Summary:
This chicken tikka masala recipe is restaurant quality, made from scratch, and easy to make. The chicken is tender and flavorful, simmered in a generous tikka masala sauce that's creamy, thick, and decadent. It's also low carb, keto, and gluten free.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 35 mins
Marinate: 1 hr
Yield: 4 servings
Calories: 510
Net Carbs: 10g
INGREDIENTS
Marinating Chicken:
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (Note 1)
- 7-ounce container plain greek yogurt (Note 2)
- 1 tablespoon
garam masala (Note 3) - 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon
ground ginger
INSTRUCTIONS
- Marinate Chicken: Stir together all marinade ingredients except chicken in large bowl until well-mixed; set aside. Pat chicken dry with paper towels, and cut into bite-sized chunks, 1/2 to 1 inch in size. Stir chicken chunks into marinade until well-coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Sear Chicken: Heat nonstick pan (Note 6) over high heat, no oil needed. Add 1/2 of chicken chunks (along with any marinade sticking to them; Note 7) to pan and spread them out. Cook until golden brown and a bit charred, a few minutes, while stirring and flipping chicken to sear all sides. As they finish searing, transfer to large plate. Repeat with remaining chicken (Note 8).
- Simmer Sauce: Reduce to medium heat. Add all sauce ingredients to now-empty pan, stirring for a minute until mixed. Add seared chicken chunks (without drippings) to pan and submerge in sauce; no need to stir. Bring sauce to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and decreasing heat as needed to maintain light simmer. Chicken should be cooked through and sauce should be slightly thickened and orange. Turn off heat. Serve (Note 9).
NUTRITION
| Makes 4 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving: |
| Calories 510 (62% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 35g | 54% |
| Saturated Fat 21g | 107% |
| Cholesterol 172mg | 57% |
| Sodium 410mg | 17% |
| Net Carb 10g | |
| Total Carb 14.5g | 5% |
| Dietary Fiber 4.5g | 17% |
| Sugars 7.5g | |
| Protein 34g |
PHOTOS
It irritates me so much when people make adjustments to the recipe and then have the nerve to leave a low rating. This recipe is so delicious. My brother brought some home from an indian restaurant but it was ridiculously expensive. This was better than the restaurant’s tikka masala! I enjoy the fact that there is extra sauce to dip bread in or cover my rice or use on top of veggies. So good! Thank you for this recipe!
I consider myself an Indian food connoisseur, and this recipe is completely on point…WHEN you follow the directions and use the ingredients listed. Outstanding work here, Julia! I served this over brown rice, with cucumber raita and garlic butter naan. I doubled the cayenne as suggested for more spice, and it was perfect. Absolutely wonderful, thank you for sharing with us!
This base recipe is THE BOMB! Thank you so much! Tomato sauce is what I was doing wrong. I kept using crushed tomatoes, which are still too bright.
I have made this recipe 15 or so times at this point and we love it so much. I do substitute chicken breast with tenderloin instead because it’s not as tough and I prefer the texture. Also easier to cut since they’re basically the perfect thickness/width. I also try my hardest to wait for the marinating but half the time I’m cooking it within 15 minutes or so and it’s still delicious…just a note for those as anxious and unorganized as me lol.
Maybe just once you can wait overnight for it to marinate to see the difference in the depth of flavor the chicken takes on.
Love it.
I love this recipe! As someone who is particular and well versed in Indian food, this is the best tikka masala recipe I’ve found. I use 5% Fage cause I love the texture it produces, and a generous serving of cayenne. I’ll make this 2-4 times a month, and it’s good for meal prep, too!
(oh and other recipes waste a lot of the marinade, this one uses it all)
I made this exactly like the recipe with the exception of the heavy whipping cream. I used coconut cream instead. Ah mazing!!!
Substitutes: plain whole milk yogurt was substituted in place of Greek, and whole VitD milk was substituted in place or heavy whipping cream. Still turned out and tasted great. Thanks for the great recipe 👍
I’ve been using this recipe for a year or so now. We love it! I noticed you changed the recipe and now say to “sear the chicken”. I have so much liquid from the marinade that I don’t know how to get a great sear. Thoughts?
Some thoughts:
– Make sure your chicken chunks are dry. Pat them with paper towels.
– The marinade should not be liquid-y. It should be thick. Verify that you’re using Greek yogurt. Cut down on the lemon juice, if needed.
– The pan should be very hot before searing. Don’t add the marinated chicken until it’s fully heated.
– Add only one-quarter of the marinated chicken to the hot pan at a time, sear, then repeat.
Usually a poor sear is the result of the pan cooling too much, which can happen when you add too much marinated chicken at a time. Hope that helps!
I was skeptical about this recipe at first. I’ve tried many different chicken tikka masala recipes and this is hands down the best batch I’ve ever made. This recipe is a winner! I did adjust some spices like adding turmeric, cinnamon, ground coriander, and fenugreek but everything else was the same. Thank you for the awesome recipe!!
How much did you add? (Measurements)
About a 1/4 tsp. Turmeric, 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, 3/4 tsp. Ground Coriander, and about a tablespoon of crushed fenugreek leaves.
