Aromatic Tandoori Chicken Tikka Masala

Name: Aromatic Tandoori Chicken Tikka Masala
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 12 chicken thighs or 6 chicken breasts; 1 tbsp cumin; 1 tbsp coriander; 1 tbsp fenugreek; 1 tsp turmeric; 1 tsp curry powder; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp mint; 2 tsp chili powder; 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander; 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste; 2 tbsp tandoori paste; 0.5 lemon; 3 tbsp olive oil; 2/3 tbsp water; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 2 tbsp butter; 1.5 tbsp garlic, finely chopped; 1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped; 1.5 tsp garam masala; 1.5 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp turmeric; 14 oz passata (Metric, 400 grams); 1 tsp chili powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 ¼ cups whipping cream (Metric, 300 grams); 1 tsp brown sugar; ¼ cup water; 4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Steve DeaconMay 27, 20196 min read

Aromatic tandoori chicken tikka masala | https://theyumyumclub.com/2019/05/27/aromatic-tandoori-chicken-tikka-masala/

Prep 10 mins

Cook 20 mins

Total 1 hr 30 mins

Serves 6 servings

Calories 449 kcal

Table of Contents

Updated: November 5, 2026

Aromatic tandoori chicken tikka masala. What a recipe! You can’t get much more British than this. Yep, that’s correct, Chicken tikka masala is the most eaten dish in the UK. We love Indian curries and this particular curry is our favorite. Marinated chicken cooked in a spiced tomato and cream sauce. Serve it with fluffy basmati rice and naan bread and ultimate bliss is achieved. Yum…

There is a very easy way to make chicken tikka masala and that’s to fry some chicken off and add a ready-made jar of shop bought masala sauce. However, that’s not what The Yum Yum Club is about and, the end result is very mediocre. This post shows you how to make this delicious dish from scratch. What’s more, the end result is so worth the effort. Enjoy…

The difference between tikka and tandoori

You’d think explaining the difference between tikka and tandoori would be simple. It isn’t – it reaches well beyond the kitchen and into Indian culture as a whole. This post sticks to the food side.

From a food standpoint, and in simple terms, the difference is not the recipe. It’s the cooking method and the cut of meat. Tandoori cooking tends to use large pieces – a whole chicken or quarters, for example – traditionally cooked in a tandoor, a type of clay oven. Chicken tikka uses smaller pieces threaded onto skewers and grilled.

The marinade itself is generally the same, though there are plenty of local variations. One observation of my own. Order chicken tikka and tandoori chicken side by side and the tandoori tends to come out red, the tikka browner. Same recipe – that red is food colouring.

1. Gather the ingredients together for the tandoori chicken tikka

This recipe is really made in two parts. First, there is the preparation and marinating of the chicken. The chicken needs to marinate for at least 1 hour and, if you have time, overnight. Following this, there is the cooking of the actual dish itself, primarily made up of frying the chicken and making the masala sauce.

For the tandoori chicken tikka, the marinade is made up of 11 spices in total and the first task is to gather all of these together. The measurements are listed in the printable recipe below but for reference, you will need cumin, coriander (fresh and ground), curry powder, turmeric, fenugreek, sea salt, mint, chili powder, tandoori paste, and ginger and garlic paste.

Raw chicken, ground spices, passata, cream, butter, onion, garlic and ginger on a board — Everything for the marinade and the masala sauce.

Bowls of ground spices and herbs gathered for the tandoori marinade — Gather the spices for the marinade.

A quick word on the tandoori paste. This is a shop bought pre-prepared paste and is optional. However, I find it really does add to the flavor and is a great addition. It also lets the recipe fairly use the word “tandoori” in its name. Arguably, apart from the red food coloring and the tandoori paste, this is really a recipe for chicken tikka. DifferenceBetween.net has a detailed comparison of tandoor and tikka cooking.

2. Make the aromatic tandoori chicken tikka masala marinade

With the herbs and spices gathered the marinade can be made. First, add the herbs and spices to a mixing bowl and add the lemon juice and the olive oil.

Spices, lemon juice and olive oil added to a mixing bowl — Add the spices to a mixing bowl.

Mix this together thoroughly then add a tablespoon of water at a time and mix together until the texture of the marinade is rich and creamy.

Thick creamy tandoori marinade being mixed in a bowl — Form the tandoori tikka marinade.

