Chicken Tikka Masala

Name: Chicken Tikka Masala
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ¼ cup goat yogurt (or regular yogurt); ½ lemon, juiced; 1 tablespoon avocado oil, plus additional for cooking; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1.5 pounds chicken breast or thighs; 1 cup brown basmati rice; 2 cups water; 4 tablespoons grass-fed unsalted butter; 1 medium-sized onion, chopped; 1½ teaspoon cumin; ½ teaspoon ground coriander; ½ teaspoon cardamom; ½ teaspoon nutmeg; ½ teaspoon paprika; ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1½ cups crushed tomatoes; ½ cup coconut cream; sea salt, to taste; cilantro, for garnish

September 26, 2024 by Ethan Boldt

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Do you want to make a meal that tastes like delicious dine-in, but that has the health benefits of homemade ingredients? Look no further than this chicken tikka masala.

Tender chicken cooked with aromatic spices will bring back memories of your favorite Indian restaurant. Or maybe it will remind you of a visit to the UK? The origin of chicken tikka masala is somewhat murky, but one thing is for sure: The flavor of this spicy, creamy dish is out of this world.

What Is Chicken Tikka Masala?

Tikka masala has an interesting history. Chicken tikka originated in the Punjab region of India and is very popular in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Tikka involves cooking a type of boneless meat in spices and yogurt and cutting it into little cubes or pieces. The meat is cooked in a tandoor, which is a clay oven.

Chicken tikka is not to be confused with chicken tikka masala, which is actually a different dish altogether. Perhaps inspired by the Indian tikka, chicken tikka masala is thought to have originated in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland.

Chicken tikka masala incorporates elements from chicken tikka, with the yogurt and spices used, but also tomato sauce and often coconut cream. Reportedly, the cream was added to a curry dish that was dry.

The masala spices include (but are not limited to) black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, curry, cardamom and cumin.

Chicken tikka masala is also often confused with butter chicken, which is another flavorful Indian dish with similar ingredients. Butter chicken is more of a rich, thick gravy usually made from cashews. It’s both milder and sweeter than chicken tikka masala.

Ingredients and Nutrition Facts

With this chicken tikka masala recipe, we’ve kept all the elements that are essential to chicken masala, but with some upgraded ingredients.

We’re talking goat yogurt, lemon, avocado oil and garlic for the chicken marinade. Then chicken breast or thighs. The sauce uses butter, onion, tomatoes, coconut cream and host of Indian spices. All served over brown rice.

Guess what? The nutrition facts for this chicken tikka masala is off the charts.

First, it’s a very balanced dish, with 30 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of fat and 30 grams of protein for each 432 calorie serving. Among those carbs, it delivers 2.6 grams of fiber and just 2.7 grams of sugar.

Vitamin-wise, each serving contains tons of B vitamins: 93 percent Daily Value of niacin (B3), 89 percent DV of vitamin B6, 47 percent DV of pantothenic acid (B5), 24 percent DV of thiamine (B1) and 24 percent of riboflavin (B2). It also contains 32 percent DV of vitamin A.

Among minerals, each serving is high in manganese (93 percent DV), selenium (61 percent DV), phosphorus (57 percent DV) and magnesium (30 percent DV).

How to Make Chicken Tikka Masala

First, you’ll start with marinating the chicken, which can be chicken breast but also chicken thighs. We used goat yogurt, lemon juice, avocado oil and garlic as a marinade base. The acid from goat yogurt and lemon juice help tenderize the chicken breasts while you prepare the sauce. Ideally the chicken marinates for at least 8 hours.

Avocado oil works well in high heat, which makes it perfect for marinating and cooking the chicken in a pan. We chose goat yogurt over cow’s milk yogurt because goat’s milk is much easier to digest, not to mention all the benefits it provides to your gut.

Mix the marinade ingredients in a dish and add the chicken and let sit while you prepare the rest of the tikka masala sauce.

Prepare brown basmati rice in a pot according to its package. Brown basmati rice is a fragrant rice that actually contains 20 percent more fiber than regular brown rice. It is mainly grown in India and Pakistan and makes a perfect pairing with Indian food recipes. You can also go with standard basmati rice.

To prepare the sauce, melt grass-fed butter or ghee in a large saucepan. Ghee is similar to clarified butter, which is produced by heating butter to remove the milk solids and water. Ghee has a higher smoke point than butter, meaning that it can be heated to a higher temperature before it starts to smoke.

Add in chopped onion and sauté for 5–7 minutes.

Add all the spices in with the cooked onion: coriander, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, paprika, cayenne pepper and ground ginger.

Did you know that coriander helps lower blood sugar? It is the dried seed of the fresh herb cilantro, which makes sense that it would have such a strong flavor. Cardamom is favorable for blood pressure and supporting your digestive system.

Add in crushed tomatoes along with coconut cream, and let the sauce thicken up while you cook the chicken.

To make the chicken, we cooked up chicken breast for 6 to 8 minutes a side in a pan, until the internal temperature reaches 165 F. You can also grill the chicken. However, typically for chicken tikka masala it’s cooked tandoori (oven) style. You can cut into pieces and put on skewers. Then cook in the oven at 450 degrees F for around 10 minutes per side.

If you grill, once the chicken is cooked through, cut the chicken into smaller bite size pieces. Add chicken to the masala sauce.

Serve brown basmati rice with the chicken tikka masala sauce and garnish with fresh, benefit-rich cilantro.

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