An absolute staple of western Indian food, chicken tikka masala is a sweet, creamy, incredibly rich, and flavorful dish. Impress your friends and family with this easy chicken tikka masala recipe.

With a beautiful and thick sauce, and gorgeously marinaded chicken, there are few dishes more complex and delicious than your classic chicken tikka masala.

While it seems incredibly complicated and chock-a-block full of different spices, veggies, and meat, it's not hard to make, and it's not something that you should give up on based purely on the quantity of ingredients required.

If you're a fan of Indian food that's not spicy, you'll love this chicken tikka masala recipe.

Learn how to make chicken tikka masala with this simple and easy-to-follow guide, and discover the dish's fascinating history too.

Chicken tikka masala is not a difficult dish to make, but it is one that will take a good amount of time if you want to get it right. It involves a lengthy marination process, followed by the cooking of a sauce that - while easy to put together - requires a lot of different ingredients. Don't worry, though, we'll help you through every step of the process.

Equipment needed to make chicken tikka masala:

• A big pot
• A medium or small pot
• Grill (or an oven tray and baking paper)
• Skewers
• Spatula
• Multiple medium-sized bowls
• Wide and deep pan, preferably a wok
• Blender
• Sharp knife
• Cutting board
• Spoons
• Mortar and pestle

Other than the items listed above, you may also need more basic and straight forward equipment that should be available in any properly equipped kitchen.

The part which turns most people off from making their own chicken tikka masala is the extensive ingredient list. The reality is that this is a recipe that comes in multiple parts - you need to prepare and marinate the chicken, cook the chicken, make the sauce, blend the sauce, and then combine everything together.

Easy and authentic chicken tikka masala ingredients:

• For the chicken:
  
• Diced chicken, 2–3 pounds
• Ginger-garlic paste (equal parts ginger and garlic), 4 tablespoons
• Chili powder, 2 teaspoons
• Mustard seed oil, 5 tbsp
• Turmeric, 1 tbsp
• Garam masala, 1 tbsp
• Ground cumin, 1 tbsp
• Kasuri methi, 1 tbsp
• Yogurt, 4-5 tbsp
• Salt
• 1 lemon
• For the sauce:
• Ghee, 2 tbsp
• Neutral cooking oil, 1 tbsp
• Cardamom, 1 tsp
• Cumin, 1 tbsp
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 chili
• Ginger garlic paste, 3 tbsp
• Turmeric, 1 tbsp
• Chili powder, 1 tbsp
• Garam masala, 1 tbsp
• Kasuri methi, 1 tbsp
• 5–6 tomatoes
• 4-5 red onions
• Salt
• Cashews, 1–2 ounces
• Cream, 1/2 cup
• Butter, 1 stick
• Coriander

There are many steps, and it takes a good long while, to put together the perfect chicken tikka masala. Try not to worry, though, because while this recipe may seem long and a little bit daunting, none of the skills required are particularly difficult or advanced. Set aside some time and give it a go, you won't regret it.

How to make chicken tikka masala

Step 1: The first thing you need to do is marinate the chicken, a process that requires two main steps. Start by chopping up and dicing your chicken into bite sized chunks.

Step 2: Make a ginger-garlic paste, around 7 to 8 tablespoons worth, by simply combining equal parts ginger and garlic, and mincing it all together either with a blender or a mortar and pestle.

Step 3: In a small-medium sized bowl, add your diced chicken, two tbsp of ginger-garlic paste, one tbsp of chili powder, the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Mix it all together and allow it to sit and brine in the salt for at least 30 minutes (preferably an hour).

Step 4: Meanwhile, temper your mustard seed oil by putting it into a small pot, bringing it to smoke point, and then allowing it to cool down. This reduces the intensity of the oil and adds a smoky note.

