Chicken Tikka Masala (Instant Pot and Stovetop)

Here's a chicken tikka masala recipe to astonish your senses! Boneless pieces of chicken thigh are marinated in yogurt and spices, chargrilled to perfection and smothered in a creamy and luscious sauce to make this insanely gorgeous chicken curry.

Try this chicken and mushroom curry if you like rich Indian curries.

Question: How do you say no to food that’s so stunningly beautiful and mouthwatering as this chicken tikka masala?

Answer: You don’t. Say no, that is. You silence that little voice of reason in your head and focus on stuffing your face with a big bowl of this incredible curry and rice or a warm, fluffy naan to mop up all the sauce.

Haha! That’s what this better-than-takeout chicken tikka masala does to you! Make it at your own risk ‘cause it’s the most addictive curry you’ll ever have. Not to mention that it’s the most popular.
Don’t believe me? Here are a few cool facts about this dish:

• It is a British invention, inspired by Indian cooking. The story goes that it was invented by a Bangladeshi chef in Glasgow who wanted to appease a customer. The customer found the chicken tikka served to him too dry, so the chef dunked the chicken pieces in a tomato and cream sauce and chicken tikka masala was born!
• It has been declared the unofficial national dish of Britain, second only to Chinese stir-fry in popularity.
• Marks and Spencer claims to sell 18 tonnes of the stuff every week.
• It is on the menu of most Indian restaurants worldwide.

Jump to:

• Why this recipe works
• Ingredients
• Instructions 
• Top tips
• Frequently asked questions
• More Indian chicken curry recipes you might like
• Best side dishes for chicken tikka masala
• 📖 Recipe

Why this recipe works

1. It is a restaurant style chicken curry that replicates the same bold taste and flavors. Why order takeout when you can have fresh, homemade food that tastes just like your favorite restaurant fare?

2. The sauce can be frozen for future use. You can double or triple the quantity of sauce and store it in individual portions in the freezer. When the urge to have some chicken tikka masala strikes, all you need to do is prep the chicken, thaw the sauce and mix the two. And you're ready to go!

3. It is not a very difficult dish to prepare at home. The steps are pretty straightforward and easy to implement. Yes, the ingredient list is a bit long but there's nothing in there that you will have to hunt high and low to get. It's all commonly available stuff, most of which you will already have in your pantry or refrigerator.

A time saving tip: If you want to save time and get going, use store-bought ingredients rather than making everything from scratch. Ginger and garlic pastes, tomato puree, ground cumin, garam masala are all things you can make at home, but if you don't have time, they are easily available in any supermarket as well.

Ingredients

Note: exact amounts are given in the recipe card further down.

Marinade Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• Ginger-garlic paste - You can make ginger garlic paste together by adding equal quantities of peeled and chopped ginger and garlic in a small blender along with a little water and whizzing to get smooth paste. Use the quantity called for in the recipe and store the rest in a sealed glass jar in your fridge for future use.
• Yogurt, full-fat
• Kashmiri chilli powder - It gives a vibrant red color to any gravy without a lot of heat. If you can find it, do use it. It is easily available in supermarkets these days. But if you don’t have this, don’t fret! Just use whatever variety of ground chilli you have at hand.
• Other spices - smoked paprika, turmeric powder, and garam masala powder
• Salt and cooking oil - Use a vegetable oil like canola. Olive oil is not recommended since this recipe calls for some pretty high temps.

Sauce Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• Butter
• Red onions, diced into ¼ inch pieces
• Ginger-garlic paste
• Ground spices - Kashmiri chilli powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, garam masala
• Tomato puree - I wouldn’t recommend making your own puree for this recipe because fresh tomatoes just don’t have the same color and smoothness. Unless you want to make things complicated by hunting down the reddest, ripest tomatoes, pureeing and then straining them to get the desired result. Not happening in my kitchen!

Topping Ingredients:

• Heavy cream
• Sugar
• Cilantro leaves, chopped

Instructions 

Preparation

Make the chicken tikka marinade
Take a big Pyrex bowl and add the chicken and all the marinade ingredients. Toss well to make sure the chicken pieces are well coated with the marinade. Cover with some cling foil and keep the bowl in the refrigerator for two hours.

Instant pot chicken tikka masala

Step 1 - Fry the chicken in the instant pot

Switch on the instant pot to sauté (high) and slide in the marinated chicken, shaking off the excess marinade. Fry until the chicken is slightly browned, then flip and repeat (picture 1). Cancel saute. Remove the chicken onto a clean platter. Scrape off the browned bits from the bottom of the steel insert (as much as you can get) and pile them on the chicken.

Notes

1. You can remove and wash the steel insert at this point or continue with the next step.
2. If there is any marinade left after you fried the chicken, don't throw it. Put it back in the sauce that you prepare in the next step.

