Turkey Tikka Masala Recipe (2024)

Spectacular. This was a LOT of work, but the good news is that all the prep and spice combos made me stop thinking about Trump for a few minutes. And the dish was delicious even when my husband used some of it on his plain-jane veggie burgers instead of the left over turkey.
This one is a keeper - but not for a fast prep weekday night.

This is a distinctly north-Indian dish. Adding coconut milk will bring a unnatural south-Indian flavor to it. If you have to do away with dairy entirely, 1. you will have to use lemon instead of yogurt to tenderize the meat. 2. Then add either cashew or almond milk instead of cream, but beef up the amount of spice to counter-balance the sweetness; so substitute 1 tbsp cayenne for 1 tbsp paprika

I spent 3 days cooking thanksgiving dinner for 8 guests and their comments: " ... remember that turkey masala you made last year? Can you make it again?" It was clearly memorable enough to surmount an heirloom turkey, 8 side dishes, 4 appetizers, 2 pies, a cake, 2 homemade ice creams and champagne. Yep. That good.

What a great way to utilize the herb rubbed smoked turkey from T'day!
Used only a cup of heavy cream and needed to thin the sauce after blending–add water to blender, swish around, add to the pot with pureed sauce.
Suggest pumping up the spices as this was just a bit too mild for us.
Tomato, cream mixture doesn't really need 40 minutes to cook. Suggest half that time.
More lemon also helped brighten the sauce once it's all together.
Great dish that we will definitely do again.

Holy cow this was good. Didn’t have cooked turkey or chicken on hand, so I marinaded raw diced chicken breasts overnight, then sautéed them separately while I made the sauce. I combined the two after blending the sauce and continued to heat awhile to meld the flavors. Didn’t have cilantro and the fiancé hates onions, so left those out, and used 1/4 tsp ground cardamom in place of pods. So good I stood over the stove and dunked naan into the sauce until I started feeling bad about myself.

Tikka Masala actually originated Glasgow in the UK

It is so exciting to be able to make this dish at home! As many have noted, however, this involves a lot of prep work. Daunted by the prospect of mashing all that garlic, grating all that ginger, and mincing the peppers, I chose instead to crush the garlic in a press, and run the ginger and Serrano pepper in a mini-chop. Next time I will put the garlic in the mini chop as well. The dish is simmered for an hour and puréed, rendering the mortar and pestle and ginger grater unnecessary.

Loved this recipe! I took a couple of shortcuts that seemed to work out all right. Instead of cardamom pods I used 1/4 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Since the ginger, onion & garlic were going to get blended, I didn't grate/slice/mince to perfection. I used the nonfat Greek yogurt I had on hand instead of whole milk, and the results were still delicious. The lemon added a lot to the brightness of the dish. This is a home run!

Many lactose-intolerant people can eat yogurt. The fermentation breaks down the lactose.

This is absolutely delicious. As with many Indian dishes, the preparation was time-consuming; but Indian stews freeze well--if one has leftovers! The only change I made was to use 1 cup of 2% Greek yogurt in place of 1 cup of the heavy cream in order to save on fat calories. After the winter holidays we still have many sweets so I have to cut back somewhere. :-)

This takes some time but is delicious. We made a half recipe with leftover turkey and a half recipe with tofu. The tofu stood up better than the turkey after marinating but both were very tasty.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we had a baby shower (new granddaughter arriving soon). We had enough turkey to make this recipe x 2-1/2, It was a lot of work but a huge success. 30 people left barely enough for lunch for one today. I learned to cook Indian food years ago with my friend whose father was a colonel in the Indian army. As he threw spices into a pot and we caught and measured them before they landed. I found this recipe very authentic, truly delicious and a crowd pleaser.

Used only a cup of cream and a cup of 2% milk. Got rave reviews

An hour and a half is optimistic for this but the results were well worth all the time. We plan on doubling or probably tripling the sauce next round then portioning it out and freezing it, and also just tearing up a rotisserie chicken since it'll be another year 'til we make turkey again.. There was zero heat to this recipe. Consider seriously upping the red pepper flakes and maybe substituting in a different pepper if you'd like a little kick. Lovely with a sparkling rosé.

