a traditional curry-stand recipe for tikka masala sauce. This is not fine dining; rather, it is the nuclear-orange tikka masala you long for after leaving a bar at two in the morning. This sauce freezes well, so I make a lot of it all at once. For those who don’t like heat, I also use more cayenne pepper than 1 teaspoon when I distribute the mixture.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon white sugar, or more to taste (Optional)
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
Instructions
- Heat ghee in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook and stir just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric into onion mixture; fry until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Stir tomato sauce into onion and spice mixture; bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer sauce for 10 minutes, then mix in cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and paprika. Bring sauce back to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until sauce is thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Heat vegetable oil in a separate skillet over medium heat. Stir chicken into hot oil; add curry powder. Sear chicken until lightly browned but still pink inside, about 3 minutes; stir often.
- Transfer chicken and any pan juices into sauce. Simmer chicken in sauce until no longer pink, about 30 minutes; adjust sugar and salt to taste.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 328 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 106 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 981 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 23 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
First time I made it, the kids loved it. As soon as we got through the leftovers, they asked me to make it AGAIN! (And I was relieved bc I wanted to make it again. So delicious. So satisfying.)
As advertised, this is EXACTLY like British curry-stand curry. This isn’t gourmet, but your UK friends may get misty-eyed at its perfection. If your Indian friends did grad school in England they’ll devour it like wolves. (It’s equivalent to NYC pizza-by-the-slice vs Tuscany home cooking: delicious, and it depends on what you mean by “authenticity.”) We’ve made this many times. It’s foolproof. It’s delicious. It multiplies well and tastes better the second day, so you can make a vat of it and have it for lunch during the work week. This sauce is outstanding on top of steamed vegetables – especially broccoli, cauliflower or carrots. It’s easy to make a vegan version of this with steamed veggies, tofu-or-potatoes, and skipping the cream at the end.
Not the flavor I expected, given what it tastes like at restaurants, but my husband loved it.
This is the best I’ve ever made. My British friend begs me to make this for him!
One of my family’s favorite recipes! for the tomato sauce, I use El Pato Hot tomato sauce because we like it spicy. Other than that, I don’t make any adjustments to the recipe.
I didn’t have ghee or heavy whipping cream so I just used butter and 1/2 cup ff half & half. I cut cayenne to half and it was plenty hot for me. Tamed it with some plain low fat organic yogurt served on top. This is fantastic!
Amazing flavor and very flexible. Don’t like heat? Less cayenne. Trying to reduce fat? Use low fat yogurt. I would also suggest finding a good local spice shop for your curry. The supermarket stuff is ok, if you find a decent one, but you can find great ones at a specialty shop like savory spice or even Penzey and the price will surprise you.
This is a fabulously flavorful dish, and my family’s favorite. It is even better than the local Indian restaurant. We have taken to making a double recipe so it will last longer.
This is so so good! I do use chicken thighs instead of breasts just because I prefer them. I also substitute canned coconut milk for the cream due to a dairy sensitivity. This has become a go to for my family!
Wow, great flavor and fragrance. Kitchen smelled good for 2 days. Heats up well the next day. I’ve tried several recipes, and this is my favorite homemade Tikka masala recipe. Simple, wonderful blend of flavors, and enough sauce to scoop up with naan.(well, almost perfect, I left the sugar out, we don’t like sweet dinners)
4/5 of the family LOVED it. If I cut the cayenne in half then maybe my MIL will like it. I personally loved it just the way it was. And mostly because no coconut was used (allergy). It tasted just like the Indian restaurants we go to. I used boneless chicken thighs cut up in bite sized pieces and added about 1/4 cup more cream to try to calm down the spice and half tsp of garlic powder. Even my picky “i don’t like spicy” daughter loved it but suggested I cut the “spicy” in half when I make this the next time. Served over Jasmine rice but next time will try to make Papadon (Indian bread-spl?) as my husband suggested to dip into the sauce. As far as what veges to serve with, I would like ideas on that. Something healthy as this is a very indulgent dish. YUM!
I’ve never had Chicken Tikka Masala before trying this recipe, but now I’m hooked. This is one of my favorite meals. Perfect balance of spices, sweet, creamy, and salty.
Ended up being spicier than expected!
Found it far too sweet. Unnecessary addition of sugar also too much salt.
Dear Chris Sellers, This is the first time I’ve written about a recipe, but I had to for this one. The food is absolutely DELICIOUS!! I just made it again last night for at least the tenth time. It is sooooooo good. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this recipe! kindest regards, Shari
This is delicious. I’ll make it again. I did use a vegan cream as I generally don’t use much dairy. It work very well. The sauce was a little thinner than I would prefer so will be mindful of that when I next make it.
So popular with my family that we 8 times the recipe and freeze the sauce. (everything but chicken) Pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store, throw some curry on it and throw it into the sauce. When the rice is done, so is dinner! Super easy weekday meal.
I’ve made a lot of different curries over the years, this is simple, but with fab results. Its a regular with me now
Awesome, easy recipe. Even made it for friends!!!
didn’t have yoghurt or cream so used an entire coconut. Just the flavour I was looking for and there was plenty crunch. Will make it again.
Excellent taste! During the last 15 minutes I threw in some red and orange peppers plus a few scallions. I like a bit of crunch and interest in my sauces. It also was just a bit hot, I love hot but decided to add tablespoons of plain yoghurt. Super tasty! I will definitely make this again.