Paneer tikka masala is a delicious, creamy & flavorful dish made by grilling paneer & then adding it to a masala gravy. Paneer refers to Indian cottage cheese, tikka is a small chunk of grilled food and masala here refers to a spiced gravy. So paneer tikka masala literally translates to grilled chunks of Indian cheese in spicy gravy.
Paneer tikka masala is a vegetarian version of the world famous chicken tikka masala. This vegetarian dish is mostly found on the Indian restaurant menus and is served with naan, roti, plain paratha, basmati rice or jeera rice .
The flavor & taste of this dish is unique from the other paneer dishes due to the grilling process.
In restaurants to make paneer tikka masala, paneer is first marinated & grilled in a tandoori oven (or clay oven) which imparts a great smoky flavor.
Then it is added to a delicious spicy onion tomato gravy and garnished with cream.
Since we don’t have such tandoori ovens at home we will have to grill the paneer either in oven or on a griddle.
More restaurant paneer recipes
Paneer butter masala
Paneer Makhani
Matar paneer
Palak paneer
In this post I have shown both the methods of grilling in the griddle on stove top & in oven. You can also grill it over direct charcoal grill and use.
I have also used half capsicum and half onion to grill along with my tikkas. But that is totally optional. But restaurants do use them as a lend a very good aroma when grilled.
Tips to make paneer tikka masala
- Use the best quality paneer to get softer chunks. I make my own following this homemade paneer recipe.
- Do not use sour yogurt as it can make the curry sour.
- If you do not eat onions, then you can skip them in the recipe.
- To get a smoky flavor you can follow the dungar method which I have shared at the end of this post.
More Paneer recipes
Kadai paneer
Malai kofta
Chilli paneer
Paneer lababdar
Paneer tikka masala recipe
Paneer tikka masala recipe
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
marination for paneer tikka masala
- 250 grams paneer cubed
- ½ cup greek yogurt or thick curd or hung curd (refer notes)
- ½ tsp ginger garlic paste or crushed ginger garlic
- ¼ to ½ tsp chili powder or paprika (less spicy kind)
- ½ tsp garam masala or tandoori masala
- 1/8 tsp turmeric (optional)
- salt to taste
- ½ small capsicum (optional) or bell pepper (cubed)
- ½ small onion (optional) cubed & layers separated
to roast & puree
- 14 cashew nuts
- 1½ cup tomatoes ripe chopped
- 1 cup onions cubed
Gravy for paneer tikka masala
- 2 tbsps oil or butter
- 1½ tsp ginger garlic paste
- ¾ to 1 tsp red chili powder (or paprika) less spicy kind
- ¾ to 1 tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp kasuri methi (optional) (dried fenugreek leaves)
- 3 to 4 tbsp cream
- 2 tbsps coriander leaves or cilantro chopped finely
How to make the recipe
Preparation for paneer tikka masala
- Firstly add ½ cup yogurt, ¼ to ½ tsp red chili powder, ½ tsp ginger garlic paste, ½ tsp garam masala, 1/8 tsp turmeric & salt to a bowl.
- Mix well and check the taste. Add paneer cubes & marinate,
- Optional – If using onions & bell peppers, then add ½ cubed onion layers & ½ cubed bell pepper and marinate well. Set this aside until the gravy is done.
How to make paneer tikka masala
- Heat 1 tbsp oil or butter and fry onions until transparent or golden.
- Add tomatoes, cashews and sprinkle salt.
- Fry all of these until the tomatoes turn mushy and soft.
- Then add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, sugar and salt. Fry until the masala smells good.
- Cool and blend with ½ to ¾ cup water until very smooth.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan
- Fry ginger garlic paste until the raw smell goes off just for a minute.
- Lower the flame and add the onion tomato puree. (Careful as it may splash)
- If needed you can optionally add more chilli powder to achieve a brighter color.
- Pour ½ to ¾ cup water to bring this to a consistency.
- Cover and cook until the gravy turns thick and you see traces of oil on top.
