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 has become my son’s favorite meal. He requests it weekly but I try to stretch it to every other week. 🙂 Tonight, he asked me to start helping make it so he can make it for himself. LOL Thank you for such an easy, delicious, amazing recipe!
This recipe was so banging! I’ve never tried my hand at Indian food, but this was so easy and it was so flavorful I don’t know why I waited. Thank you for another amazing recipe!
I’ve made this like 5x and it is easy and delicious! My whole family loves it. Thank you for a great recipe!
Absolutely amazing! I didn’t have all the ingredients and added mushrooms, Pumpkin and used Cubed potatoes instead of rice. WOW thanks so much it was a 10!
Easy-peasy and just as good as our local takeout!
We enjoyed this a lot. It helped that I had everything in hand and didn’t have to run to the grocery store. And it came together quickly. We might try the substitution others have mentioned next time with the coconut milk but it is tasty as is. Happy New Year
Excellent!! By far our favorite. Flavors were amazing! My daughter (13) helped make this meal with me. She asked for me not to add the cream so we left it out. I just put a dab of plain Greek yogurt on mine just before taking a bite. Yum!! We all couldn’t believe how quick it was to pull together yet had awesome flavors come though. Will be making this again and again!
Use less tomato paste, coconut milk instead of heavy cream, and Jasmine rice for basmati. Delicious. We serve it with warm naan bread.
Absolutely amazing! I didn’t have all the ingredients and added mushrooms, Pumpkin and used Cubed potatoes instead of rice. WOW thanks so much it was a 10!
Amazingly yummy!
Love this! My husband is pretty picky, and he really enjoyed this meal. And with two little kids I super appreciated how easy it was to make. My only changes were using 1 tbsp tomato paste vs 4, and adding in some cardamom, clove, and all spice. Plus, just a pinch of sugar!
Next time I’d like to try coconut milk vs the heavy cream, but it was still delicious as was. Keeper recipe!
My wife has been asking for new dinner ideas that are easy to make and fairly quick. My youngest was asking for curry dish but I am tired of making the same thing. I looked up this recipe and I made a double batch. Everyone really enjoyed it. So much that out of a double batch there is only a couple of servings left after dinner. The kids are already asking when I can do it again. Thanks
I’ve made this three times now. It’s delicious and even my picky eaters love it. I felt something was missing and the last time I made it, I added water chestnuts for crunch. It’s amazing with or without, I will keep adding the chestnuts though.
I followed the recipe as written. it was delicious, plenty of flavor. The fresh ginger root gave it a nice flavor and a little heat, I was generous with the tablespoon.
I see now the only reason your dish is rated highly is you don’t post the negative reviews! By consciously choosing not to post ALL experiences you give a false impression that your recipe is excellent. I never would’ve wasted all my ingredients or time on this horrible dish. I suggest you either post ALL reviews – or better yet, figure out a way to improve this horrible dish.
We pitched all of it.
Please be honest with reviews. It’s misleading and it’s lying not to post all the reviews submitted.
Anna, we receive thousands of comments per day and it takes 48-72 hours for reviews to be posted. No one is misleading here. Also, please be mindful that this is a food blog. We’re just trying to share our favorite recipes and I understand we all have different taste buds and preferences. I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you!
Most importantly, let’s spread some kindness. 🙂
Let’s spread honesty too by submitting all reviews. 🙂
Absolutely. Our integrity is very, very important here on Damn Delicious. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🙂
ya cant be serious! you must not like Indian or spicy food ?
Recipe sounds delicious and am excited to be making tonight. However, quick question on the sweet onion? Are you using a vidalia or just a regular yellow onion. Just curious as don’t use a lot of sweet onions for cooking. THANKS!
If you haven’t made this, don’t. It’s horrible. Spend some extra time and make a real recipe.
Dang, Anna. Try Dominos next time.
For the record, we LOVED it!
Anna- do you have your own food blog and hate that this one is doing better than yours or what? No clue why you have such hate in your heart, but no one wants to see all your rude comments and negativity. If you don’t like the recipe then move on down the road.
For the record, I made this recipe and it was magnificent!!! Absolutely wonderful! Whole family asked for seconds.
Wow! I think you have a problem. If you don’t like it, fine, but don’t keep on and on about it. It’s rude!
Posting hateful comments without detailing what the reviewer disliked about a recipe helps no one. The only purpose of Anna’s comment is to spread hate and negativity.
Our family including our 9 year old loved this. It was a bit too much tomato flavor for me so I’ll probably cut the tomato paste down by 1 Tbs next time. I did sprinkle in a little more Garam masala too. I used coconut oil to cook the chicken to get the coconut flavor as well. I may try with coconut milk next time. With all that being said it was awesome, Thank you for the recipe!
This was the first Tikki Marsala I’ve ever made 2 months ago and it was such a big hit, that I’ve HAD to make it 5 more times. My daughter is obsessed with it and keeps requesting it. I followed the recipe every time and it is so delicious.
After round 4 I don’t even need to write down the ingredients anymore.
Thank you for this awesome recipe.
The taste is great! I did add extra spices- some ground cardamom, allspice, coriander based on the comments. I tried to double the recipe and added way too much broth and sauce I think. So it never got creamy. Just soupy. I’m sure if I followed the recipe it would have been creamy . But it tastes delicious!!
It’s really Damn Delicious!!! 5 stars rating. Followed recipe and it turned Out very tasty authentic Indian food!! Will make more in future.
Absolutely delicious! My entire family loves this dish. My daughter said,“how is this sooo good?!?” Thanks for sharing!