Chicken tikka masala

Lore & Background

Chicken tikka masala is composed of chicken tikka—boneless chunks of chicken marinated in spices and yoghurt, roasted in an oven—served in a creamy sauce. A tomato and coriander leaf sauce is common, but there is no standard recipe; a 1998 survey in Britain found that among 48 recipes, the only common ingredient was chicken. It is served as a main course, often with rice or flatbread. Some forms are similar to butter chicken.

The dish's origins are disputed. One version recounts that British Pakistani chef Ali Ahmed Aslam, proprietor of the Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow from the 1960s, invented it by improvising a sauce from condensed tomato soup and spices to please a customer. However, historian Peter Grove challenges this, noting the dish existed before Aslam's restaurant opened; Sultan Ahmed Ansari of Glasgow's Taj Mahal restaurant stated he created it in the 1950s. London restaurant owner Iqbal Wahhab claims he and Grove fabricated the story of using Campbell's tomato soup 'to entertain journalists.' Many sources attribute creation to the South Asian community in Britain, with the Multicultural Handbook of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics crediting Bangladeshi migrant chefs in the 1960s. Peter and Colleen Grove conclude it 'was most certainly invented in Britain, probably by a Bangladeshi chef.'

Reader's Guide

Chicken tikka masala's significance lies in its role as a symbol of Britain's multicultural society and as a subject of debate over authenticity and cultural interchange. In 2001, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared it 'a true British national dish,' illustrating how Britain absorbs and adapts external influences. The dish has been called inauthentic both by white Britons and by South Asians. Scholars like Peter Jackson describe its evolution as an elaborate process of cultural assimilation and 'indigenisation,' rejecting charges of cultural appropriation as simplistic. Lizzie Collingham notes it feels quintessentially South Asian despite its British origins. The dish has been served in restaurants worldwide, and by 2010 it was the most popular dish in British curry houses. In 2025, scholars called it 'the world's best-recognized dish.' Its popularity extends to ready meals, pizza toppings, and taco fillings. Efforts to gain protected designation of origin status for the Glasgow version were unsuccessful in 2009.

Did You Know?

• A 1998 survey of 48 recipes for chicken tikka masala found that the only common ingredient was chicken.
• The dish has been sold as a taco filling by food trucks and as a pizza topping in the United States.
• London restaurant owner Iqbal Wahhab claimed he and Peter Grove fabricated the story of using Campbell's tomato soup to create the dish 'to entertain journalists.'
• In 2009, efforts by Scottish parliamentarian Mohammed Sarwar to gain protected designation of origin status for the Glasgow dish were unsuccessful.