I’ve made this recipe several times now and it’s a favorite go to! Delicious in flavor and beautiful color. Thank you for sharing! Making it tonight per daughter’s request!
This was a good recipe! I made it as suggested since it was the first time. I doubled the recipe exactly and went for more cayenne based on the recommendation. I doubled the cayenne and would personally still call that “medium” lol, but I like heat.
The only thing is, it did not turn out this creamy orange color. Mine was more brown, I’m not sure why. Super creamy and very rich though. Next time I would probably use a higher ratio of tomato sauce and swap a tad of the cream for chicken broth, however it was good as-is and I would probably reference this recipe again even if I tweaked it.
I paired it with a keto-friendly naam recipe I found and it was a great meal.
I’d like to request a naan recipe though haha. What I used was more like a naan biscuit, based off of a fathead dough. It was good, but I’d love something better!
I LOVE making this dish! Thank you so very much for the recipe, it is excellent! I cheat quite a bit and throw all the chicken in the pan (and usually a double serving because I can eat on it for days) and add the sauce ingredients directly with the chicken. Saves me a plate to clean which I always try to do 🙂
This is my new go to recipe. Guests rave about it and hubs regularly asks for it.
This came out tasting great. But no matter what, mine is always pink. Tomato sauce is red and the heavy cream makes it pink. My garam masala is a brown color. And I don’t see turmeric or curry in the recipe so nothing to really make it orange.
That’s strange. Are you missing the paprika by any chance? I haven’t had mine turn pink at all and I make this a few times a month.
This recipe is so great! The sauce is fantastic and I like to double it so I have a lot leftover and I can use it over rice or veggies for the rest of the week. One thing I’ve found is sometimes my chicken turns out rubbery. I follow the recipe exactly every time so I’m not sure why this happens and I would love if you had some pointers on how to deter that.
Here are some ideas:
(1) Don’t sear the chicken as long as you have been. And once they’re seared, immediately transfer to a plate. Use lower heat, too. These small changes may help by avoiding overcooking the chicken.
(2) Are you using the same brand of chicken every time? Things like the supplier of chicken and if it was previously frozen could be the issue.
(3) Try boneless skinless chicken thighs instead. They’re less likely to overcook, which is usually the reason why you get rubbery tasting chicken.
Hope that helps!
Got my chicken marinating in the fridge for my dinner tomorrow! My first ever attempt at a curry and I’m very much looking forward to it. Will substitute the cream for coconut milk and adding onions just to make it a bit healthier. After reading everyone’s comments, I have high hopes! 🤞🏼 thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂
You’re welcome. Hope you enjoy it, and please let me know how it turns out for you.
Absolutely delicious!!
Omg so good! Love Indian food but have never made any and after searching and searching, I chose this one based off of the comments alone! Basically followed this recipe to the t with the exception of adding a bit more spice with red pepper flakes and a Thai spice blend I had on hand. Delicious and so easy! Will definitely make this again!
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe Julia!
How did you get the light color in the end if you slightly charred the chicken in the beginning? There is always some char left in the bottom of the skillet after the chicken is done and it ends up mixing into the sauce somewhat. Also, I meant to give this 4 stars since it is pretty good. Mine just turned out darker even though I followed the directions to a T.
It sounds like your chicken is overly charred; note that the instructions in Step 3 state “Cook for a few minutes until they are golden brown and a bit charred.” The chicken can go quickly from golden brown to overly charred, so transfer them to a plate promptly to avoid this issue.
Another thing to pay attention to is the fact that I use a nonstick pan (Step 3). If you used a stainless steel pan, the chicken and its marinade will easily stick to the pan and burn.
I have made this recipe a lot, it’s easy and tastes delicious. I can’t wait to eat it again tonight. I use any leftovers in puff pastry, just cut a sheet of pastry in 4 and put some of the leftovers on a half of the sheet, fold and crimp the sides, and freeze or eat as a Sunday snack. Delicious!
Can I make this without Fage yogurt? Why is this yogurt different?
Use yogurt that is Greek style (because they are much thicker than regular yogurt, making it a more effective marinade that easily coats the chicken chunks). It doesn’t have to be the Fage brand; I mention it because that’s the brand that I use and have tested this recipe with. I also haven’t found any other yogurt brands besides Fage in my local stores that are Greek style, plain unflavored, and not the nonfat kind.
My husband loved this dish. It was my first time making Tikka Masala from scratch and it is worth the effort. The marinated chicken elevates the dish. I served it with cauliflower rice and it was the perfect accompaniment. We will definitely make it again!
This was delicious! I made it with chicken thighs and served with keto Naan. Wonderful low-carb supper!
I’ve made this recipe several times now and we love it. Here are the changes I make:
I use a package of chicken thighs- usually a bit over a pound. I also basically double all the dried spices. Not for the marinade, but for the sauce for sure. I also use two jalepeños with all the seeds I can save. And lastly, I’ve recently been adding in a bit fenugreek to get it to taste closer to a restaurant style. My dudes. Fenugreek is amazing. We made a broccoli & spinach scramble this morning using only fenugreek, some cayennes and salt & pepper and it was so so good. Anyway, thanks for this recipe! It’s a once a week staple for us now!!
Yum! Thanks for sharing, Sarah.
How much fenigreek you used. thank you