Restaurant chicken tikka masala is one of the most popular Indian restaurant dish going. Creamy. A little bit sweet. A little bit savory. It has something going on for everyone.
I think it’s funny that restaurant chicken tikka masala isn’t an Indian dish at all. It was invented in the UK some time in the early 1970s.
Some say chicken tikka masala was invented in Glasgow
The best story around this dish is that it was invented in Glasgow when a bus driver complained that his curry wasn’t saucy enough.
The chef, who was eating tomato soup at the time, tossed some of his soup in the curry and sent it back out to the bus driver. The rest is history.
There’s no tomato soup in this recipe. Please don’t do that. I know there are recipes out there that use tomato soup, garam masala and cream.
That’s Indian spiced cream of tomato soup with chicken. I know that’s how the story goes but it has evolved. Improved. If your local Indian restaurant is still serving something that tastes like soup it’s time to find a new restaurant.
Build flavours for a really tasty chicken tikka masala
It’s a mild curry. One suitable for the most timid palates. You can make restaurant style chicken tikka masala for your kids. Or as a counterpoint to spicier dishes. It’s a crowd pleaser for sure.
Layering flavours is key. The chicken is first cooked in tandoori spice and then finished in a tomato cream sauce. Hints of coconut and almond and a bit of sugar round it out.
This chicken tikka masala is pretty straightforward and follows the Indian restaurant technique exactly. Do yourself a favour and read that post first. There are pictures to help you understand.
Pre-cook your chicken tikka
You can pre-cook chicken for all restaurant style curries. I do. Adds a bit of flavour to the chicken and keeps the sauce from getting to runny. It is optional in most recipes though.
Not this one. You need tandoori chicken or chicken tikka to start. It’s not hard. Make a runny paste with oil and the tandoori spice. Toss the chicken in to coat. Marinate for as long as you’d like.
I skewer the chicken to make it easier to handle. Makes it easier to make sure every piece cooks evenly. You don’t have to do this. If you do, wear some sort of gloves. Tandoori spice has food colouring in it. It stains like crazy.
You can make this right before you make chicken tikka masala. Or you can cook it ahead of time. Up to a day before. You reheat the chicken in the curry at the end. Like they do in restaurants.
You might want to cook a little extra as well. I can’t help myself. Comes out of the oven and I want some.
Grilling chicken tikka is an option
If you feel like going all out you can grill your chicken tikka. Adds a nice smoky flavour. I do that sometimes. In the summer when I can get to my grill.
Indirect high heat is best. As high as you can get it. Tandoors run around 700 plus degrees Fahrenheit. So if you can get your grill to 600 F you are getting close.
Watch it closely. At these temperatures little pieces of chicken can dry out fast.
If you do grill your chicken tikka do yourself a favour and make lots extra. You will want to nibble. It’s really hard not to.
Be ready before you start cooking Indian restaurant style
This is Indian restaurant cooking. It goes fast. Prep your ingredient. Make your curry base and have some heated and ready to go.
Measure out your ingredients. Put on some old clothes – the curry sputters.
You can make most of the recipes here with just about anything. This is chicken tikka masala. But you can still do what you want. Lamb tikka is really nice as an example…
Try this one if you always order chicken tikka masala in restaurants. Or if you are just getting into learning Indian restaurant cooking. Or if you just want a nice mild but still tasty curry. It’s a great place to start.
restaurant chicken tikka masala
Ingredients
The chicken
- 4-5 boneless chicken thighs or two chicken breasts
- 2 Tbsp tandoori masala powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil
Restaurant chicken tikka masala
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp garlic ginger paste - recipe link below
- 2 tsp Indian restaurant spice mix powder - recipe link below
- 1 Tbsp tandoori masala powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste diluted in 2 Tbsp water
- 15 oz curry base - recipe link below
- 3 Tbsp coconut milk powder
- 1 Tbsp almond flour
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup whipping cream 35%
- juice of 1/6 lemon
Instructions
The chicken
- Pre-heat your oven to 400F.
- Combine 2 Tbsp tandoori masala powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil in a bowl that won't stain. Cut the chicken into big bite size pieces and combine with marinade. Let stand briefly.- or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
- Transfer chicken to a sturdy cookie sheet and roast until it reaches an internal temperature of about 165F, about 15 minutes.
Chicken Tikka Masala
- Combine Indian restaurant spice mix powder, tandoori masala and salt in a small bowl. This is your spice mix.
- Combine the almond and coconut milk powder with enough water to get to the texture of coconut milk or heavy cream.
- Dilute the tomato paste with enough water to get to the consistency of passata.
- Heat your frying pan (don't use non-stick) briefly over medium heat. Add 3 Tbsp vegetable oil. Use all the oil specified. It's important.
- When the oil starts to shimmer add the garlic ginger paste. Cook it, stirring constantly, until it stops sputtering.
- Turn down the heat and add the spice mix. This is the critical step. Stir it constantly for 30 seconds. If it starts to darken lift the pan off the heat. You want the spice mix to cook in the oil but not burn.