3. Prepare the chicken and marinate

Chicken thigh or breast can be used for this aromatic tandoori chicken tikka style. Whichever is chosen, however, the skin and bone must be removed. The skin simply pulls off and, for the breast, the bone will already be removed. If using thighs and they have been bought with the bone in then it’s relatively simple to remove these. There is a good short yet instructional video below that shows how to do this.

Once the bones have been removed then trim any excess fat. The final thighs should look something like this.

Boneless skinless chicken thighs trimmed and ready to marinate — Prepare the chicken.

Once the chicken is prepared cut in half if thighs and quarters if breast and add to the marinade.

Chopped chicken pieces added to the red marinade in a bowl — Add the chicken to the marinade.

Mix the chicken and marinade together until the chicken is coated all over.

Chicken pieces coated all over in marinade in a bowl — Marinate the chicken from 1-12 hours.

Now, cover the bowl with kitchen film and leave in the fridge to marinate. This will take a minimum of 1 hour but leave overnight if you have the time.

4. Gather the ingredients for the masala sauce

When the tandoori chicken tikka has finished marinating the ingredients for the masala sauce can be gathered together. Again, the measurements are listed in the printable recipe below but the main ingredients are 6 spices of garam masala, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, and salt. In addition, there is onion, garlic, ginger, butter, cream, and passata. Note that passata is a basic tomato sauce which can be shop bought or made from scratch with the BBC Good Food passata recipe.

Ingredients for the masala sauce laid out on a worktop — Gather the ingredients for the masala sauce.

The only preparation required is to finely chop the onion, garlic, and ginger.

5. Make and serve the aromatic tandoori chicken tikka masala

To cook this wonderful dish start by heating the oil in a skillet to medium heat. Add the marinated chicken and fry for around 3 minutes. After this time remove the chicken from the pan and leave on the side. The chicken will finish cooking in the sauce.

Using the same pan, add the butter and melt and then add the onion and sweat off for 3 minutes or so. Then add the garlic and ginger and heat through for 1 additional minute.

Chopped onions sweating in butter in a skillet — Sweat the onions.

Next, add the spices and cook through for just 30 seconds.

Ground spices added to the onions in the skillet — Add the spices.

Now, add the passata and salt and cook through for 10-15 minutes. The key point here is to keep stirring and make sure the tomato sauce does not dry up. If it starts to become too thick then turn the heat down slightly and add a little water.

Passata poured into the spiced onions in the skillet — Add the passata.

After 10 minutes add the cream.

Cream poured into the simmering tomato sauce — Add the cream.

Mix the cream in and add the chicken.

Marinated chicken pieces added back to the creamy masala sauce — Add back the chicken.

Seared chicken pieces simmering in orange tomato sauce with cream swirled on top — Chicken simmering in the creamy sauce.

Cook all of these through for 8-10 minutes until the chicken has cooked all the way through.

Finished chicken tikka masala simmering in the skillet — Aromatic tandoori chicken tikka masala.

And that’s all there is to it spice fans. Aromatic tandoori chicken tikka masala. Serve with a good sprinkling of chopped coriander and serve with fluffy basmati rice and naan bread. Yum!

Bowl of chicken tikka masala with basmati rice, naan and fresh coriander — Served with basmati rice and naan.

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Variation: serve it tikka style with fresh mint yogurt

The same marinade works just as well without the masala sauce. Grill the marinated chicken tikka, skip the sauce entirely and serve it dry with a fresh mint yogurt on the side – that’s the tikka style version, and it’s the lighter of the two.

The yogurt is about as easy as it gets. It is plain natural yogurt, fresh mint, garlic, lemon and seasoning.

Mint, garlic, lemon and yogurt for the mint yogurt — Gather the ingredients for the mint yogurt.

Finely chop the mint leaves and garlic, take the juice from the lemon, then add everything to a bowl and mix.

Mint yogurt ingredients mixed together in a bowl — Mix the yogurt ingredients together.

Chill it until you serve. It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge.

As always, many thanks for reading and until next time… Steve.

Recipe card

Steve Deacon

Founder & Writer

Hi, I'm Steve, founder of The Yum Yum Club. After years in the corporate rat race traveling the world, my wife Jen and I settled back in the UK to follow our true passion: great food and wine. Having worked in restaurant kitchens in my youth, I share honest home-cooked recipes, kitchen timing tips, and culinary discoveries.

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