My favorite Tikka Masala Sauce is by accident vegan and so much tastier and healthier than the stuff you get in stores!
The freezer friendly curry paste can be used for various tikka masala meals.
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What is Tikka Masala Sauce?
Tikka Masala Sauce is a thin-spiced curry paste variety to prepare the famous Chicken Tikka Masala dish.
Popular discounters such as Aldi, Lidl, and other supermarket stores such as Walmart sell a jarred variation of Indian tikka masala sauce.
However, I say the homemade version is way better and totally worthwhile the 5-minute kitchen work! (That's from someone who doesn't enjoy cooking but loves to eat!)
Regular VS Vegan Tikka Masala
The normal Chicken Tikka Curry, served in most restaurants, is prepared with a tomato and cream based masala sauce.
This is a vegan, gluten free, low fat tikka masala sauce.
The cream is kind of replaced by cashews resulting in a velvety, flavorful, texture-rich, healthier and filling tikka masala paste.
Use
I got the idea for this cashew based masala sauce from one of our cooks (working at my husband's family restaurant).
He uses his version of a spiced paste in all kinds of Indian dishes such as to prepare a Matar Paneer or a Butter Chicken.
The result are non traditional Indian dishes.
Which I absolutely LOVE and I think they are way better than the regional variations.
Most Westerners agree because these dishes are rather popular.
You can use this paste the same way in a whole lot of dishes!
The paste is simply added to a shallow pan with oil, water, and a protein or vegetable of your choice.
So, that means you can prepare a Chicken Tikka Masala recipe with this paste or a shrimp, tofu, or vegetable version if you like.
Ingredients
I only use a handful of ingredients in my easy vegan tikka masala sauce variation.
Cashews
Cashew seeds are the base of this Indian curry masala.
Blend together, cashews turn creamy and that's what makes this sauce accidentally vegan.
Cashews add texture, flavor and compliment all the other ingredients in the sauce.
You can substitute Cashews with Almonds too but I absolutely recommend Cashews above all.
It's just not the same with Almonds.
Fresh Ingredients
That includes Tomatoes, Onion and more or less Ginger and Garlic.
I use whichever flavorful tomatoes I can get and purple/red onions or shallots.
For the Ginger and Garlic, I tend to be lazy and use Ginger and Garlic paste but you can also use fresh ginger and garlic (ratio 1:2).
Spices
I add a set of ground spices to my easy tikka masala recipe.
I have tested a whole load full of variations but always came back to the same conclusion.
I decided for the following tikka masala spices because of the taste result or because of the availability of ingredients.
- Turmeric
- Red Chili Pepper or Cayenne
- Cumin
- Coriander Seed
- Black Pepper
- Cinnamon
Process Overview
To prepare your own tikka sauce at home is really easy and straightforward.
The fresh ingredients and spices are blend together to a thin sauce like paste.
Step 1
Add all ingredients into your blender jar.
Peel the onion and with the tomato cut into quarters.
Add the cashews and, ginger garlic and all the spices.
Step 2
Blend all the ingredients to a smooth sauce.
Step 3
Use the sauce further in a dish such as to prepare a chicken tikka masala.
just add the sauce in a shallow pan with water and protein and/or veggies and cook till done.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Tikka Masala Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cashews whole
- 1 large Onion
- 2 medium Tomato
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper or Cayenne, ground
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground ground
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Whole ground
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground ground
- ¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground or Cassia, ground
Instructions
- Place the cashews into a large blender jar with the peeled and quartered onion, the tomato, ginger + garlic, and the spices. all ingredients into the jar.
- Blend everything to a smooth paste. If the blender is struggling, add 2-3 Tablespoons of water to help get going.
- Use the tikka masala sauce to prepare a tofu tikka masala or another tikka masala dish. You can also freeze it (please see post for instructions).
Notes
- Use fresh Ginger and Garlic (1 Tbs if chopped fine) with a ratio of 1:2 or use ready-made Ginger and garlic paste
- The Cashews can be substitutes with peeled almonds. However, that completely changes the taste and velvety consistency.
