Keto Chicken Tikka Masala

I love curry and we had leftover chicken that needed a bit of spicing up! I found this recipe which sounded good. I didn’t do any of the raw chicken marinade part of the recipe, I just made the sauce and then folded in the diced leftover chicken. To me the recipe seemed a little overly complex, recipes should be simple. I like layers of flavour in my curries and it’s really important to cook dry spices off at the beginning in a little oil so that they aren’t harsh. Add a little water to them to prevent them burning. I added a good quality tikka masala paste to the other spices. This was a spicy curry rather than hot but it was excellent. I would recommend it.

Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 25 mins | Servings: 6

Nutrition (serving size 1 cup): Calories 385 | Total Carbs 9g | Net Carbs: 7g | Protein 32.3g | Fat 24g | Saturated Fat 13.5g | Fibre: 2.1g | Sugar: 5.1g

Ingredients:

Chicken marinade: (Please note, I missed out the need to marinate the raw chicken as I used leftover cooked chicken, diced)

• 5 skinless chicken breasts (750g), diced
• ½ cup (120g) plain yogurt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp each cumin, paprika
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, optional

Sauce: (I just made the sauce)

• 2 tbsp butter (I used a lactose-free butter)
• 1 small yellow onion diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (I used garlic paste instead)
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger grated (I used ginger paste instead)
• 1 tsp each garam masala, cumin, ground coriander
• ½ tsp each turmeric, paprika, chili powder (I used 3 tsp of tikka masala paste instead)
• 1.5 cups (360g) passata
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 cup double cream (I didn’t use any cream, as I felt it wasn’t needed)
• ¾ tsp erythritol, optional (I didn’t add this, as it was sweet enough)
• water to thin (Yes this was needed to get it to the right consistency.

Method

• Add the diced chicken to a large bowl with the chicken marinade ingredients and mix to combine. Leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes or ideally overnight, covered in the fridge.
• Heat 1 tbsp of butter or oil in large non-stick frying pan.
• Fry the chicken for about 3 minutes per side, or until golden and almost cooked through. About 8 minutes in total. Remove from the pan.
• Note: I had leftover cooked chicken, I diced this up and used this instead, and added after the sauce was made.
• Add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter to the pan and fry the onions for 3 minutes on a medium heat until golden and softened.
• Next add the garlic, ginger and spices and fry for 1 more minute until fragrant. (I added tikka masala paste as a substitute for some of the spices).

• Once fragrant, add the passata. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes or until thick.
• Add the cream and optional low carb sweeter if using. (I didn’t add any cream or sweetener).

• Once the sauce is ready to your liking, put the chicken back in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through and warm.
• Serve and enjoy!! I served mine with cauliflower rice and homemade flatbreads.

Gluten Freeketolactose freelow carb