- Crush the kasuri methi in your hands and sprinkle it. (optional)
- Taste the gravy & add more salt if needed. Rest this aside.
Making paneer tikka in oven or tawa
- You can grill in oven or fry the tikkas on stove in a tawa. If making in a oven, preheat the oven to 220 C and thread paneer, onion, bell pepper to a skewer. Then grill for 8 to 10 minutes on both sides.
- To make on griddle or tawa. Heat a tbsp oil or butter in a wide pan on a high flame, place the paneer on the tawa and toss them on a high flame till the marinade dries up and it turns golden. Over frying can make it harder and rubbery.
- Optional – Similarly place the bell peppers and marinated onions and fry until the marinade dries up.
- Transfer grilled paneer tikka along with veggies & onions to the tikka gravy.
- Pour the cream. Gently mix.
- Garnish with cream and coriander leaves.
- Serve paneer tikka masala with roti, butter naan or veg pulao.
NUTRITION
Notes
- To make the hung curd, add around 1½ cups plain homemade yogurt or curd to a thin muslin cloth or a clean handkerchief and tie it up. Hang it in the refrigerator for about 2 to 4 hours. Use only ½ cup of the hung yogurt.
Preparation – (optional)
1. If you prefer to use veggies then follow this step. Cube half onions and separate the layers. Cube half capsicum as well. Make sure the size of onion and capsicum cubes are almost the same as paneer. Set these aside.
If you do not have greek yogurt or hung curd, add 1.5 cups homemade yogurt or curd to a thin muslin or cheese cloth. Squeeze off the excess whey and use. You can also check another method I shared in the recipe card notes above.
Marination
2. Add to a bowl the following ingredients: ½ cup hung curd or greek yogurt, ½ tsp ginger garlic paste, ¼ to ½ tsp red chili powder, ½ tsp garam masala, 1/8 tsp turmeric, ¼ tsp kasuri methi, 1 tsp oil and salt as needed.
I also used 1 tsp lemon juice to add tang as my yogurt was very fresh. Do not use it if your tomatoes or yogurt is even slightly sour.
3. Mix everything well. I forgot to add ginger garlic at step 1 so added it here.
4. Add paneer and cubed veggies (optional).
5. Mix everything well. Rest aside in the fridge until the gravy is ready.
Make onion tomato masala for paneer tikka masala
6. Add 1 tbsp oil or butter to a pan. Next add onions and fry until transparent or light golden. Then add tomatoes and cashews. Sprinkle sugar, salt and roast all of these until mushy and soft. You can also cover and cook.
7.Then add all the spice powders, turmeric, garam masala and chilli powder.
8.Saute for a few minutes until the raw smell goes away. You will begin to get a nice smell of the masala.
9.Cool this and add to a blender jar. Pour ¾ cup water. To cut down the cooling time, you can also pour ice cold water to the jar and then add the mixture. But ensure the mixture is not hot.
10.Make a smooth puree.
How to make paneer tikka masala
11. Heat 1 tbsp butter or oil in a pan. Optional – You can add any whole spices if you have like – 2 cardamom, 1 small cinnamon piece or even 2 cloves. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes off. This step is very important else the smell of garlic may not be good in the dish.
12. Pour the onion tomato puree to the pan. Be careful it will begin to splash out of the pan, you can partially cover and cook. To adjust the color you can add more chilli powder at this stage. I did not use more.
13. Add ½ to ¾ cup water to bring to a desired consistency. Cover and cook.
14. Mix everything well and cook on a low flame until the sauce simmers well and thickens.
15.When the gravy turns thick you will see some oil separating on top. Add kasuri methi (optional). Continue to cook for another minute. Set this aside.
Grilling paneer
16. Option 1 – For the paneer tikka on tawa, stovetop : Heat 1 tsp oil in a wide tawa on a high flame, place the paneer cubes in the tawa.
17. Flip them to the other side and cook on a high flame till all the marinade dries up and the paneer turn golden. This takes only 2 to 3 mins. Set aside. Do not over fry them, they can turn harder.
