Chicken tikka masala calories: cup/katori and 100 g

Tikka masala against butter chicken

They look alike in the bowl and are built differently. Butter chicken is usually thigh, cooked in a makhani gravy of tomato, butter and cream. Tikka masala starts from breast that is grilled first, then simmered in an onion and tomato masala that leans on cream and oil more than on butter.

Our restaurant katori of butter chicken is 307 calories with 16.2 g of protein and 24.1 g of fat. Tikka masala is 241 calories with 17.3 g of protein and 16.1 g of fat, 66 calories lighter, because breast carries 2.6 g of fat per 100 g raw against 4.1 g for thigh, and the masala uses less butter.

Chicken is 70 g of this katori, weighed raw, and brings 35 percent of its calories. Every chicken weight on this page is meat only, with no bone or skin, so a bone-in serving of the same weight holds less meat than these figures.

The UK takeaway portion

A UK takeaway tikka masala is a different scale of meal. The average portion safefood measured is about 3.5 katoris, and made our takeaway way it carries 56.1 g of protein. Our recipe lands 10 percent under the laboratory figure. The two are independent, one measured from real takeaways and one built from a stated recipe, so their closeness is a check on both.

A study that measured US restaurant meals in the lab found they averaged 1,205 calories, and 92 percent of them exceeded typical energy needs for a single eating occasion. Why the restaurant version of a dish runs richer than the home one is set out dish by dish on the homemade vs restaurant page.

A takeaway meal, as safefood measured it

The same survey measured the rest of the order. Its average pilau rice portion was 289 g and 496 calories, and its average plain naan 173 g and 504. A tikka masala with both, all three as measured, comes to 2,249 calories.^[10]

Sharing changes that more than any swap does. Half the average takeaway portion, made our takeaway way, is about 561 calories. A home katori with a katori of rice is 334, and a restaurant katori with the same rice 397.

Grilled breast first

The tikka is marinated in 10 g of curd before it goes near the gravy, and grilling it first sears the outside and drives off some of its water. That is why tikka masala tastes smoky in a way butter chicken does not, and why the chicken loses weight before it reaches the katori.

A katori of the masala holds 70 g of raw breast, under half the 150 g on a plate of our chicken tikka. So the plate, at 260 calories, carries 35.3 g of protein against the katori's 17.3 g: the gravy takes the place of chicken.

Breast is the usual cut here, and it keeps the katori lean. Made with the same weight of thigh, our restaurant katori would be 242 calories with 17.1 g of fat.

Chicken loses water as it cooks. USDA's breast records carry 22.5 g of protein per 100 g raw and 31.0 g roasted, which implies that 100 g of raw breast roasts down to about 73 g, a loss of 27 percent. This recipe's water lost line is 18 g against 70 g of raw chicken, 26 percent, which also carries what simmers off the gravy.

Cream, oil and butter

In the restaurant katori the cream brings 15 percent of the calories, the oil 22 percent and the butter 15 percent. The onion, tomato puree, curd and sugar bring 13 percent between them.

Cream moves in steps. Every 5 g of it is about 12 calories, so going from the home katori's cream to the restaurant's adds 25, and from the restaurant's to the UK takeaway style's another 12. The restaurant katori has 1 g of sugar and the takeaway style 2 g, to round off the tomato; the home one has none.

The curd in the tikka marinade is a small line: about 6 calories and 0.3 g of protein in the restaurant katori. In the UK takeaway style katori, everything but the chicken brings 76 percent of the calories, so a takeaway eaten with less of its sauce is lighter by close to that share.

Per 100 calories, the home katori carries 10.3 g of protein, the restaurant one 7.2 g and the UK takeaway style one 5.0 g: the richer the finish, the less protein each calorie brings.

The masala itself is light. Its 20 g of onion and 35 g of tomato puree bring about 21 calories and 5.0 g of carbohydrate, most of the katori's carbs, and the colour and body of the sauce.

Cooked at home with 5 g of cream and no butter, the katori is 178 calories, 63 fewer than the restaurant one, and it holds a little more chicken. The UK takeaway style katori adds 81 calories to the restaurant one, almost all of it oil, cream and butter.

Is chicken tikka masala healthy?

The saturated fat follows the cream and butter: 7.0 g in a restaurant katori and 10.4 g in a UK takeaway style one. The protein comes almost entirely from the breast: per 100 calories, tikka masala carries 7.2 g of it, against 5.3 g for butter chicken.

One katori of chicken tikka masala carries 17.3 g of protein and 16.1 g of fat, 7.0 g of it saturated: 7.2 g of protein for every 100 calories. The ghee page sets the NHS and American Heart Association limits for saturated fat side by side.