- Turn the heat up to medium high. Add the diluted tomato paste and stir until bubbles form (the oil will likely separate). This takes around 30 seconds to one minute depending on the heat.
- Add 3 oz of curry base. Stir until bubbles form (little craters really), around 30 seconds. Watch the edges of the pan. The curry can stick here.
- Now add 6 oz of curry base and stir briefly. Let it cook until the bubbles form again. This takes 1-2 minutes.
- Add the rest of the curry base and let cook until the bubbles form. Turn the heat down to low and add the pre-cooked chicken, coconut almond mixture and sugar.
- Let the curry simmer for about 5 minutes. If it gets too thick add a bit more curry base. Don't add water.
- Add the cream and stir. Mix in the lemon juice, garnish with a bit of chopped fresh coriander if you like and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Can the completed curry (not the curry base) be frozen? It’s awesome, btw – better than any restaurant (bar one) CTM I’ve tried in the USA!!
I don’t tend to freeze my curries but I hear of lots of people who do and they seem to like how it turns out.
I’m loving that tagline – life is indeed too short for bad food! Amazing isn’t it, the trick really is in the marinating and baking that chicken. Simple but so delicious.
This was good and my family loved it they went back for seconds! However, my curry didn’t look like yours it was an pale ish orange-y colour particularly after I added the cream. I’m wondering how you got it that deep red. Also, I think next time I will use less coconut milk because I think there was too much of a coconut taste. I also will try reducing the amount of cream because it made the colour paler and I think maybe it toned down the flavour. It was good though, and I will keep tinkering with it.
I can only assume it is the amount of red food colouring in the brand of tandoori masala you used. With the amount specified and the brand I use there is no way it could be anything but red unless you added way more coconut milk and cream (like triple). I don’t think the colour matters all that much really. It’s just food colouring and doesn’t affect the flavour.
Yes you are completely right as I just checked my tandoori masala and it’s a deep orange not red. I ate the leftover curry today for lunch and it was even more delicious and spicy and sweeter than yesterday! It was a deep orange colour exactly like the tandoori masala so I think I will experiment with a redder brand next time for fun. Thank you for your wonderful recipes I can’t wait to make more, and now it will be even easier since I already made the spice mix, ginger garlic paste, and curry base!
Can use raw king prawns in this recipe.
Regards jeff
Sure. You can use prawns with any of the restaurant style recipes. Just be careful not to overcook them. Prawns are much less forgiving than chicken thighs.
Hi romain
Added the raw butterflied King prawns at the end when simmering.
Absolutely superb.
Regards jeff
Awesome!
I’ve made this a few times as well as your pilau rice, all absolutely fantastic. I’m making this again this weekend and prepping now. I wish to make a larger batch this time, so I’ve purchased double of the chicken thighs which are now marinading. When it comes to actually making the curry should I double everything else do you think? I guess so. Double everything at every point, even the oil? Except perhaps don’t double the initial additions of curry base, just one ladle at a time to start? What do you think? Hopefully you’ll see this and be able to get back to me in the next 24 hours, otherwise I’ll have to wing it!
Thanks for your excellent website and recipes, I’m delighted I found it and will never cook a different CTM recipe again!
Tom.
Glad you are enjoying glebekitchen. The trick to making bigger batches is to make sure you can really fry the curry base like you do for a single batch. You can try a bigger frying pan or just make it twice in a row. I tend to alternate depending on my mood at the time. For the oil you need to make sure you have enough to bloom the spices. You never want them sticking/burning.
Good luck!
I have been cooking Indian for a few years now. I was able to perfect recipes from a former restaurant in Cincinnati whend the owner/chef gave me her homestyle recipes from Andhra Pradesh. But now I am trying to copy the curries from a new restaurant run by Punjabi Sikhs, in the same location as the former. The base is the same for all their dishes, but completely different. This chicken tikka masala is delicious, but too sweet for me, and not like theirs, which is much stronger/spicier. Any ideas on recipes I should look at that may be similar to that style?
Sorry – without tasting it, it’s hard for me to come up with something. You could try cutting the sugar down to a tsp (or omitting it) and upping the kashmiri chili powder. You could also cut back on the cream as it has the effect of blunting the spice. You could also try some of the hotel style curries I’ve posted recently. It’s a different take altogether.
Good luck in your quest!
Thanks! BTW, I ate my last serving yesterday, three days after making it and it was incredible! As with most stews and sauces, the flavors meld and change as you let them sit. Three days was incredible!
Also, I just made the Butter Chicken and left out the sugar. Much better! I’m a recovering diabetic, so sugar is always an issue for me. Closer to what I am looking for. Outstanding! Next up is Restaurant Madras Curry.
Health first!
It really does get better as it sits doesn’t it.
Looking to cook this later! Sounds good. Any tips of adding sweetness? My local Indian has a Tikka that is very sweet and I love it! Any suggestions on getting this sweetness? It is a very savory sweetness.
Thanks will let you know how I go!
Maybe at some jaggery to taste? I don’t like my curries sweet so I haven’t really tried that but this is a pretty savoury version so I hope it works for you.