Step 5: Once your chicken has been brined, add it to a bigger bowl and throw in the rest of the marination ingredients. In other words, add two more tbsp of ginger-garlic paste, your mustard seed oil, 1 tbsp chili powder, the turmeric, garam masala, cumin, a bit more salt, kasuri methi, and the yogurt. Mix it all together and then let it marinade overnight, or for at least six hours (in the fridge).

Step 6: Now it's time to make the gravy. Add your ghee and oil to the bottom of a wide pan or wok. Once at smoke point, add all of your spices and continue to move them around in the pan until they are fragrant and well toasted.

Step 7: After roughly chopping your onion, add it to the pan and toss it into the spicy mixture. Stir-fry until slightly translucent and slightly sweet. During this stage you should also add your chili and the bay leaves.

Step 8: Dice your tomato and add it to the mixture, continuing to toss and fry everything so that it is nicely combined. Reduce the liquid that was released by the tomatoes and then add a little bit of water to loosen everything up.

Step 9: Simmer for around 20–30 minutes. During that time, add your marinaded chicken to some skewers (or onto an oven tray lined with baking paper). Cook at an extremely high temperature until charred and a little bit blackened. Ideally, you would use a tandoori oven for this process. It doesn't need to be fully cooked through, as you will finish it off in the sauce.

Step 10: Once the 30 minutes are over, take out the bay leaves and the chili. Blend the sauce until it is thick, creamy, combined, and has no chunks whatsoever.

Step 11: Bring it back up to a simmer and add your chicken, mixing it in well. Add your cashews at the same time. Finish it off by mixing in your butter and cream, allowing the butter to melt and then combining everything so it's a beautiful light orange color and incredibly creamy and silky smooth.

Step 12: Garnish with more cashews, coriander, and a drizzle of honey according to your taste. Enjoy!

So there you have it - the perfect chicken tikka masala! We'd recommend serving it with some gorgeous home cooked basmati rice, some homemade naan bread, and a sprinkling of coriander on top to make it look pretty!

Chicken tikka masala is one of the most famous and popular Indian-style dishes in the world, generally made with yogurt marinated chicken and a rich tomato-based sauce. Other than the classic butter chicken, it is quite possibly the most famous and most widely eaten curry in the world. This is, in part, due to its tandoori-cooked chicken.

It's not generally too spicy, though there is a lot of levity in that factor. On top of that, chicken tikka masala will often be served with either a thick and chunky tomato-focused sauce, or with a sauce that tastes the same, but is blended mixed with heavy cream to create a lighter color and a smoother texture.

While it is debated who originally came up with the recipe for chicken tikka masala, it is generally accepted that it does not come from India. Most people believe that it comes from the UK, which has a huge Indian population and Indian food culture due to the legacy of the country's colonial roots.

As such, chicken tikka masala resembles a Westernized combination of different dishes from the Indian subcontinent. This may include elements of Bangladeshi cuisine as well, because at the time of the British Empire, Bangladesh was not considered a separate country from what is now modern day India and Pakistan.

The most common explanation and origin story, though we stress that it cannot be guaranteed to be true, is that chicken tikka masala comes originally from Glasgow in Scotland. This story tells that British Pakistani chef Ali Ahmed Aslam originally invented the dish for his Glasgow restaurant back in the mid 20th century.

According to the story, when he invented it, he decided to use ingredients that were friendly to western pallets. This possibly explains why chicken tikka masala typically contains a lot of the flavors we westerners love from Indian cooking, but without the heat.

Chicken tikka masala has a different consistency, flavor profile, and spice mix to butter chicken. It's a very different dish, despite looking similar and having a similar vibe. Butter chicken is creamy and, as its name suggests, buttery. Meanwhile, chicken tikka masala has a deeper and more tomato-based flavor.

Either way, chicken tikka masala and butter chicken are both absolute staples of western Indian kitchens, and are endlessly delicious. With our recipe, we hope you'll be able to enjoy a fantastic meal with the whole family - and don't forget to pass the naan bread!