- Use a powerful blender such as a Vitamix for the smoothes result.
- The recipe is without artificial red food coloring. If you want your tikka masala red (just like the store bought stuff), add red food coloring.
Nutrition
Storing
I tend to freeze my masala instead of canning it and storing it in the fridge.
The sauce defrosts quickly anyway.
Which is a life saver if you are tight on time as I am.
In fact, you can just place it into your pan with some oil and water and wait for it to defrost completely over the heat so that you can add the other ingredients.
You can double or triple the recipe to prepare a larger batch.
Then simply place the smooth spiced sauce into zip lock bags portion wise and freeze.
More curry sauces
- Goan Coconut Curry Paste - to make Goan Fish Curry Rice
- Tandoori Masala - to make Tandoori Chicken
- Goan Red Recheado Paste - mainly used to season fish
- Bhuma Curry Paste by myfoodstory.com
Thank you so much for this recipe. It is one of my favourites. It's clean and fresh with no hidden ingredients like preservatives or colourants. And most importantly it tastes amazing.
You are welcome Amanda, I'm glad to read that you value it as much as we do at home. 🙂
Guys try this it so good. I love Indian food and honestly I did not think it would come out good but I was surprised and I didn't use all the ingredients because I have a food sensitivity. I am food sensitive to cumin, yogurt this recipe works well for me.
Thank you so much for sharing
Thanks for sharing your experience with your food sensitivity, but there is literally no yogurt in my tikka masala sauce. I hope you didn't confuse the recipe.
Should the ingredients like the onion be sautéed first before blending?
No, the ingredients are raw and not sautéed before blending. This is because the paste is used later on as a base to build a curry. That means, you heat up your oil and stir-fry the paste briefly. Then you add your broth and a protein or vegetable of your choice. I.e. Tofu Tikka Masala
How much water do you add when cooking?
Hi Erin, see my recipe for tofu tikka masala as an example. You can switch the tofu with vegetables or chicken.
I have roasted cashews, not raw. Is this okay to use?
Michele, yes because all cashews are roasted to a certain extend. They are never raw because raw would mean unedible.
Really tasty added in a spoon of tomato purée some chopped dried apricots and raisins + salt. Tofu was my protein 😋
That sounds fantastic 🙂
Do you soak the cashews before blending?
Hi Emily, I only soak the cashews if they are not peeled so that I can remove the peel easily. You can soak them if you want, but I never found a difference in taste or texture. But if your blender isn't that powerful, it might come in handy to soak your cashews first as this will help the texture to turn out smooth.
Thank you so much for the quick reply! I am looking forward to making this for some vegan friends of mine 🙂
You are welcome Emily. You can use this masala sauce to make a curry of your choice. The tofu tikka masala is a good example. You can switch the tofu with anything you like. Good vegan options are potato and green peas or mushrooms.
I made it with chicken
The taste is amazing😋😍
Amazing! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
This is my go to recipe when I am short on time. It is incredibly simple and quick and delicious too.
Thanks for your feedback Swapnali. Glad to hear that you find the recipe useful.
This is so good! I used this as a pizza sauce and it was perfect!!!
thanks for sharing! Never thought to use it as a pizza sauce, brilliant!
Hi, can you use heavy cream instead of water to add to the paste.
Hi Kevita, please add water. Heavy cream is not necessary because the cashews make it very creamy and thick.
Is there a way to make it without using cashew as my son is allergic to nuts
Hi Liz,
I'm sorry but this sauce is based on nuts. You can use other nuts such as almonds or peanuts but you can't substitute it with anything else. Instead, I recommend that you try my chicken tikka masala recipe, which is prepared without nuts. You can use tofu, vegetables (cauliflower potato) or shrimp instead of the chicken.
Thanks so much, will try it out. Love your site and can't wait to try our your recipes
Happy to help! 🙂
Loved the flavor of the sauce.. Yummy
tin of this plus bread for dipping
This sauce looks so easy with your step by step directions.
Loved the flavor of this sauce! Glad a made a little extra so I can keep enjoying it 🙂