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This fall-inspired recipe for Roasted Butternut Tikka Masala can be made with chickpeas or chicken. The fragrant tomato coconut sauce is infused with Indian spices. A healthy delicious vegetarian dinner recipe, perfect for fall! Vegan-adaptable & Gluten-Free. With a video!
This aromatic, flavorful recipe for Roasted Butternut and Chickpea Tikka Masala is bursting with Indian flavors. Traditionally, Tikka Masala is made with chicken, bathed in creamy tomato curry sauce seasoned with garam masala.
In this recipe, roasted butternut is added to the mix, a nod to fall, giving it a hint of sweetness. Feel free to add chickpeas, chicken, crispy tofu or paneer for added protein.
The traditional heavy cream is replaced with either plain Greek yogurt or vegan yogurt, or coconut milk, making for a lighter meal without sacrificing the richness that the dish needs. Serve this over fluffy basmati rice or with naan bread and enjoy the warming flavors.
An added benefit to this Tikka Masala Recipe are the leftovers, which get even tastier as the ingredients have time to meld- perfect for weekday lunches during the week.
Watch the Butternut Tikka Masala Video | 60-sec video
How to make Butternut Tikka Masala
It starts with fresh ingredients. Butternut squash, ginger, garlic, serrano chilies and fresh roma tomatoes.
Butternut squash is peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes.
It’s tossed with olive oil, garam masala spice and salt and roasted in the oven.
It comes out tender and crispy. Roasting, rather that steaming, helps prevents the squash from falling apart in the curry, giving it a good texture. It’s actually quite good just served like this too.
While the butternut is roasting, make the sauce.
Ginger, garlic and chilies are chopped finely in a food processor.
Make a flavorful chili paste with garlic, chilies and ginger.
Saute the paste in olive oil or ghee until lightly browned and fragrant.
Tomato paste is added to the ginger-garlic mixture, and also “browned” to give the Tikka Masala Sauce a little depth.
Fresh Roma tomatoes are added in next. Roughly chop them… the sauce will eventually be blended!
Add water and spices and let this simmer on the stove for 20 minutes, then blend until it’s smooth.
Whisk in yogurt and finally add the roasted butternut and chickpeas (or chicken) to the pot.
To serve, place in a bowl over basmati rice and garnish with cilantro and a dollop of plain yogurt .
So wholesome and delicious!
What to serve with Butternut Tikka Masala:
Hope you enjoy this recipe for Butternut Tikka Masala as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below!
xoxo
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Roasted Butternut Tikka Masala
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Vegan Dinner Recipe, Vegetarian, Entree, Fall
- Method: Stove-top
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This fall-inspired recipe for Roasted Butternut Tikka Masala can be made with chickpeas or chicken. The fragrant tomato coconut sauce is infused with Indian spices. Vegan & Gluten Free! A healthy delicious dinner recipe, perfect for fall! Video above!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed into 1-inch cubes ( about 6 cups)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Garam masala Spice Blend
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 can chickpeas, drained (or sub 1 lb boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces)
Tikka Masala Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup sliced ginger
- 1/4 cup garlic (10 cloves)
- 1–4 small fresh serrano chilies- cut in half lengthwise- roughly 1-3 tablespoons- (or sub a jalapeno)
- 4 tablespoons ghee or olive oil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (see below)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 8 roma tomatoes- rough chopped ( sauce will be blended)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (optional but AMAZING)
- 3/4 cup plain, full-fat yogurt (or 3/4 cup of canned coconut milk, or 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream)
- —-
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro for garnish
- Serve with basmati rice or naan bread
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a medium bowl, toss butternut squash with olive oil, garam masala and salt, until evenly coated. Spread out on a parchment-lined sheet pan and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. (You can also roast the chickpeas if you like them crispy- toss with the butternut, add a little extra oil.)
- *If adding chicken, place cut-up chicken into a bowl. Drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon garam masala, and toss to coat. Place on another baking sheet or baking dish, and bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through. Broil for a minute or two to get a deeper color.
- Make the Tikka Masala Sauce: Place sliced ginger, garlic and chiles in a food processor to make a paste. Pulse until very finely chopped. Heat the ghee or oil in a heavy bottom pot or dutch oven. Saute the paste over medium heat until nicely browned for 6-8 minutes, turn the hood on, stirring, scraping up brown bits with a metal spatula. Cook until golden. Add tomato paste, and sauté for 1-2 minutes, or until color deepens. Add garam masala cinnamon and paprika, and cook for 2 more minutes, to intensify flavor. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, water and optional fenugreek leaves. Bring to a simmer, lower heat and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Blend the Tikka Masala Sauce in batches either using an immersion blender, (or a regular blender, covering the blender with a kitchen towel and firmly holding the lid down to prevent an explosion. Return the blended sauce to the pot). Whisk in the yogurt (or coconut milk or cashew cream, or heavy cream). This sauce could be made ahead and reheated!
- Add the roasted butternut squash and chickpeas (or roasted chicken) and bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust salt.
- Sprinkle with cilantro and serve over fluffy basmati rice, or with naan bread with a side of raita!
Notes
Notes: If making the Easy Garam Masala, know that using whole seeds and toasting them, then grinding them, will make an even more flavorful spice blend.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: with full-fat yogurt
- Calories: 276
- Sugar: 6.9 g
- Sodium: 815.7 mg
- Fat: 14.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 31 g
- Fiber: 7.3 g
- Protein: 9.5 g
- Cholesterol: 4.6 mg
Keywords: Butternut Tikka Masala, Butternut Masala, Vegan tikka masala, chicken tikka masala, fall tikka masala recipe, butternut recipes
Good tikka masala with just the right amount of spice. I like the helpful hints, like hold on to the top of the blender (which I needed to).
★★★★★
Awesome to hear!
I just made the sauce and will finish tonight the butternut and chickpeas. As we are only 2 persons, should I freeze half the sauce but without the yoghurt and when using the frozen version add yoghurt when reheating????
That is what I would do- to keep it from getting grainy.
divine, ne ate it yesterday, am having left overs now (even better) and rest frozen for when son arrives back again
Wow Sylvia. Another winner. We just loved this dish! Made a few substitutions as I always do it’s in the blood…used sweet potatoes because well they are the best. For the paste I omitted garlic because I don’t do garlic and added fresh turmeric which I add to everything. To the golden paste in the pan I added sweet potatoes because I love the depth and complexity they add to the flavor. Didn’t have fresh tomatoes, not in season yet, so used canned and therefore reduced amount of water. Otherwise stayed faithful to this amazing harmony of flavors. So so good. Will certainly be added to rotation. Thanks so much for all your fabulous recipes!
★★★★★
Great to hear Ayelet!
*Sorry meant to say added sweet peppers to the paste 🙂
Making this tonight. Can I freeze the left over?
Yes, should freeze fine Maud!
Lovely recipe…thank you! Do you put the serranos in just sliced in half or do you chope them as eell?
★★★★★
I just slice them down the middle with stem end intact. This will keep it from getting too spicy.