A Western adaptation of chicken tikka masala, itself often traced to 1970s Glasgow when a Bangladeshi cook reportedly thinned a dry tikka with tomato soup and cream for a customer. Turkey swaps in for a leaner bird, common in U.S. and U.K. home cooking after Thanksgiving when leftover roast turkey gets recycled into curry.
Tikka masala is a 1970s Glasgow invention — the gravy was added because a customer complained the chicken tikka was dry. Turkey trades darker meat for leaner; the marinade has to work harder.
Cubes of marinated turkey breast charred on the edges, simmered in a tomato-cream gravy tinted brick-red by Kashmiri chili and a knob of butter melting on top. Yogurt marinade keeps the lean turkey from drying. Sop with naan or tip over basmati. The sauce should coat a spoon, not pool.
The double-cook is the move: turkey gets a yogurt-spice marinade and high-heat sear (oven, broiler, or grill) before going into the sauce, so the smoke comes from the meat itself, not the gravy. Skip the sear and you get pink stewed turkey in pink sauce — flat. Kashmiri chili gives the color without much heat; paprika is the supermarket substitute.
Variations
Punjabi tikka grills the bird in a tandoor; Brick Lane (London) thickens with cream and tomato paste; Madras-style swaps in coconut milk and curry-leaf oil.
- ·Uses turkey instead of chicken
- ·Fusion dish
On the Palate
Where Turkey Tikka Masala sits in the Indian flavor cloud
Give the yogurt-marinated turkey a hard, high-heat sear before it ever touches the sauce — that char is where the smoky depth comes from; skip it and you get pale stewed turkey in pink gravy.
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 36 min active + 30 min waiting
- 10 min
Marinate turkey pieces in yogurt, garlic, and garam masala. Let them sit for at least 30 minutes to absorb the flavors.
- 28 min
Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add marinated turkey pieces and cook until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes.
Watch outWait for the oil to shimmer before the turkey goes in, and let each side set into a brown crust before you turn it — crowding steams it pale.
- 36 min
Remove the turkey and set aside. In the same pan, add chopped onions and cook until they are soft and golden, about 6 minutes.
- 412 min
Stir in garlic and spices, cooking until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Then, add chopped tomatoes and cook until they break down into a thick sauce, about 10 minutes.
Watch outCook the tomatoes down until they collapse into a thick, jammy sauce and the oil starts to separate at the edges — that's when the raw taste is gone.
- 510 min
Return the turkey to the pan along with cream. Stir to combine and simmer until the turkey is cooked through and the sauce is rich, about 10 minutes.
Watch outStir the cream in off a hard boil and keep it at a bare simmer — rolling heat can split the sauce grainy.
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