Absolutely gorgeous ? made this tonight after trying many other recipes this will now be my go to thank you
Awesome to hear! Thank you for saying.
When you say “cup” is that US or UK?
US. Canadian in fact:-)
But the difference is so minor it will make no effective difference.
YUM DOUBLE YUM. I made this curry last night along with your dal Tadka, there was a lot going on in the kitchen but I managed to pull it all together and recruited my 19 yr old son to help out, and he really enjoyed learning about “blooming the spices”. Working my way through your recipes has definitely been a highlight for me during this endless pandemic and so, so worth the effort. Both dishes were incredible, it was the 2nd time I’d cooked the Dal Tadka. I have 3 more curry bases left and then I’m going to try your Hotel style recipes. Thank you again Romain for being so generous sharing your cooking world with us!
My absolute pleasure. I’m delighted to hear you are enjoying it and especially happy to hear you’ve discovered dal Tadka. I like a dal with every Indian meal!
Wow, I’ve tried a lot of recipes and this one is by far the best. It does take a lot of work, but 100% worth it!!
Great to hear you went for it. Now you have all the bits in place you can make curries much faster. The first time is definitely the biggest effort to get everything prepared.
Hi!
Can I ask which brand Tandoori Masala you use? I saw you mentioned to be wary of the salt content, but still – brands really differ in composition, flavor profile, color…
Right now I am using Kissan Tandoori Masala. Comes in a plastic jar where I am. It has salt but it’s not high on the list of ingredients.
Hey, Romain!
Thanks so much for this recipe – I made it last night, and we just barely had the self control to have leftovers for lunch today! I was amazed by how perfect the chicken tikka is straight from the fridge, a lot of flavors in cold chicken are too muted. I’m glad I made an extra breast worth! We have a coconut allergy in our house, so I subbed extra almond flour to make up for leaving that out.
It was an endeavor of patience for sure. Made the base in mid-March, and *finally* got my order of spices in the mail last week (thanks COVID). Couldn’t get almond flour (again, thanks COVID), so I pulverized sliced almonds as fine as possible in my spice grinder :-D.
Well worth the wait, and thrilled I have seven more containers of curry base in the freezer. Thanks a lot!
That’s dedication and patience! Now that you know what you’re doing there’s no stopping you!
Hi
I made this but found it missing sweetness or the distinctive masala taste
It was still very nice. I had no almond powder so used ground blanched almonds instead and coconut milk instead of powder
How do i get it sweeter? Is it just a case of adding more sugar?
Thankyou
I was born without any form of sweet tooth so I tend to go easy on sweet in my recipes. You could try more sugar or honey. Or you could get some Maggi masala chili sauce. It has a wonderful mix of sweet and masala flavour. I don’t often include it in recipes because I don’t do product endorsements. But I do use it fairly often. I think of it as way tastier ketchup. Great on eggs or burgers etc.
Chicken tikka masala is why I cook Indian. My absolute favorite dish. I’ve made this recipe twice, and while it is very tasty, I find myself wanting more creaminess like another person said above. What I found works well for that is adding sour cream. I’ve also tried upping regular heavy cream, coconut milk powder, and adding ground cashews. While I think that helps too, sour cream had the most noticeable effect. It also seems to cancel out some extra saltiness (I needed that after using hot curry powder in marinade with salt high on the ingredient list and not noticing until everything was cooked).
I was wondering if there’s a particular reason you use coconut milk powder and not just coconut milk? And tomato paste with water instead of already more liquid tomato puree? Just personal preference or do you find the taste different?
And unrelated to this recipe, but have you cooked with reshampatti chili powder? I recently bought it because I liked the bright color (kind of like kashmiri), but the description online says it’s hot and similar to cayenne. I’m thinking of maybe trying it instead of regular extra hot chili powder next time. I’m just curious if there are any dishes that work particularly well with it?
Glad you liked it. I’m allergic to cashews. So I can’t use them although I am tempted to see if I can handle them boiled in a white cashew base. We’ll see. Always important to look for salt in pre-mixed powders.
I don’t always use coconut powder or tomato paste. They are just easier to keep around. If I have passata (tomato puree) open I’ll use it. And if I have a reason to open a can of coconut milk I’ll do that too. I just try not to set myself or my readers up to waste things. Tomato paste and coconut milk powder keep forever.
I don’t go overboard on creaminess because I find it blunts the flavours too much for my taste. I am always flavour first on glebekitchen. Sour cream is a good idea though. A bit of tang and a little would go a long way. Thanks for the idea!
I do use resham patti chili powder if I want hot. You can’t add enough kashmiri to make anything really spicy. The dish gets a bit gritty from all the spice I find.
Not one of my usual go to curries in restaurants as i’m not really a fan of dairy but thought I would give this a go. I left the cream out and used a bit of creamed coconut in it’s place to give it texture (and a bit of extra sweetness). Not bad at all!
Glad you liked it. Creamed coconut milk is a great idea for those that don’t want the dairy.