18. optional if using veggies – In the same pan, place the veggies and cook till the marinade dries up. The veggies look partially charred. Do not overdo else they lose the crunch.
19. Option 2 – To grill tikka in oven, put them on to skewers alternately paneer, onion and capsicum. Bake in a preheated oven at 220 C for 8 to 10 minutes. you may need to adjust the timing as needed depends on the size of cubes and oven too.
20. You may need to flip the skewer and then grill again if your oven does not have a fan.
Adding tikka to masala
21. Add the grilled tikkas in the gravy. Gently mix. Make sure the gravy is thickened before adding paneer.
22. Pour cream and stir.
Garnish with fresh coriander and green chilies. Serve paneer tikka masala hot with butter naan, roti, plain paratha or jeera rice.
Dungar for paneer tikka masala
To give a smoky flavor to the dish try using this dhungar method using charcoal. Please note that it could be dangerous doing on a gas stove. I suggest doing it out of the kitchen, using another source like a large candle.
- Cut a large onion to half. Remove off a few layers from the center of one half of the onion. Place it in the center of the pan.
- Burn a small piece of charcoal over direct fire holding it with a tong. Make sure it burns well so that it can release the smoke.
- Take it away from the candle – place it over the onion. Add 1/2 tsp ghee.
- By now it should begin to emit smoke else repeat burning the coal.
- Make sure charcoal is not touching the food. Cover The pan with a lid immediately. Leave it for 5 minutes.
Tara says
Love this paneer tikka masala. Turned out awesome.Thank you.
swasthi says
Hi Tara,
You are welcome. Glad you liked it!
Nandita says
Simply superb and tasty. Wow! It turned out very good.
swasthi says
Thank you Nandita,
Glad it turned out good.
Raina says
Hi,
I tried your recipe to make paneer tikka masala. It turned out great. But isn’t paneer tikka masala curry made with yogurt. Please share a substitute to cream in the recipe?
swasthi says
Hi Raina,
Thanks for trying. There are different versions of this. But yes in India paneer tikka masala curry is made with yogurt base. This recipe does not use it. If you are keen to make it yogurt based then skip the cream and just blend the yogurt with the cooled onions and tomatoes. Cream is used to balance the tang in the gravy. Also you many need to use a bit more of cashews to balance the tang from yogurt.Hope this helps.
Bliss says
Hi Swasthi,
This was amazing! I loved this recipe. This was my first attempt making tikka masala and it was great with Naan bread and basmati rice. I doubled the sauce and made in a large pot. Later divided and put in grilled paneer and chicken. Thanks for the great dinner!! By far the best!!
swasthi says
Hi Bliss,
You are welcome. So glad it turned out good. Thank you!
Bliss says
I want to double the curry sauce and make half with chicken and rest with paneer. How much chicken do I put in? Can this be made ahead?
swasthi says
Hi Bliss,
Yes you can add about 400 to 500 grams (1 lb) of boneless chicken. You can make the curry ahead and refrigerate. Marinate the chicken and paneer. Grill them when you intend to serve. Bring the curry to a boil and then add the grilled chicken and paneer. Marinating the paneer for too long usually breaks it when you try to thread them in a skewer. So you can thread them ahead, keep in a foil or bag. Then refrigerate. Hope you enjoy the dish!
Bliss says
Hi Swasthi,
Do I use the same recipe for chicken marinade? Would it work?
swasthi says
Hi Bliss,
Yes you can use the same marinade. Make another batch of the marinade and double the spices for marinade.Hope this helps
Surya says
My wife says I am a better cook than her & took off from the routine cooking. It was my turn to cook up a good meal. This paneer tikka masala turned out very delicious. I am a big fan of your recipes and have tried a lot. Thank you very much for the clear instructions.
swasthi says
Hi Surya,
Glad to know you made the recipes from here. Hope your wife enjoyed the paneer tikka masala. Thank you so much!