Step 2 - Make the chicken tikka masala sauce

Switch on saute again (normal) and add the oil and butter to the steel insert. When the display shows HOT again, add the diced onions. Fry until they just change color (picture 2). Add the ginger and garlic paste and the remaining spices and salt. Add ¼ cup water to prevent the spices from sticking to the bottom and simmer for 2-3 minutes (picture 3). Cancel saute and blend the gravy, using an immersion blender (picture 4).

Note: you can use the immersion blender even when the contents of the pot are hot. If you don't have an immersion blender, wait for the onion masala to cool down somewhat, then transfer it to your regular blender and puree.

Skip pureeing the onion masala if you don't want to go to the trouble. This is an optional step that just makes for a smoother sauce.

Step 3 - Pressure cook the sauce with the chicken and tomato puree

Once you've pureed the onion masala above, add the fried chicken, tomato puree, and 1 cup water (picture 5). Mix everything well (picture 6) and pressure cook for 5 minutes. When the timer beeps, wait for 10 minutes, then release the steam.

Step 4 - Add the cream and sugar

Remove the lid and add the cream and sugar (picture 7). Mix them in well. Chicken tikka masala is ready to be served with some warm naan or rice (picture 8). 

Stovetop instructions

Step 1 – Fry the chicken in a cast-iron skillet

Pour the oil in the skillet and heat it just below its smoking point. It should be very hot but not so much that it gives off fumes. Carefully slide in the marinated chicken and fry until the chicken becomes brown and slightly charred but not burned black. Flip over and fry on the other side too. The chicken need not be cooked through at this point, just seared to seal in the juices.

Step 2 – Make the chicken tikka masala sauce
Wipe the skillet clean of any burnt bits of chicken or marinade and add the cooking oil and butter. Heat it slightly, then add the onions and fry until golden. There’s no need to caramelize the onions to a dark reddish brown, just enough that they start changing their color. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and fry for 5 minutes, adding splashes of water as needed until the gravy is shiny. Let it cool down and blend to a smooth puree in a blender. Add the tomato puree, sugar and a cup of water.

Step 3 – Add the chicken and cream
Add the chicken to the gravy, followed by the cream. Cook for 15 minutes or until the chicken becomes tender, then switch off.

Top tips

1. Make it with boneless thigh meat, not breast meat – Chicken breasts dry out at high temps and become tough. Thigh meat remains moist and succulent. If you absolutely insist on using breast meat, then make sure that you marinate the meat for 24 hours to give it a chance to absorb the spices.

2. Make sure to brown the chicken – Authentic chicken tikka masala is made by chargrilling the chicken in a hot tandoor or clay oven. Since most of us don’t have a clay oven sitting in our kitchens, the next best thing we can do is to brown the chicken on the stove-top or broil it in the oven before adding it to the tikka sauce. If using your instant pot, don't bother doing it in a pan or oven. Directly brown the chicken in the instant pot. Of course, meat browned in the fry pan or oven or instant pot will not have the same smoky flavor, but that's okay. The chicken curry still tastes fantastic, I promise!

3. If prepping the meat in the oven, pre-heat the oven on the broiler setting (525 Fahrenheit), position the skewers on a shallow baking tray and stick the tray in the oven for 10-12 minutes, turning the skewers once. When you can see that the chicken is getting charred, take it out and follow the rest of the recipe. Don't worry, the chicken need not be fully cooked at this stage, that's going to happen anyway when you add it to the sauce.

4. Blend the onion masala before adding the tomato puree - This is not an essential step, but if you want a smooth, lump-free sauce then do blend the onion masala. If you don't want to go the trouble, the curry will taste just fine without it too.

Frequently asked questions

1. What does chicken tikka masala taste like?

Rich, creamy, tomato-ey, vibrant, medium-hot and full of the flavor of different spices. Need I say more?

2. Is chicken tikka masala spicy?

No. It has an intense flavor thanks to all those tomatoes, yogurt and spices but it is not a very hot dish like many other chicken curries. Kashmiri chilli and paprika add a lot of color but they're mild compared to cayenne. In fact, if you decide to use cayenne instead of Kashmiri chilli, reduce its quantity if you don't want a lot of heat.

3. What is the difference between butter chicken and chicken tikka masala?

Both look almost the same but the main difference between the two is that in a chicken tikka masala recipe, the chicken is chargrilled before adding it to the sauce. In butter chicken there’s no need for this step although the chicken can be baked as a pre-step. Also, butter chicken, as the name indicates, is made entirely with butter.

More Indian chicken curry recipes you might like

Best side dishes for chicken tikka masala

• Bombay Potatoes - Crispy baby potatoes with soft insides.
• Cumin Rice - Basmati rice flavored with cumin and other whole spices.
• Maash Dal - Split and skinned black gram lentils with a warm, nutty taste.
• Whole Wheat Naan - Soft and pillowy naan made with whole wheat flour or atta.

These are just a few possibilities! Find a lot more ideas for what to serve with chicken curry in this post: 20+ Best Side Dishes for Chicken Curry.

📖 Recipe