Tofu Tikka Masala is a creamy, quick-to-prepare, meatless, vegan version of the popular Indian chicken tikka masala dish.
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
Free E-Book available for a limited time. Grab yours now and get instantly inspired!
You missed out!
TL;DR
Tofu Tikka Masala is the meatless version of the popular chicken tikka masala.
The curry is based on a spiced cashew tikka masala curry sauce. And water is added to the paste to build the curry on the stovetop. It's a fast, time-saving, recipe.
The tofu cubes are then added to the curry during the cooking process. I use firm tofu in this recipe.
Ingredient Notes
- Tikka Masala Sauce (curry paste) - Homemade Tikka Masala or Store-bought Tikka Masala Sauce (doesn't need to contain cashew; can be made with other nuts too).
- Oil — I like seed oils and if you want to experiment with more flavors, try using mustard seed oil (I use this mustard seed oil brand).
- Water
- Tofu — I like to use firm or extra-firm tofu for this curry. I cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes.
- Salt
- Bay Leaf — To infuse.
- Cilantro — Fresh to garnish
Process Overview
Step 1
Heat up a pan with the oil, add the bay leaf, and pour in the tikka masala sauce.
Stir-cook the sauce for a minute.
Step 2
Pour water to the sauce and mix.
Simmer for about 5 minutes and stir frequently.
Step 5
Add the tofu cubes to the curry, mix well, and allow the curry to thicken.
The curry will be ready soon after. Pick out the bay leaf and discard.
Garnish with some cilantro before you serve the curry hot with flatbread or over rice.
📖 Recipe
Tofu Tikka Masala Recipe
Ingredients
Tikka Masala Sauce (Curry Paste)
- 1 cup Cashews whole, unsalted
- 1 large Onion
- 2 medium Tomatoes
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper or Cayenne, ground
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- ¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground or Cassia, ground
For the Tofu Tikka
- 2 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 small Bay Leaf
- 2 ½ cups Water
- 8.8 ounces Tofu firm or extra firm, cut into cubes
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- Cilantro Fresh fresh to garnish, chopped
Instructions
Tikka Masala Sauce (Curry Paste)
- Place all the tikka masala sauce ingredients into a blender jar or food processor. Blend to a smooth thick paste. You can also watch my Tikka masala sauce recipe video.1 cup Cashews, 1 large Onion, 2 medium Tomatoes, 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic, 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground, ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper, 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground, 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, ¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground
For the Tofu Tikka
- Heat up a pan with the oil and add your bay leaf.2 Tablespoon Oil, 1 small Bay Leaf
- Pour the Tikka Masala Sauce (defrost if frozen) into the pan when the oil is getting hot. Stir cook the masala sauce for about a minute on a higher heat setting.
- Pour water into the pan to the tikka masala sauce and mix the water in over medium heat.2 ½ cups Water
- Leave to cook for about 5 minutes or until the curry thickens. Stir frequently to check if the curry is not burning on.
- Add your tofu cubes to the cooking curry and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Stir frequently to avoid the curry from burning on at the bottom.8.8 ounces Tofu
- Season with salt.1 Teaspoon Salt
- Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and serve hot with flatbreads such as nan bread or over cooked rice.Cilantro Fresh
Nutrition
Serving
We love this tikka masala meal with a flatbread or cooked rice. We usually prepare rotis or ghee chapati. Northern Indian naan can be served as well with this dish.
Storing
Keep leftovers or meal-prepped tofu tikka masala in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 4 days.
The tofu tikka masala can be frozen as well. I recommend creating batches and placing them in heat-resistant glass containers, which can be easily transferred between the freezer and microwave or oven to thaw and reheat the meal.
More Like This
- Masoor Dal Curry
- Moringa Pod Curry
- Aloo Matar (Potato and Green Peas) by jcookingodyssey.com
I’m sorry to give this a poor rating but I would not recommend. The large onion being processed raw with the sauce made it so incredibly pungent, and it was really hard to get the flavor back on track after that. It didn’t taste too much like traditional tikka mansala. I cooked it down for a loooong time to try to get those pungent flavors to gel a little better. In hindsight I think the veggies should’ve been cooked first on the stove, then blended at the end (much like a vegetable soup is prepared.)
Thankfully I had some curry paste on hand and added that plus some extra cumin to try to warm up the harshness of the flavors. That plus a lot of salt made it edible.
Oh Beka, all feedback is good and helps us all in creating better food in the future. 🙂
I'm not sure why your paste was still tasting so pungent after cooking it down. So, the only things that come to my mind is either use a milder onion variety next time, or your onions are really large (larger than our large onions), or your spices were a bit older and not that intense in flavor anymore, or you are sensitive to raw onions (which I'm as well, but I have never had that problem). I make this paste all the time, and another version of it, and mine never had a raw pungent onion flavor after cooking down.
Maybe this paste is not your thing, which is also ok. Not everybody can like everything.
Dish was Delicious but be careful about adding too much water to the sauce.
Adding 2.5 cuts of water makes it bland
Can you add bell peppers, onion to recipe?
Yes you can add bell pepper. The homemade tofu paste has onion in it but if the store bought one doesn't or if you just feel like adding more onion, you can do so.