Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken tikka masala is grilled chicken tikka simmered in a creamy, mildly spiced tomato sauce. It is Britain's most-ordered curry, and by most accounts it was actually invented there — most likely in a South Asian restaurant in Glasgow — rather than being an import from India at all.

What it really is

Chicken tikka, already marinated and grilled on its own as a separate dish, gets cut up and finished in a sauce built on tomato, cream and warm spices rather than the sharper chilli heat many other curries lean on. The story most often told is that a customer sent back their chicken tikka as too dry, and the cook improvised a sauce on the spot from tinned tomato soup and spices to moisten it — whether or not that exact story is true, the dish itself grew up in British curry houses adapting to British tastes, not in any Indian kitchen.

The dish's British origin is genuinely well documented, not a myth to debunk gently. Food historians broadly agree it developed in the UK's South Asian restaurant scene rather than being carried over from the subcontinent, which makes it a rare case of a "curry" that's honestly British by birth.

How it is served

• In a bowl with rice or naan.
• Garnished with a little extra cream swirled on top.
• As a main course, the default order for guests new to Indian-style cooking.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the dairy in the cream and yogurt.
• Say that it's mild by curry standards, since that's part of why it became so widely ordered in the first place.
• Mention the dish's British origin if it comes up, since it's a genuinely interesting, well-documented detail guests often enjoy hearing.

The ingredients, allergens and dietary notes listed here describe a typical recipe. They are not a binding declaration for any particular restaurant: recipes, portion sizes and the products used can differ.