Chicken Tikka Masala. Is there a better-known curry house dish? I think not! Legend has it a Brit in an Indian restaurant sent back his dry spiced chicken asking for some “gravy” and the chef improvised, coming up with a creamy tomato sauce to coat the tikka – tikka referring little pieces of meat.
It may be an Anglo-Indian hybrid dish rather than anything more authentically Indian but by ‘eck petal, is it bloomin’ good to eat!
I can’t recall what the first dish was I ever had in an Indian restaurant but 6 years of living in South East London during my first spell at university to fuel the flames of my addiction to all food Indian, I had more than my fair share of Chicken Tikka Masala.
The thing is, as, with all takeaways, the menu often reads better than the food eats. All too often the sauce seems to be 3 parts cream to 1 part ketchup with a few spices waved over the top for good measure.
Disappointing in the extreme.
When you get a good one though, oh my is it sublime – the chicken will be marinated in a well-balanced yogurt based spice mix and cooked in the ferocious heat of a tandoor.
The edges will be blackened and there will be a hint of charcoal to the flavour which is pretty special by itself. The sauce is cooked separately and whilst being creamy, a good one will have bags of flavour and not completely drown the chicken. Decadent and rich but with just the right amount of chilli to prevent it becoming sickly.
The recipe I am bringing you today is practically perfect as it delivers on all those criteria. I stumbled upon it on this blog and Amy’s description had me running to the kitchen to recreate it. Oh, my days was it sublime! Cue me sending sauce-stained selfies to Hungry Hubby after greedily tucking into an indecently large portion.
Further digging revealed the original recipe had been updated to contain methi (powdered fenugreek leaves) and I have to say, it does give this Chicken Tikka Masala that special summin’ summin’ that good takeaways pull off. It might be a bit pong-wiffy and linger when you cook with it but it’s worth having to air the house out to get the perfect flavour.
I tweaked the rest of the spices a little and have Anglicised the recipe by using canned tomatoes and single cream, as well as upping the amount of chicken so there is no danger of having had a bowl of sauce with two bits of chicken in (another unforgivable curry house sin!).

A British curry house classic all Indian food lovers need to try. It's rich and indulgent but so much better for you made at home.
- 750 g chicken thigh fillets (skinless and boneless, cut into 1 inch pieces)
- 100 g Greek yogurt (a scant half cup will do)
- 1/2 a lemon, juiced
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder (I use Kashmiri and mine is hot!)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp dried methi leaves or methi powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp butter (plus a little trickle of olive oil)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red or green chilli, minced (short squat ones unless you like the fire of Indian finger chillies)
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried methi leaves or methi powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Small bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 1 can chopped tomatoes (approx 400g)
- 250 ml single cream
- 4 tbsp tomato purée
- 1/2 a lemon, juiced
-
Mix the marinade ingredients together then add in the chicken and mix well. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least an hour - if doing it overnight, don't add the lemon juice until you are ready to cook.
-
Preheat the grill to high and cover the grill pan with foil. Arrange the chicken pieces in a single layer, discarding excess marinade and cook close to the grill for 5 minutes a side or until the very edges start to catch and crispen up.
-
Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan then add in the garlic. Add in all of the dried spices and stir well until you can smell their fragrance and then stir in the tomato purée and canned tomatoes with a little splash of water if needed. Cover and cook on low-medium heat for 10 minutes before stirring in the single cream.
-
Add in the cooked chicken and cook until the chicken is piping hot once again. Stir in as much fresh coriander as you like before serving with roti, naan or rice as liked.
I always, always start curries off by measuring out the spices into small bowls so that I can quickly add them before any garlic (or onion) can burn.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I will earn a little commission if you chose to buy items I’ve advertised, helping me to bring you all these recipes for free!
Like this post? Then why not try these related recipes:
- Instant Pot Lamb Rogan Josh
- Homemade Roti
- Garlic & Coriander Naan
I’m so making this recipe at the weekend, thank you it looks delicious from start to finish. Love the new look page and logo. xoxo
Thank you Beverley – I’m so glad you like it. Do let me know how you get on with the curry 🙂
Made this last night, it’s the first time I’ve made a curry from scratch and it didn’t disappoint. It was really, really good. Thank you Jo for yet another great recipe x
Oh Shelley, I am *so* happy I’ve convinced you to try a from-scratch curry!
That is just wonderful 😀 I hope you continue to try other curries as it really is worth that little bit of extra effort 😀 Thanks for letting me know x
Totally delicious and very quick to make once all the ingredients have been assembled. This is a definite keeper – I can see it becoming part of my regular repertoire . So much better than the usual takeaway version. Thanks so much Jo.
You’re so welcome Catherine – I’m really happy you liked it! Who needs a takeaway eh? 😀
I want to make this tonight but haven’t got any cream ( owing to being snowed in for the last 3 days!) Could I use coconut milk or full fat Greek yogurt? I have both of those in store.