Keto Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken tikka cooked in a rich tomato gravy
A couple of weeks ago I made a Keto Chicken Tikka and the idea was to follow it up with a Chicken Tikka Masala, a keto one of course. So today we cook up this delicious keto curry aka the chicken tikka masala. It’s a pretty heavy on the calories. I had never actually eaten the UK style of tikka masala and I went through a number of recipes and videos to see what the fuss was all about. In my recipe I used green peppers but skipped any full onions or other coloured peppers to keep the carbs on the lower side. I also decided to substitute the cashew paste with almonds since cashews are quite high in carbs. Anyway enough jibber jabber, enjoy!
Combining chicken tikka with the gravy
What you have to do when it comes ot counting macros for this recipe is club it along with our Keto Chicken Tikka recipe. I have made a separate recipe on MFP for just the gravy. So it’s a pretty big portion as I divided it into two servings, however you can always break it up into 4. I have to say I found this dish to be really tasty and our Keto naan will be the perfect accompaniment for this Tikka masala. If you are a vegetarian you can substitute the chicken with Paneer. Funny thing though is I don’t think anyone ever makes tikka masala with meats other than chicken. I’ve heard of Fish Tikka but never a fish tikka masala.
Nutrition Info per serving (tikka and sauce combined)
- Calories: 719
- Net Carbs: 7g
- Carbs: 15g
- Fat: 21g
- Protein: 49g
- Fiber: 4g
This recipe makes 2 servings.
For the ‘gravy’ or ‘masala’, Get this recipe on myfitnesspal.
For the Chicken Tikka, Get this recipe on myfitnesspal.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
- 300 grams Chicken Tikka Use our recipe
- 60 grams Finely chopped onions
- 1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste I recommend this one
- Whole Garam Masala (1 Tsp Cumin Seeds, 2 Bay Leaves, 3 Green Cardamoms, 1 Black Cardamom, 3 Cloves)
- 2 tbsp Ghee/Clarified butter
- Ground Spices (1/2 Tsp Tumeric Powder, 1 Tsp Coriander Powder, 1 Tsp Red Chilli Powder, 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala Powder)
- 1 Beef Stock Cube (or salt to taste)
- 100 grams Tomato (Fresh or Puree or Tinned) I recommend this one
- 50 grams Capsicum (Green Bell Peppers)
- 25 grams Almonds ground into a paste
- 50 ml Heavy Cream
- Coriander for Garnish
- Water
- Food colour (Optional) I use this one
Instructions
- Heat the ghee in the pan
- Fry the whole spices/garam masala till their aroma is released
- Add in the onions and fry till brown
- Then add in the ginger garlic paste and cook some more
- Add in all the powdered spices and cook out for a minute
- Add in the tomatoes and some water along with the stock cube and cover and cook for 10 minutes
- Add in the capsicum, almond paste and chicken tikka and cook.
- Add food colouring for a brighter more 'red' colour
- Finish with the cream and coriander.
- Serve
This is really good, and my coworkers from India agree! For the chicken tikka itself, I skipped the long marinade time and just cooked it in a sous vide (Joule) at 167F for 45 minutes. I suspect the heavy cream we get here in the US is thinner than the heavy cream you have over there, so I used Devonshire cream instead, which seemed to work okay. I used roasted almond butter (freshly ground), but I’ll try it with raw almonds next time! Thanks for all the amazing recipes you do!
When does the almond paste go in? I can’t seem to find it in the method
Goes in towards the end.
When do you add the almond paste?
Towards the end.
but when do you add the almond paste? it isn’t in the video!
It’s there and I’ve added it to the recipe info as well now 🙂
Chicken goes on when?
It goes in just after the almond paste.
How much water do you add?
I kind of eyeball it. Just to make sure I get the consistency I want.
Hi Sahil,
I want to preface this by saying that this was delicious! The chicken tikka recipe? OFF THE HOOK.
Ok, that said, I tripled the recipe because I had a lot of thighs in the freezer that I wanted to use up. The widget that allows you to change the number of servings doesn’t change the amount of seasoning, so I tripled the spices, thinking that was a legit thing.
Turns out it might not be. My CTM was delicious but WAY spicy. Was that mostly due to the chili powder, or are there other spices that also contribute to the heat? The seasoning was really good, even if I screwed it up, so I wonder if, when I make this next time and I increase the spices manually if I should just cut back on the spice. Could you please let me know?
Thank you SO much for sharing your amazing recipes!
Regards,
Linda
Hi again,
In the video, you say a teaspoon of ginger garlic paste but in the recipe, it says 1 tbsp. Which is correct?
Thanks,
Linda
hey it’s teaspoon. I’ve just corrected the recipe. Thanks for pointing that out.
Meant to say cut back on the chili pepper.
Hi
I am really confused how this is keto?
The macros just don’t make sense
What part is confusing you? And what part of the macros don’t make sense? It’s very clearly 719 calories for 1/2 the dish which has 7g net carbs. Keto is simply a state of ketosis. So there is no reason this will not keep you in that state unless you are eating other things and going over your own daily macro allowance. If you are worried about the high protein it’s simply up to you to add more fat to your meal either by fats over the top, smaller portion of this dish, a fat bomb for dessert, a bulletproof coffee later in the day. That’s your call. So if you have any more specific queries let me know.
Hey 🙂 can this be frozen?
yes