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.
- 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
- 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
19 Comments
squeak
January 31, 2018 at 9:12 pmThis 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!
Jacqui
April 18, 2018 at 11:22 amWhen does the almond paste go in? I can’t seem to find it in the method
Sahil Makhija
April 18, 2018 at 2:09 pmGoes in towards the end.
Chris Walker
April 20, 2018 at 7:36 amWhen do you add the almond paste?
Sahil Makhija
April 21, 2018 at 4:11 amTowards the end.
meechu
May 1, 2018 at 8:41 pmbut when do you add the almond paste? it isn’t in the video!
Sahil Makhija
May 2, 2018 at 4:26 amIt’s there and I’ve added it to the recipe info as well now 🙂
Bill
December 7, 2018 at 7:04 pmChicken goes on when?
Sahil Makhija
December 8, 2018 at 2:55 amIt goes in just after the almond paste.
Martin White
January 19, 2019 at 3:20 amHow much water do you add?
Sahil Makhija
January 20, 2019 at 4:05 amI kind of eyeball it. Just to make sure I get the consistency I want.
Linda
August 28, 2019 at 6:55 pmHi 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
linda
November 16, 2019 at 1:56 pmHi 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
Sahil Makhija
November 17, 2019 at 2:36 amhey it’s teaspoon. I’ve just corrected the recipe. Thanks for pointing that out.
Linda
August 28, 2019 at 6:56 pmMeant to say cut back on the chili pepper.
Shin
September 14, 2019 at 10:53 amHi
I am really confused how this is keto?
The macros just don’t make sense
Sahil Makhija
September 14, 2019 at 11:41 amWhat 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.
Ella
October 15, 2019 at 8:21 pmHey 🙂 can this be frozen?
Sahil Makhija
October 16, 2019 at 3:41 amyes