Chicken Tikka Masala – at home – on the couch – in 30 minutes. THIS IS HAPPENING.
click here to Pin this recipeWelcome to the most creamy, luscious, medium-spicy, weeknight-manageable, must-have-it-NOW chicken tikka masala.
It is everything you want tikka masala to be: packed with flavor, with just enough browned bits on your chicken to keep it interesting, tangy but also rich, with that signature bronze-orange tikka masala color. Scoop it up over hot rice with a shower of fresh cilantro and you are in tikka masala biz-ness.
The Secret Ingredient
Okay, you might have opinions about this, but personally I like to approach chicken tikka masala as a five ingredient recipe:
- Chicken
- Yogurt
- Tomato sauce
- Cream
- Masala paste
Let’s talk about the masala paste. In order to approach this as a five ingredient recipe, we need to establish that one of the “ingredients” is a MASALA PASTE with lots of fragrant and punchy and deeply flavored ingredients.
You make this masala paste once, it is done in about five minutes, and then it lives in your freezer so that forevermore you will have the ability to make this chicken tikka masala as a – you guessed it – quick, easy, five ingredient recipe.
Are you following?
So the first order of business here is making the masala paste. Today. Right now. End of story. One five minute batch of masala paste = many batches of this five ingredient CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA with hardly any thought or effort.
If you can, if you will, if you need good recipes that taste like your favorite Indian restaurant just came into your house, please make that masala paste which will transform into this sauce which will cover this chicken which makes the simplest chicken tikka masala happen in your life, in your very own home, on your very own couch in your very own sweats because HELLO.
Only the best for tikka masala.
Ways to Make Chicken Tikka Masala
This recipe is written to be done on the stovetop, but you could make it in the Instant Pot or a slow cooker for a more hands-off approach. I prefer the traditional stovetop version, but all ways are very delicious.
Check out the notes section of the recipe below for specific instructions for both!
Check out our video for how to make Chicken Tikka Masala:
Chicken Tikka Masala
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 1x
Description
Chicken Tikka Masala – creamy, perfectly spicy, and ready in 30 minutes! you won’t believe how easy it is to make this at home!
Ingredients
Chicken Tikka Masala:
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup masala paste (recipe follows)
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1–2 tablespoons oil
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 1 cup heavy cream (sub a 14-ounce can of regular coconut milk)
- 1–2 teaspoons kosher salt
- rice and cilantro for serving
Masala Paste:
- 2 onions (about 3 cups when chopped)
- 5 cloves garlic
- a 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
- 3 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoon each chili powder, turmeric, and cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- a small pile of cilantro stems
- juice of one lemon
Instructions
- MASALA PASTE: Pulse all ingredients into a food processor until smooth. Set aside about 1/4 cup of the paste for this recipe – freeze the rest for your next batch! Boom!
- MARINATE CHICKEN: Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Marinate with 1-2 tablespoons of masala paste and the yogurt for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
- COOK CHICKEN: Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil. Cook the chicken in batches, undisturbed, until each piece is nice and browned on the outside. Remove from pan and set aside. (Chicken does not need to be fully cooked at this point.)
- SAUCE: Add 2-3 tablespoons of masala paste to the same skillet. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add the tomato puree and browned chicken; simmer for 10-15 minutes. (Chicken should now be fully cooked.)
- FINISH: Stir in cream or coconut milk. Season with salt. Let stand for a while so the sauce will thicken up a bit. Serve over rice with cilantro. HEAVEN.
Notes
Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala: Same ingredients and instructions for steps 1 and 2. At step 3, add chicken, masala paste, and tomato puree to the Instant Pot, and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes. Use the quick release. Add cream in at the end.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala: Same ingredients and instructions for steps 1 and 2. At step 3, add chicken, masala paste, and tomato puree to the slow cooker, and cook for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Add cream in at the end.
Tomato Puree: You can buy canned tomato puree at a lot of grocery stores. Otherwise just plain tomato sauce (it’s just a little thinner) or use canned tomatoes and run them through the food processor or blender till smooth. The idea is just plain pureed tomatoes without seasoning.
Dairy Free Chicken Tikka Masala: Coconut milk or light coconut milk can be used and it’s delicious! It will just be slightly less thick and creamy.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: Indian
Keywords: chicken tikka masala, masala paste, Indian restaurant, chicken dinner recipe
Nutrition Facts are for 6 servings, not including rice.
One more thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy gluten-free recipes. Check it out!
Pinterest
I have been a follower for quite some time. Wonderful ideas on food. This Tikka Masala is to die for. We have not had Indian take out in awhile and this is just as good if not better! Not overly spicy so I added cause I love me some spice. Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed this, Britta! 😊
When making double the recipe I:
Use 1 can of coconut milk instead of 2
Use 2 tsp of salt
Garam Masala paste from our local Sprouts store instead of making my own
Came out really well!
Thanks for sharing, Andrew!
Hi,
My sauce ended up really grainy. I am guessing from the yogurt- how do i prevent this?
Hmmm can you help clarify a bit more what you mean by grainy?
I had the same issue as a couple other of your readers did as well. With having way too much liquid in the pan when I was trying to brown the chicken. I noticed in your video you do not have all that liquid. Do you strain your yogurt and Pat it dry to avoid all the excess liquid? Can you help me with this this was my only problem with the recipe. We absolutely loved it!
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Hi, Connie! That’s right – when we go to cook the chicken, we sometimes lightly blot the chicken pieces so that there’s not excess liquid on them. This can help with the extra liquid issue you mentioned.
Creating a paste for later was a genius idea to whip this up anytime! Definitely keeping that tip. Our dinner was so yummy! Thanks for such a great recipe!
