Chef John's Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

This is a great recipe. After reading the recipe, I felt it had too much tomato paste and crushed tomatoes. So I reduced the tomato paste to one tablespoon and the crushed tomatoes to 3/4 cup. I blended the spices and checked the aroma. I felt something was missing so I added between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves a bit at a time. That improved the aroma and ultimately the taste. Everyone loved the chicken tikka masala. We often visit a local Indian restaurant and they almost always include chicken tikka masala in the buffet. My husband says the chicken masala I prepared is as good, if not better than, the restaurant version. I have always thought that mushrooms should be included and the next time I make chicken tikka masala, I'll use mushrooms in addition to the chicken. Thank you Chef John.

This was excellent. I also made naan to go with it. Most other recipes for this have a marinating step for the chicken. I chose to add this step, and I really feel it gave the chicken a bit more depth of flavor. I marinated the chicken in the spices plus one cup of full fat plain yogurt for an hour, covered in the fridge, while I worked on the naan dough.

I love this recipe. My Additions: I cut up chicken before adding oil and seasonings, and marinated for 30 minutes before cooking. I used 6 oz. can of tomato paste, and added ¼ tsp. of dried thyme to seasonings. After cooking onions, I cut 4 small red potatoes, 4 medium carrots, 3 ribs of celery, and ½ sweet red pepper into bite size pieces, and added them to the onions before adding tomato paste. I added more garam masala to taste. I added chopped cilantro at end of cooking, just before serving over rice.

I absolutely love this recipe!! have made it so many times over the past several years. It has become a regular dish in our house and has been my boyfriend's birthday dinner request for 5+ years! It is so flavorful and it comes together really quick. Having cooked it so many times, I have tweaked it a little to suit our tastes. First and foremost, I like to add about 1.5 - 2x the amount of seasonings, especially the garam masala! Next, I would suggest adding 1.5x the tomato paste if you'd like a thicker sauce. Lastly, puree the tomato and onion mixture before adding the chicken back in. This makes the sauce extra creamy. (Bonus tip: Once you realize how amazing this is, it helps to have batches of the seasoning mixture on hand. Don't make a big bowl and then try to divide it, instead make multiple individual baggies. These seasoning mixes make great little gifts too, just wrap it with a recipe card!)

Great recipe and technique. The flavor and fond building in the pan from browning the seasoned chicken and toasting the tomato paste really comes through. My wife likes it spicy, so I added a few finely diced Thai chilies to sauté with the onions. I used light coconut milk and at the end I didn’t get that iconic color and rich texture I was looking for. So I tempered a half cup of Greek yogurt and stirred that in off the heat, and it was perfect. The added acidity of the yogurt balanced all the sweetness of the onions and tomatoes. Tasted as good as any restaurant dish with a fraction of the fat and calories.

I used 1 cup of yogurt and 2 Tbsp of lemon juice instead of the oil to marinate the chicken with spices. Tasted great. Family loves this dish. Making it again tonight with basamatii rice and homemade Naan.

AMAZING! I absolutely love chicken tikka masala and it's my go-to order for Indian food delivery. This recipe with the coconut milk is spot-on and delicious! Modifications - I used light coconut milk instead of full fat as that is what I had in the house. I substituted ghost pepper instead of cayenne since we love the heat. Finally, I simmered the sauce with the chicken thighs on VERY low heat (gas stove) for 45 minutes. The chicken is spoon-tender as Chef John shares in this video. My husband who states he dislikes all Indian food is so impressed with this recipe (he's half British so the history of the dish appealed to him). Thank you Chef John! You're the best!!

Made this tonight and it’s great! Very tasty, everything blended well and the ordered steps created a great dish. Happy I didn’t bake the chicken the way a different Tikka Masala recipe I read on here called for. I was too worried it would dry out, especially since I used chicken breast strips instead of thigh. It’s what I had on hand and I wanted a lower fat version. In keeping with that I used a can of light coconut milk and only half the butter to brown the chicken. I chopped my own tomatoes instead of canned. Pretty sure I used more of the seasonings than this recipe calls for. I didn’t measure, I’m an intuitive chef and I season based on what I “feel”and it was the right dosage because I’m VERY pleased with this. Didn’t have any coriander or smoked paprika, excited to try how even more authentic this tastes with those seasonings added! I had fresh scotch bonnet pepper and used almost a whole one of those so I omitted the red pepper flakes but I could have added them. It was spicy but not overly so and I can definitely handle more. The most only major change I made was listening to what one reviewer mentioned about not needing the chicken broth. After adding the coconut milk and letting things reduce a bit it DEFINITELY in my opinion would have been too watery if I had. This is why I gave the recipe 4 stars instead of 5, I think that honestly would’ve ruined the dish! I served this over riced cauliflower for myself, white rice for everyone else. Will make again soon!

This recipe was phenomenal. I used chicken breast cut into cubes and covered them in the spice mixture for a few hours before cooking, but otherwise followed this to a T using his substitution of heavy cream for coconut. Very flavorful, a little heat, spot on delicious with some jasmine rice and some naan on the side. Will definitely make again.

I've made this recipe a few times and it's always a hit. I've also discovered you can modify for a vegetarian diet by using paneer and/or chick peas as the protein - just coat in spices and saute as you would with the raw chicken!

It's been a little while since I made this dish, but we all love it. Of course I made some changes (my preference). I added fresh mushrooms, one red & green bell pepper (cut up into bite size pieces) and about one cup of potatoes also cut up into bite size pieces. I think I'll use sweet potatoes the next time. Thank you for the recipe Chef John!

I've made this recipe many times and served it as family meals and at gatherings. I have played with it a bit over the years but always use it as my guide. I actually started an account so I could give Chef John kudos

I just love this!

The flavors are fabulous! This took a little longer than suggested, but that was probably because I did not have all of the ingredients measured and set-up in advance. That said, worth the time and effort! I have made a number of Chef John's recipes and found they are easy to follow by a true amateur cook.

Easy week night version of Chicken Tikka Masala! All the flavors to satisfy a craving.

It was tomato soup with chicken.

Can’t believe how easy it was 😍

This was my first time making an Indian dish. It was so tasty! The only change I made was to double the sauce. It doesn't need to be doubled. We just like it that way. Thanks for sharing!

Totally exceeded my expectations.

Everyone in my family loves this recipe. One time when we were at an Indian wedding, one of the dishes was their version of this Chicken Tikka. My son said to me, "yours is better." There it is.