Name: Tofu tikka masala
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1/2 cup non-dairy yogurt; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 1 tbsp grated ginger; 1 tsp salt; juice of 1/2 lime; 1 tsp cumin; 1 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp paprika; 1 block firm tofu, cut into cubes; 2 tbsp avocado oil; 1 onion, finely chopped; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 tbsp grated ginger; 2 tsp cumin powder; 2 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp coriander seeds; 1/2 tsp turmeric powder; 1 tsp paprika; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 2 cups tomato sauce; 1/2 cup water; 1 cup full-fat coconut milk; salt & pepper to taste

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This tofu tikka masala is a healthy vegetarian recipe that is perfect for a weeknight dinner!

Say it with me: Tofu Tikka Masala!

A necessarily recipe for your weeknight dinner rotation in the winter. Is it just me or does it feel like it’s permanently dark out? It feels like the sun sets by the time I’m eating lunch and when 4pm rolls around I’m SO ready for dinnertime.

I’ve been coping with the cold weather by eating PLENTYYY of warming winter recipes like West African peanut stew and butternut squash risotto, and now I’m adding this tofu tikka masala to the gang.

This is one of those recipes that is filled with so many warming spices that it’s just bound to make you feel warm and cozy inside. I mean how can it not? We’ve got garlic, ginger, cumin, garam masala in a creamy tomato sauce with a bit of coconut milk for some extra creamy goodness.

How to make tikka masala:

This recipe is pretty simple to make. It starts with some cooked up tofu and then our tikka masala sauce. You can (optionally) serve this with a side of basmati rice, or even some quinoa or brown rice if you like!

Let’s take a look at the process:

Marinade the tofu
Cook the tofu
Prepare the sauce
Add the tofu to the sauce
Congrats! You’ve made tofu tikka masala

A few notes on the recipe:

Tikka masala is very much about the sauce. So you’ll want to make sure you have all the right spices on hand to make sauce bursting with flavour. Some more traditional recipes use even more spices than we have listed below, but I prefer to keep things a bit more simple.

You’ll want to use firm or extra firm tofu for this recipe. I like to marinade the tofu the night before so it absorbs as much flavour as possible, but if you are marinading the tofu the same day you’d like to cook it make sure you leave the tofu in the marinade for at least 1 hour.

The tofu then gets baked up in the oven until it’s nice and crispy. While the tofu bakes, you’ll prepare the tikka masala sauce. Some tikka masala sauces tend to be more orange and have more turmeric added to them, but the sauce for this recipe is a red sauce with more tomatoes and less turmeric added. (But if you want to add more turmeric and less tomato sauce go ahead!)

This tofu tikka masala is:

Vegetarian & vegan friendly
Naturally gluten-free
Grain-free (if you don’t eat it over rice)
Like a hug in a bowl!

I like to serve this tofu tikka masala over some basmati rice and top it off with some fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!