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Yes! We love finding extra of this paste stashed away in our freezers. 🙂
In the middle of making the paste…has anyone used Whole Garam Masala? Trying to figure out if I need to grind it first (I think yes?)?!
Graham masala is a ground blend of spices. Whole spices of cinnamon, mace, peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and cardamon pods are toasted in a pan to release their aromatic flavors, then ground to a powder.
We’d recommend grinding it first. 🙂
I’m in the process of letting my chicken marinate as we speak! I’m so excite to try this. My husband was purring from the couch by the smell of the masala paste, alone!
I do have a question, though! How would you recommend freezing storage wise, and do you do so in 1/4 cup increments?
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We think that’s a great idea to store it in 1/4 cup increments – makes it easy for future chicken tikka masalas! We’d suggest freezing it in a freezer-safe jar for easy access.
I found this recipe of yours years ago and my wife and I love it. But have you changed it? I remember it used to call for Almonds in the Masala Paste? We liked that but cant remember how much was used. Also the heavy cream is new.
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Hi, Adam! Yep, we recently updated this recipe. 🙂 You can find the old version of the chicken tikka masala here as well as the masala paste recipe here.
Hi
You say to cook in a large nonstick skillet but you show cooking the chicken in an enameled Dutch oven, which I think would be better for browning anyway. I don’t have a deep nonstick Skillet but I do own Dutch ovens. I’m going to cook now but I would like to know what you think is best. Sheltering in place in the suburbs of NYC.. thank you !
Either should work here. Enjoy, Genevieve!
This recipe looks amazing.
Can I substitute sour cream for the yogurt?
We haven’t tried that yet, but it might have a bit more tang.
Hi,
Can’t wait to make this recipe!! LOVE Indian food!!
Do you recommend white , yellow, or purple onions?
Thank you!
Just yellow onions will work here. 🙂
This recipe was amazing. My boyfriend of two years said, “I never knew you could make Indian food” as he helped himself to thirds. I made a smaller portion of the recipe and used tomato sauce instead as I did not have tomato puree and used coconut milk. It was a little thin so I added a little bit of cornstarch which thickened it up to a perfect thickness. It was so so good and I can’t wait to make it again. I also made your chocolate chip cookies for dessert! Love your recipes as they are straight forward, delicious and I usually have the ingredients on hand!
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Glad you enjoyed this and the cookies, Lindsey!
This is such an amazing (and easy!) recipe.
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Hi
What exactly is Tomato Purée .. does it come in can or do you make it from canned tomatoes ? If it comes in can , what brand ? I’m making list for grocery home delivery and not sure I can get this …thx!
Just pureed tomatoes, but tomato sauce can work as a sub here.
Question: you mention to make this dairy free to sub coconut milk for the heavy cream. What can I sub for the yogurt? Should I just omit it? Thanks!
You could use plain unsweetened coconut milk yogurt here instead.
Question! Do you need to defrost the frozen paste or can you just throw it in the microwave to heat it back up before you marinade?
Either option should work. 🙂
This is super easy to make and delicious! Second time making it this evening and it was even easier than last time as I had the paste already made and frozen. We’re from the UK and have been missing our curries while we’ve been living in the US so this went down a storm! I used extra paste in the marinade and when I was cooking this time round as I wanted a richer flavour and it was perfect for us. Will be a regular week night meal for sure. Thank-you!!
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So glad to hear you enjoyed this, Kelechi!
I have to say as someone who cooks Pakistani food on a regular basis, this is one of the best chicken tikka masala recipes I have used to cook at home. I experimented with 2 ingredients in addition to what you have above are dry fenugreek and ghee (indian clarified butter). Along with the heavy cream, I added 1 tablespoon of Ghee and 1 Teaspoon of dried fenugreek and let it simmer for about 5 min on low heat. This really brings that authentic smell in chicken tikka masala. Thank you for posting such an incredibly easy recipe which I cherish almost every week 🙂
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So glad you enjoyed this, Anila!
Made this last night! I’m already planning to make it again this week!! Delicious!! So so delicious!! We are vegetarian so I made paneer and then followed the directions as if making chicken. Oh my yum! Then I made a panini for my husband for lunch today and used the masala paste as a spread on his sandwich. Wowee wow wow!
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Sounds delicious!
Very tasty curry: lots of flavour but not heat. My husband asked when I could make it again, so it’s just as well I have 2 portions (I used way more than 1/4 cup today) of spice paste in the freezer! Thanks for the recipe.
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So glad you enjoyed this, Fiona!
So, I’ve made numerous attempts at cooking Indian food at home, and my success has ranged from ‘just okay’ to ‘throw-that-recipe-away-immediately’.. This is the first recipe I’ve tried that 1) doesn’t come with ridiculously long list of ingredients and steps that 2) tasted really good! It’s very, very close to the tikka masala we get at our local restaurant.
I had the same issue as another commenter, where a lot of marinade ended up in the pan, so I didn’t get much browning. If one wanted to avoid this, they could try patting off excess marinade with paper towels before putting the chicken in the pan.. but it seems like a lot of extra mess for something that is going to be drowned in sauce at the end anyway. 😉
Thank you so much for the recipe! I will be making this again.
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So happy to hear this, Erin!
Delicious! My whole fam demolished it. So easy too
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Very tasty recipe. We really enjoyed it. When I cook the chicken pieces, a lot of liquid from the marinade and the chicken come out on the pan. It doesn’t brown or look more dry like in the video. It just simmers in the liquid.
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Absolutely incredible! Pinch of yum made me love cooking!!!
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This makes us so happy to hear! ❤️
We doubled the masala paste as recommended by others. It was delicious, my family devoured it.
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So happy to hear this, Lina!