Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe - A Mom's Take (2024)

Today marks National Cook With Your Kids Day, and there’s no better way to get the kids in the kitchen cooking with you then with our Chicken Tikka Masala recipe. We’ve partnered with Uncle Ben’sfor this post, and can’t wait to show you this amazing recipe.It’s an ethnic Indian dish that will feel like an expensive restaurant dish, but it’s so easy to make and almost every step the kids can help with!

What’s great about starting with a dish they’ve never tried, is that when they’re helping to prepare the meal the kids are more willing to try something new and experience new flavors they haven’t tried before. By getting them involved in the cooking process, the kids will be more likely to dive in to enjoy the dish!

The ingredients list looks overwhelming, but it’s really just a handful of spices and then a few additional ingredients you add to that. It’s really much easier than it will look. Let’s get started!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups plain greek yogurt
• 2 Tbls lemon juice
• Spices:
  • 2 tsp crushed red pepper, grounded to a powder
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
• 3 lbs chicken, cubed

Rice & Sauce Ingredients:

• 3 cups Uncle Ben’s Rice
• Spices:
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp salt
• 3-4 gloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 Thai peppers, depending on level of heat desired
• 3 Tbls butter
• 1 12-oz can tomato sauce
• 1 1/4 cup whipping cream

Step 1: Prepare the Chicken

Create your chicken coating by combining greek yogurt, lemon juice, and spices. Mix together in a bowl until combined. Then, add your diced chicken and stir to combine.Allow your chicken to marinate in the coating for an hour in the fridge. You can skip the marinating time if you’re short on time, but it will be more flavorful if you allow it to sit.

Next, spoon your chicken mixture onto a baking sheet. You want it to be just one layer thick, without chicken stacked on top of each other so it will bake properly.

Broil the chicken at 500° F for approximately 15-20 minutes. You’ll want to pull out the chicken as soon as it’s golden brown.

Step 2: Rice and Sauce

Once your chicken is in the oven, it’s time to start some rice. Prepare 2-3 cups of dry rice. The kids love helping with the measuring the rice and adding water and butter and then watching as the rice cooker does it’s magic. You can also cook Uncle Ben’s rice very easily on the stove, but we love our rice cooker as it makes it easy for the kids to help and we can set it and forget it.

Now,you’ll create the sauce. Start by combining all of the spices into a small jar. Next, add finely minced Thai peppers. You’ll use 1-2 peppers, depending on how spicy you prefer your food. Adding 1 Thai pepper won’t make your dish overly spicy, but adds a lot of flavor. If you can’t find Thai peppers locally, you can substitute in a jalapeno pepper.

Melt butter over a medium heat. Add spices and garlic and continue to stir. Next, add tomato sauce and heavy whipping cream. Allow the sauce to simmer on a low heat until the chicken is ready.

When the chicken is done cooking, add it to your sauce and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes. The longer you allow the meat to cook in the sauce, the more tender your meat will be. You can serve the dish in as little as 15 minutes if you’re short on time.

Serve up the dish by starting with a good helping of Uncle Ben’s rice. It should be perfectly cooked and ready and warm waiting until you are ready to serve the meal.

Top the rice with chicken and as much of the sauce as you’d like. I like to drizzle a bit of the sauce over my rice. You can also top your Chicken Tikka Masala with a pinch of cilantro, if you’d like, as a garnish. Now, it’s time to eat and enjoy!!

This recipe is my 6 year old’s favorite recipe! He’s always asking to cook it. My husband cannot get enough of this recipe, he adds it to our meal plan about once a week (or more often if he can). This is a recipe that will not disappoint.

Every Child Can Cook

Every child has the capacity to cook, as long as they have a parent to guide them through the process and the tools they need to learn the skills and steps necessary. Uncle Ben’s has a whole digital hub dedicated to help parents teach their children to cook with an interactive site that makes it easy.

If you need help or inspiration of what to cook together, turn to beginners.unclebens.com. You will find recipes, tips, and tricks to make the most out of your cooking experience. The recipes follow an easy step-by-step format that anyone can follow. As you work through the website, you can earn fun badges for completing lessons as you learn about skills such as stirring, chopping, measuring and more.

This year marks the inaugural year of the International Cook with Your Kid Day. To celebrate this special occasion, Uncle Ben’s is helping to raise awareness around all the variety of benefits to families that cooking together can bring. They want to hear how cooking together has impacted your family and what you’ll cook together today.

Parents around the world can join in by sharing their photos, videos, and/or stories of their cooking adventures with the hashtag #LookWhatWeMade. You can also join in the annual UNCLE BEN’s Ben’s Beginners Cooking Contest with the official hashtag #BensBeginners. The contest ends tomorrow, October 16th, so hurry over to enter!

Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

No matter what recipe you decide to cook, take the opportunity to get into the kitchen as a family. There are so many great reasons to let the littles help, we’re sharing our favorite 10 reasons reasons to cook with your kids!

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