Chicken Masala recipe – a North Indian chicken curry

Chicken Masala is an authentic North Indian style simple chicken curry recipe made in a thick and spicy gravy flavored with garam masala powder. Can be served with steamed rice, roti, plain naan or butter naan, paratha, veg biryani, chicken biryani, or veg pulao. 

Let’s see what is this chicken masala recipe and how easy to make this chicken curry at home with simple indian kitchen ingredients.

What is Chicken Masala?

Chicken masala is a signature dish of North Indian cuisine easily found in North Indian restaurants or dhabas menu. Prepared with chicken cooked in an onion, tomato, yogurt gravy flavoured with a few simple spices. For making this recipe, chicken is roasted in a creamy sauce like gravy containing fried onion and tomato, roasted ginger, garlic, green chilli paste with garam masala and coriander powder.

According to the authentic North Indian style chicken masala recipe, this dish was originally prepared in one pot for long hours and a slow cooking method. However, nowadays, we do not have enough time for slow cooking, so we can cook it in a pressure cooker or instant pot for quick results. 

For making this chicken curry I did not use store-bought meat masala powder. Mainly prepared with whole garam masala, homemade garam masala powder, and a simple cumin-coriander powder. The concoction of all these masalas bringing the best flavor and taste ever for the chicken and its gravy.

In Indian restaurants or dhabas, this dish is served with a spicy red rich masala gravy. But whenever we are making chicken masala at home, use spices as per our need. Like, if want a hot and spicy gravy, use spicy chilli powder or red chilli paste in cooking. To make it less spicy, can use whole green chilli or Kashmiri chilli powder. Or you can also cook with seedless green chilli paste. That green chilli paste is not spicy and instead does no harm to health.

For making this chicken curry, chicken must be marinated with plain yogurt or lemon juice, or both together, and salt. Yogurt, lemon juice, and salt make the chicken tender and juicy so that the spices are easily infused into the chicken and make it flavourful. Yogurt and lemon juice also cut down the spiciness, even yogurt also makes a creamy red color-rich gravy. So before cooking, good marination is a must to make the chicken soft, juicy, and flavorful. Good marination also helps quick and easy cooking.

Perfect roasting (or frying) of chicken (in spices) is most important which will make this dish delectable. Roast the chicken until the spices separate the oil brings the best result required for this recipe. Perfect roasting is the secret of Indian restaurants and dhabas style chicken masala recipes.

I make this dish without skin or skinless curry cut chicken pieces which is with bone. However, can prepare it with boneless pieces like chicken breast pieces. If you like with bone pieces, can make it with only chicken legs, or chicken wings (lollipop pieces) pieces too. 

For making this recipe, here I have used 1 kg poultry chicken (without skin with bone chicken curry cut pieces). Bone-in chicken pieces quickly get cooked whereas boneless chicken pieces take a little more time. Here you can use desi chicken too that tastes great, though desi chicken needs a long cooking time.

Want to make a simple yet healthy chicken masala recipe? Must use chicken breast pieces and do not use oil, after marinating directly place the chicken in a pan and cook on the stove, in a microwave oven, or an air fryer at a simmer. After few minutes, yoghurt, spices, and chicken will release their oil and cooking will be done in that oil.

So try this chicken masala for lunch or diiner. This chicken curry is so easy that beginners to bachelors anybody can make it at home. So try, and taste this recipe and do share your valuable feedback about this recipe in the comment section below.

You can also try a few more popular chicken curry recipes

Chicken Kosha recipe (A Bengali style semi gravy chicken curry)

Dahi Chicken recipe (A north Indian style yogurt-based chicken curry)

Chicken Korma recipe (A Mughlai-style chicken curry)

Guntur Chicken recipe (An Andhra-style hot and spicy dry chicken curry)

How to make Chicken Masala recipe with step by step pictures

Marinade the chicken

○ For making this recipe, first simply clean and wash the chicken and marinate the chicken with lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste, salt, and turmeric powder seasoning. Spices quantity as described in the ingredients.

Making masala paste for this chicken curry

○ Make a paste of yogurt (Indian curd), simple red chilli powder (used at home), and Kashmiri red chilli powder.

○ Mix all well to get a smooth and creamy paste. Keep it aside for later.

How to make Chicken masala gravy

○ Heat a pan (kadai) on medium flame, once fumes come add vegetable oil to the pan.

○. Once the oil releases fumes, fry the onion (finely chopped onion) until the onion gets soft and succulent.

○Add tomato (cut into cubes), slightly sauté, and add a little salt to make the tomato quickly soft.

○ Once the tomato gets soft, add the masala paste (prepared before), and simply fry the masala for a minute.

○Then add coriander powder and cumin powder, mix well, and fry them well for around 1 min.

○ Add the marinated chicken into the pan, and nicely mix the chicken with the spices.

○. Roast or sauté the chicken until raw the smell of chicken goes off and the oil separates from the spices.

○. Add 2 cups of water(preferably hot water), stir it well, raise the heat to high, and let the gravy boil.

○ Once the gravy starts boiling, add 1/2 tsp of salt, cover the pan, slow down the heat to medium, and let the chicken cook.

○ Occasionally stir the gravy, once the chicken gets tender, add garam masala powder (homemade, or can use store-bought packet garam masala too). Stir well.

○ Cook the gravy until the gravy gets slightly dry (means simple semi-gravy or sauce-like creamy consistency) and the red rogan(juice) floats on top of the gravy. Turn off the heat.

○ Indian Restaurant or dhaba style Chicken masala is ready. Garnish this chicken curry with chopped coriander and best to serve this dish with rice, naan, roti (phulka), paratha, or biryani.

Serving suggestion

If you prefer rice items. Then try with Plain rice or jeera rice or pulao or biryani best goes with this curry especially if this dish is served at Lunch.

If you love naan or kulcha. Then go with Plain Naan, garlic naan, Butter naan, or butter garlic naan even the same variants of kulcha perfect accompaniment to this dish.

Go with Roti, paratha, or chapati if you love a simple North Indian meal.