Chicken Tikka Masala
over Basmati Rice
- Milk
Ready to make restaurant-worthy chicken tikka masala in your own kitchen in just 25 minutes? It’s as easy as: 1. Brown your chicken with onion and garlic. 2. Simmer in your creamy sauce laced with aromatic garam masala, warming ginger, and umami-packed tomato paste. 3. Spoon it all over buttery basmati rice with fresh cilantro and thin slices of chili pepper if you like a little heat. Oh, and how could we forget 4: dig the heck in!
Ingredients
2 teaspoon
Garam Masala
10 ounce
Chopped Chicken Breast
1 unit
Tomato Paste
1 unit
Onion
1 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
4 ounce
Cream Sauce Base
(Contains: Milk)
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
¼ ounce
Cilantro
1 thumb
Ginger
1 unit
Chili Pepper
½ cup
Basmati Rice
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Sugar
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry all produce. • In a small pot, combine rice, ¾ cup water (1½ cups for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. • Keep covered off heat until ready to serve. • Meanwhile, halve and peel onion; thinly slice one half (slice whole onion for 4). Peel and mince or grate ginger. Roughly chop cilantro. Thinly slice chili.
• Pat chicken* dry with paper towels. Toss in a medium bowl with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. • Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add sliced onion and a pinch of salt; cook until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. • Add chicken and cook until browned all over, 3-5 minutes (it’ll finish cooking in the next step).
• Stir ginger and garam masala into pan. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. • Stir in tomato paste; cook for 1 minute. • Pour in ½ cup water (1 cup for 4 servings), cream sauce base, stock concentrate, and 1 tsp sugar (2 tsp for 4), stirring until smooth. (TIP: Cut top off cream sauce carton to open fully; transfer contents, using a spoon or spatula to scrape sauce from carton sides.) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low; simmer until sauce is thickened and chicken is cooked through, 1-2 minutes. Turn off heat. (If sauce is too thick, add a splash or two more water.) • Stir in half the cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. TIP: If you like your chicken tikka masala a bit sweeter, add a pinch more sugar.
• Fluff rice with a fork; stir in 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) and season with salt and pepper. • Divide rice between shallow bowls or plates. Top with chicken tikka masala. Garnish with remaining cilantro and a pinch of chili if desired.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the authentic taste, though some found it mild; adding extra herbs or spices boosted flavor 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Customers were surprised how quick and simple it was to make restaurant-quality tikka masala at home.
- Suggestions: Consider adding vegetables like peas or bell peppers; serve with naan bread for a more complete meal.
- Portions: Some felt the rice serving was insufficient; others wished for more sauce or chicken.
- Spice level: Heat preferences varied widely; adjust chili pepper amount to taste.
Reviews from our home cooks
The flavors were AMAZING! The basmati rice with butter was a GREAT base for the delicious chicken-onion-and-sauce! The mixes of tomato paste, cream sauce, and garam masala were fantastic and make us want to try more Indian-inspired meals!
I had always imagined that chicken tikka masala was complicated. The instructions made it easy and I realized that I can make this any time I have a craving. This is marked as a favorite recipe now.
I am a huge fan of chicken tikka masala and this recipe was great! More cinnamon than I'm used to tasting, but still delicious! 10/10 would recommend.
Chicken Tikka Masala is one of my favorite dishes. The fact that I was able to make the recipe myself was exciting. I wasn't too fond of the crunchy pieces of all spice.
Best Chicken Tikka Masala - sauce has great quality. Just needs a little more rice on the side!
This was probably in our top 3 Hello Fresh meals/recipes. It was so good everyone went back for seconds and we had no leftovers which is rare for us. Great job. My only suggestion would have been to have included a little bit more basmati rice. The sauce was so delicious and the recipe made a lot of it so it would have been nice to have had enough rice to go with the amazing chicken and sauce.
The tikka masala was delicious and easy to prepare with one exception. We did not see where to add the chili pepper, but guessed that it was to be sliced on top as a garnish, as the photo seemed to indicate. We decided later to slice it and add to the sun-dried pasta as part of the sauce, which gave that dish a bit more kick and was also quite delicious.
I love Indian food, but had never ventured out to try making it...the unknown can be a bit intimidating. But HelloFresh made the intimidating easy and delicious; thank you! We loved the robust flavors and comforting texture of Chicken Tikka Masala - it was Wonderful!
The meal was delicious, but one improvement I would suggest (based on chicken tikka masala I've had from Indian restaurants) is cooking the rice with some fragrant spices so it stands up on its own and isn't just a filler. Otherwise this was great and I'll probably tweak it to try on my own!
Our very first experience with Chicken Tikka Masala, so a bit difficult to say how authentic this dish tasted. Since the rice was so bland we mixed the dish together, making it look more like a plate of chili