Kate says
Hi Swasthi,
I tripled the recipe and made this for dinner last night. My guests enjoyed the dish thoroughly and had no left overs. We had it with some frozen naan, carrot halva & chicken rice with raita. All of them turned out fab. Thanks for the fantastic recipes. If I want to add chicken to this dish how do I substitute. Any suggestions appreciated.
swasthi says
Hi Kate,
Wow! What a lovely spread! You are welcome. So Glad you all enjoyed the food. Yes you can grill the chicken the same way but in oven and then add to the prepared gravy. But it is good to marinate the chicken for at least a few hours as it helps to tenderize the meat. Hope you enjoy the recipe again.
🙂
Sabrina says
I like your recipe follow &turn so delicious thanks 🙏
swasthi says
Thank you so much Sabrina,
Glad your paneer tikka masala turned out good.
Lauarie says
My grandchildren are very picky eaters, but their favorite dish is Trader Joe’s frozen Paneer Tikka Masala. It does not appear to have any vegetables – just the paneer, sauce, and rice. Would this come out okay if I skipped the cubed vegetables? Also, will it freeze?
swasthi says
Hi Lauarie,
Yes please feel free to skip all the veggies and just make the sauce. Yes it freezes well without the addition of cream. It is good to add cream when you reheat it.Hope this helps
Jyothi says
I tried this recipe and it came out very well. Thank you so much Swasthi for the wonderful recipes.
swasthi says
Hi Jyothi
You are welcome. Happy to know it turned out good. Thanks for trying!
Sarah says
I was excited to try this, looks delish. I doubles recipe to fed everyone (family of six) and it came out tasting like onions.. any thoughts…?
swasthi says
Hi Sarah,
If you double the recipe, you should not be doubling the onions as it will become a lot. I can help you fix it. Do you mean the gravy tasted like raw onions or did you feel there were a lot of grilled onions in the gravy? If you feel the gravy tasted like raw onions then it means the onion tomato mixture was not sauteed enough.
Akash says
Hi Swasthi, I was also planning to make this recipe for the home party (70+ people) will all the ingredients quantity (including onions) and process change?
swasthi says
Hi Akash,
I am not sure how this recipe will work out if made in large quantity especially the gravy. You can make the gravy following this paneer butter masala post. If you prefer to grill the paneer, just grill them as mentioned in this post and add to the butter masala gravy. Hope this helps.
Ouellet James says
I totally enjoy your recipes. The pictures help in making the recipes.
swasthi says
Thank you so much
Preeti says
Nice and easy recipe tried without the marination
swasthi says
Thanks for trying
Sandy says
Nice recipe. gives encouragement to cook better.
Lsn says
Hi…. can i make it a day in advance and refrigerate it for guests at lunch?
swasthi says
Hi
You can make the gravy in advance and refrigerate. Marinate the paneer and grill them the next day, just 2 hours before lunch. Do not reheat paneer it turns hard and rubbery. Hope this helps
Praveen says
Hiii. Can i use simple curd instead of hung curd…
swasthi says
Hi Praveen,
If you have thick curd, you can strain it a bit in a thin cloth and use it. If the curd is not thick then the marinade with turn out very runny and will not hold the paneer.
Munira says
Hi Swasthi,
I tried out this recipe today. It came out too good,
However, I put both paneer and the veggies together to save time.
Additionally, I ended the dish with dhoongaar. It was excellent, thanks to your recipe 🙂
swasthi says
Hi Munira
Glad to know it came out good. Thanks a lot for sharing the outcome.
🙂
Tanya says
New to this cooking. Seems like a great help! Thanks xoxo
swasthi says
Welcome Tanya
Elaine says
Lovely recipe. Many thanks.
swasthi says
Welcome Elaine
Abhishek says
today i prepared this, it was nice and easy to follow. it was delicious too
swasthi says
Thanks Abhishek
Glad to know it turned out nice.
Mahima Ahuja says
Your recupe is too good.
swasthi says
Thanks Mahima