Came out amazing but it was very time consuming. Not the greatest recipe for the day after you slaved away in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, but is fine on a weekend you don't have much going on. Flavors were exquisite.

I was looking for a general masala recipe and this is absolutely worth it. Full disclosure - I had no intention of adding meat, so that shortened my prep & cooking time - I just added two cans of drained chickpeas at the end to warm them through. I used a jalapeno and the red pepper flakes and the spice level was great, and I used one can of coconut milk instead of the cream. Next time I make this, I might consider tossing everything in the mini food processor to cut down on prep time.

Was short on Turkey and subbed some super firm tofu to make up for the reduced protein. Marinated and cooked w Turkey - worked great! Used Greek yogurt a little water bc it’s what I had ended up pretty thick. All in all very delicious!

I modify many of the NYT recipes in some way - but followed this one to the "t." I was legit impressed with the authenticity of this dish and can honestly see myself repeating it as a vegetarian dish using marinated chickpeas or seitan. I made this over the course of 2 days, and generally do not enjoy cooking - but this was well worth the effort!!!!

Super tasty. I didn't want to run the gas stove for 40 minutes so did that step in a crockpot.

This is delicious and a lot of fun to make. I love going through the process of combining and preparing spices. It takes time but it’s quite enjoyable.

It’s quite good, but we didn’t find it notably better than the Curry in a Hurry recipe we have, which takes a fraction of the time.

This recipe is always a HUGE hit! I sub 3 tsp of ground cardamom and use any leftover meat. Sometimes I roast a chicken earlier in the week, with carrots and potatoes, then I use all the leftovers (veggies too!) in this dish. Serve with basmati rice and homemade flatbread. Yum!

The best use of leftover holiday turkey I’ve found yet. Not a big fan of turkey but feel compelled to use it up. This one is a keeper for this time of year. Made fresh naan with it. Yum! Thanks!

The sauce was delicious, but the already-cooked turkey didn't stand up to recooking like this. After marinating and roasting, it fell apart and made for an unappetizing mush. I'd rather eat cold turkey sandwiches from my Thanksgiving leftovers and use fresh meat or tofu if I'm going to invest all the time that goes into this sauce.

I made this with leftover Thanksgiving turkey that was 4 days old and it was so good! The marinade (Yogurt etc) makes the turkey stay moist and delicious. I used Jarred Tikka Masala sauce rather than make my own because I ran out of time and it was hit! The marinade will make any jarred sauce taste good!

Great way to use white meat leftovers! I made the marinade and folded in the turkey on night 1. Finished the dish on night 2, so it felt more manageable. Instead of cardamom pods, I used 1/2 tsp ground cardamom. Lacked serranos, so used more dried chili. Added mini peppers to the turkey sheet pan for roasting. One cup of dairy—half yogurt, half creme fraiche. Will try again with serranos, just to see a bit more green in the dish.One of the few dishes I've rated 5 out of 5!

Made as directed and enjoyed the flavors. Next time I will skip the marinade entirely!. The masala sauce was so delicious without the added marinade (not to mention time/effort). I will definitely freeze the sauce. Used immersion blender to partially pureed the sauce.

I agree with other reviewers that this the BEST use for leftover turkey. It is delicious. While there is some benefit to simmering for the recommended times, can shorten some of them down if you’re in a hurry. I marinated the turkey about 5 hours. This made an excellent Monday evening meal in our house!

This was delicious, only marinated it for a couple hours and it was still good. Added turkey broth to a portion the next day and it made a wonderful creamy masala turkey soup!

I followed the notes of others and used coconut milk instead of cream, which gave more flavor and richness to the masala. I also added more spice than the recipe called for which again improved the flavor overall. This dish tasted exactly like I have had at a local Nepalese restaurant near where I live. Definitely worth the time. I only marinated the turkey for 1.5 hrs. instead of 4 but it came out just fine.