put in the half and half yet and I am in love. I doubt my poor fiancé will even have leftovers for lunch.
Obsessed with this Tikka Masala recipe. I’ve made the slightest variations of it here and there (especially when I’m out of something and need a sub) but this is my go-to recipe! Love the spice, it’s for sure a comfort food for my family. Thanks for sharing this one 🙂
This was soooo good! We bribed the chicken thighs and added chickpeas the next day to it to bulk it up for leftovers. I know it makes it inauthentic but we used curry powder in place of garam masala since we don’t like garam masala. Great recipe!
OK, what is ‘bribed’ (the chicken thighs)? It’s not a cooking term I’ve ever heard before (from the UK). Marinated possibly? Thanks
brined, I believe was the intent.
Although I liked the simplicity of this recipe, it did not taste like the tiki Marsala that is typically marinated in yogurt. In addition, the chicken and onion produced a lot of liquid during the cooking process which made the chicken taste like boiled chicken which is not as desirable. I think the marinating process gives richer flavor. It also is helpful when the chicken is grilled instead of pan fried. Thank you for the recipe but I think that I have to stick to the old recipe that I follow to satisfy my family. I appreciate the efforts and I am glad a lot of other people liked it.
Love this, it has become a go-to, I’m-out-of-time dinner that I crave. Popular around the table too, thank you!
Made this last night and it is delicious!!! Can’t wait to have the leftovers tonight! My sixteen-year-old son also loved it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe it really is incredible!
Absolutely delicious
I lowered the garam marsala and added cumin and cayenne. I also switched to tomatoe puree to make thicker.
Had my doubts about this recipe. We live fairly close to a world-class Indian restaurant in DC but it has been closed because of COVID and we haven’t ventured into takeout yet. Wow! It turned out great. After reading some of the reviews, I made some minor adjustments. I used only about 10 oz of tomato sauce (15 seemed too much for our taste), used white meat chicken (my husband doesn’t eat dark meat), and added a few dashed of paprika and coriander seed. It was so incredibly easy and terrifically tasty. It will definitely be a permanent part of my dinner rotation.