A dairy free chicken tikka masala made at home! Let me show you how to make restaurant quality tikka masala free from all dairy and totally Whole30, keto, and paleo compliant!
Tender bits grilled and marinated chicken tikka are served in a tomato based and totally creamy masala sauce! Indian comfort food!
A favorite of our pre-allergy days!
It was a sad day when I figured out my favorite chicken tikka masala was a big fat NO for my dairy hating body (thankfully with all my healing work, that is no longer the case!)! And while I have tried many recipes that were good in their own right, none of them reminded me of the dish my husband and I loved from our favorite Indian restaurants!
I mean it’s a CLASSIC!! Grilled tender bits of chicken slathered in a creamy tomato based sauce.
That has always been of the BEST things about Indian food…all those sauces!! So many flavors, a veritable party in your mouth at every taste! Of course the naan wasn’t too shabby either…..but I digress.
This dairy free chicken tikka masala brings it all back…sans the cream!
The end result is something we have made several times now, accompanied by my fermented rice and lentil flat-breads, aka dosas. A post hopefully one day on those lovely crunchy additions too!
Homemade gluten free naan is yum too! And we regularly make the Indian spiced version in my quick roasted cauliflower post!
Do you like Indian food as much as we do? You may want to try my “Instant Pot Vindaloo” which can also be done in an Instant Pot!
Handy kitchen tools for making your own dairy free tikka masala:
- When it comes to grating ginger, or any zests, I swear by my Microplane, a must have tool in any kitchen! The first time you use it to zest a citrus or ginger knob…you will thank me!!
- I like to use a grill basket to grill all sorts small of veggies and meats pieces. Foods get all that smoky flavor but no small pieces are sacrificed to the BBQ depths!
- I use my BlendTec daily, it’s a best friend! I highly recommend them!
Additional dairy free paleo chicken recipes:
- Easily one of my favorite soups: Thai Chicken Soup is ready in 30!
- Keto Pesto Chicken Casserole has bacon too…the ultimate!
- My simple Grilled Vietnamese Chicken is one of my favorite meal prep dishes…only a couple minutes to throw together!
- Spicy Honey Lime Chicken is an amazing flavor combo!
PLAN AHEAD – MARINATING TIME FOR THE CHICKEN!
Dairy Free Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe:
If you try this, let me know in the comments below! I want to hear about it!
Dairy Free Paleo Chicken Masala
Ingredients
Grilled Chicken & Marinade
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 tablespoons avocado oil
- 3 tablespoons dairy free plain coconut milk yogurt or any allowed plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
Tikka Sauce
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons ginger finely grated or minced. Dried is not the same!
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved (or other tomato is fine). Canned drained diced tomatoes fine too!
- 1/2 cup full fat canned coconut milk or homemade thick cashew milk (1 cup raw cashews blended with 1 cup water until smooth)
- 2 tablespoons ghee or allowed butter
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
- 1 teaspoon honey or a few drops liquid stevia (to taste), or omit enitrely for Whole30
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
Instructions
MARINADE
- AT LEAST 6 HOURS, PREFERABLY OVERNIGHT, PREPARE MARINADE & CHICKEN:, Mix your marinade together in a container large enough to accommodate all the chicken: 4 tablespoons avocado oil, 1T garlic, 2T lime juice, 1/2 t coriander, 1t paprika, 1t sea salt and the yogurt. Marinate your chicken for at least 12 hours or better still, 24 hours!
GRILL CHICKEN
- When you are ready to cook, preheat a grill to high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade, and place all the chicken in a grill basket. Cook, until very slightly charred. Toss around and cook chicken all the way through. Set aside.
MAKE YOUR TIKKA MASALA SAUCE
- In a medium sauté pan, heat remaining 3 tablespoons avocado oil over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add in the ginger, 1 tablespoon garlic, and onion. Cook until the onion if softened, a few minutes.
- Stir in the tomato. Cook to soften the tomato skins: about 3-4 minutes.
- Shovel the mixture into a blender along with all the remaining sauce ingredients, including the remaining 1/2 t coriander and 1t paprika . Puree the whole mixture to pulverize the tomato skins and create a creamy sauce.
ASSEMBLE THE TIKKA MASALA
- In a saucepan, gently heat the pureed sauce and cooked chicken pieces over low heat to warm. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed!
Notes
- PLEASE PLAN AHEAD FOR MARINATE TIME!! AT LEAST 6 HOURS, BUT OVERNIGHT BETTER!
- Additional spices maybe added if you like stronger flavors. Garam masala and curry powder are both tasty, 1-2 teaspoons in either/both marinade and sauce.
Nutrition
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Probably my all time favorite Indian dish. This one doesn’t disappoint! 🙂 We have it in our regular rotation!
Have also used 1/2 smoked paprika and it was a delicious variation! 🙂
This was excellent and easy. I sauteed the chicken rather than grilling it, b/c I don’t have a grill.
Thanks for your comment Cindy!!
