This tofu tikka masala – spiced, marinated tofu cubes in a luxurious, luscious and silky curry sauce – is a dish that I love making on weeknights when I want a delicious meal in a hurry. If you love velvet-textured Indian sauces like tofu makhani and vegan butter chicken, this tofu tikka masala is a recipe you will enjoy making, serving and eating. The tofu tikka masala riffs off from paneer tikka masala, a dish served in Indian restaurants (along with chicken tikka masala), where cubes of paneer, a cottage cheese, are added to an appetizing red sauce and simmered together. A key point to keep in mind when making a tikka masala is that you need to create two sauces: both with a base of onions and tomatoes. One sauce gets blended up while the other does not. This gives the tikka masala more complexity of flavor and texture. Making two sauces might sound tedious, but it really is not. Everything comes together in one pan and most of the ingredients for both sauces are the same so you just need to chop everything up once. If you want to cut the process short, though, we have just the sauce for you: our easy tikka masala curry sauce that is ready in under 30 minutes. You can store this sauce in the fridge or freezer and when you feel like eating tikka masala, add cubes of baked or air-fried tofu to the sauce and heat through. Here’s a recipe for chickpea tikka masala made with the tikka masala sauce. What I love especially about tofu tikka masala is the vivid play of flavors – spicy and tangy and salty – and textures – silky, chewy and al dente. None of it is hot or overbearing. The tofu, baked until it’s chewy outside and soft on the inside, soaks up all of the flavors. And if I don’t feel like making another vegetable side dish it’s okay, because there already are plenty of veggies in this dish.
What is tikka masala?
As much as tikka masala sounds like – and is sometimes identified with – Indian cuisine, it is in fact no more Indian than curry powder or balti cuisine are. Instead, it is a dish created entirely on British soil by immigrant cooks from the Indian subcontinent who were hungry for the flavors of home. Over the decades tikka masala has become so popular in the United Kingdom that it has been voted England’s national dish! Veganizing a tikka masala requires replacing three key ingredients: the paneer, the cream, and the yogurt, used as a marinade. For this recipe we substitute the paneer with tofu, the cream with cashew cream, and the yogurt with vegan yogurt (you can use homemade or store-bought). This recipe is quite simple and comes together quickly. But if you want to, you can also make my jarred tikka masala sauce and have it on hand to make dishes like this tofu tikka masala in a hurry.
Tofu vs. Paneer
Paneer, a cottage cheese made by pressing out the liquid from curdled milk, is slightly softer in texture and creamier than tofu. But baked or marinated tofu is a nice substitute for paneer in nearly any Indian recipe, including tofu curry, chilli tofu, vegan malai kofta and vegan palak paneer. Tofu is also better for you because it has loads of heart-healthy protein and fiber, unlike paneer, which is clogged with saturated fat and cholesterol and which, like all cheeses, has no fiber.
How to make tofu tikka masala
Serving suggestions
With jeera rice or basmati rice. With a soft, fluffy vegan naan or roti. Serve a vegan cucumber raita on the side.
More tasty vegan tofu recipes
Recipe card
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