To begin, you’ll need to marinate the chicken. Begin by dicing your chicken into bite-sized pieces. Then in a large bowl combine the yogurt alternative (if you’re going dairy free like me), garam masala, lemon juice, black pepper, and ground ginger. Then add the chicken and stir so the chicken is coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

 

Once your chicken has marinated, you can start cooking! You can cook your rice or naan now or this would be something you could make ahead.

 

For the sauce, you’ll heat a nonstick pan over medium-high heat and add the chicken and marinade to the pan. Stir regularly for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is pretty fully cooked.

 

Then add the garlic, non-dairy butter, and jalapeño to the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes or until the garlic starts to cook and brown.

 

Finally add the remaining ingredients including the tomato sauce, coconut cream, paprika, garam masala and salt. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium-low and let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes or until it thickens.

 

Serve the chicken tikka masala over basmati rice or with naan and dig in! Enjoy!