I’m very confused by your directions. Are there three separate parts to the recipe? Do you marinate the chicken with the marinade ingredients and then make the paste and finally make the Tikka sauce??? I currently have the chicken cut up in pieces and marinading in all the following ingredients:
4 tablespoons avocado oil
3 tablespoons dairy free plain coconut milk yogurt or any allowed
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoons garlic minced
1 teaspoons Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon coriander
That’s correct! When the chicken is done marinating in the marinade, you will continue with making the masala paste/sauce, grilling the chicken, then combining the chicken and sauce together. Let me know if you have any further questions!
Oh my goodness, I’m drooling. I think I have everything I need to make this. Is it possible to use sour cream instead of the yogurt?
Most definitely!
Yummy! Finally! A good dairy free option for this delicious meal.. thank you!
When does the tikka sauce get made? Does that go into the blender too?
After the masala paste is made, add the tikka sauce ingredients, along with the just made paste into the blender. Does that answer your question?
I love this version of Tikka Masala and it is so great to have it dairy free!
Chicken masala is the best. And dairy free chicken masala is even better!
Not nearly enough spice for me. I added 3 whole cloves, 3 cardamon pods,2 teaspoons of garam massala, a teaspoon and a half of turmeric and doubled up all of the other spices in the sauce. Also, if I were to make again, instead of adding the spices after cooking the onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes I’d add the cardamon and cloves to the oil and the rest of the spices after sautee-ing the onions and garlic/ginger. Everyone liked the resulting curry but it didn’t taste like chicken tikka massala. I’ll look for another recipe and change the dairy content for non-dairy. Sorry.
can’t win them all Emma…spice content is so individual!! Good luck finding one that better suits your tastes!
My son was ordered off all gluten and dairy by his dermatologist to treat his cystic acne – a shock to a 15 year old. This recipe is so amazing he didn’t care that it’s paleo. It was so nice to see him happy to eat!
What amazing praise Katie! I hope you can find some more goodies…there really is goodness out there without gluten and dairy!!
Hi there – step 3 says “Make your marsala paste.” How is this done and when does the marsala paste come back into the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Kathleen..I did not have that formatted really well, thanks for pointing that out. The directions for the masala paste followed, that was like a title, see if the new formatting makes it clear to you!
Great – thank you so much. I am making this tonight as it is hard to find good, dairy-free Indian food where we live (Costa Rica). Thanks again!
you’re welcome Kathleen! I love Costa Rica…that was our honeymoon spot!!Can;t wait to travel back one day!
Can’t wait to try this…it sounds like a delicious alternative! We love Chicken Tikka Masala too.
I love tikka masala, and the addition of coconut milk sounds like an awesome flavor combo! I can’t wait to try this.
Thank you so much for sharing. I hereby declare this to be the BEST paleo recipe of all time! My husband licks the plate, and my two year old will even eat it!
that sounds like a resounding success Cat! Glad you all enjoyed it so much!
Awesome dish!
glad you liked it Melody! I am working on a gf and vegan naan that is pretty amazing too!
I was so excited to see a dairy free version of this recipe, but unfortunately my little one also has an allergy to coconut. Do you know of any other substitute that would work well? In general I use almond milk as a substitute, but I am guessing it won’t have enough fat in it to work for this recipe.
Hi Rachelle! You can definitely do this…two of the options I can think of….make your own almond milk, but make it cream style ( 1 cup soaked almonds blended with 1 1/2 cup water, the strained). Also, if you can get you mitts on any mimicreme, unsweetened you will be golden! Both of these options will replace Creme or full fat coconut milk n any recipe! Let me know if you need more info!
You can also make cashew cream, which I find to work really well in recipes, both sweet and savoury. I also find that using cashew cream is not quite as overpowering as coconut cream, but I may just be more partial to cashews ;).
http://talronnen.ca/recipes/cashew-cream/
I can’t wait to try this recipe out for myself, Tessa 😀
I made this yesterday and it is delicious, my new favorite! I do not have a grill so I put the chicken with all of the marinade in a dish and baked it. I also used Pom tomatoes and doubled the amount of tomatoes and coconut milk. Then added a small amount more of spices with a pinch of cayenne.
Awesome Maury, glad you are enjoying it!
Your Chicken Tikka Masala looks so wholesome and delicious. You’ve used a lovely selection of spices. Great that it’s dairy-free too!
Did you substitute the coconut milk for regular milk?
It was originally half andhalf!
I will definitely be making this! It looks delicious. Is the quantity for the garlic and lime juice 1 tablespoon? (it says 1 T). Thanks
yes Alessandra!
Hi Tessa,
Your Chicken Tikka Masala looks delicious! Hope you have a wonderful week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Hi Tessa,
This is my kind of dinner!! Can’t wait to try. Looks amazing.
Have a great rest of your week.
–Amber
How exciting to be able to make this dairy free!
Hello,
Long time no see… I love this recipe. The coconut milk is a wonderful substitute for dairy. I am still having my food party on Friday would love to see you there.
Scrumptious!!! I think I am going to recommend this recipe be made this weekend! 🙂
Wow, I love your Chicken Tikka Masala! I like that you’ve modified this recipe to be dairy free. Looks delicious!
Stopping by from Allergy Free Wednesdays! (If you have a chance, stop by and check out the Potato Salad I’ve linked up, #41)
Wow. Looks fantastic Tessa. I can see myself making this time and time again.