Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala Review
A solid 80-90% awesome.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably tried dozens of jarred or frozen or bagged Indian food options from the grocery store, and they’ve probably all been at least slightly disappointing. There doesn’t seem to be anything comparable to the unbridled deliciousness available in actual Indian restaurants. This Chicken Tikka Masala from Sukhi’s Indian Cuisine comes closer than most of the others, in my opinion, with a few significant caveats.
I’m not Indian, so I will only be reviewing this from the perspective of my ignorant Caucasian taste buds. I won’t be discussing how authentic it is, because I wouldn’t know.
This is a fresh product, although Sukhi’s also sells frozen versions of their chicken tikka masala. In the 36 ounce box, you get TWO individually-sealed plastic pouches of the curry. The twin pouches are much more convenient for me than a single large pouch, because I don’t have to gobble it up all at once. My box had an expiration date approximately 3.5 months in the future, so that gives me tons of time to work this into my hectic schedule. For that reason, I consider this an excellent buy for couples or single people.
I weighed one pouch on my kitchen scale, and it was 1.25 pounds, so slightly more than the promised amount.
Heating & Serving Instructions for Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala
I cook mine in an 8-inch skillet on medium heat until it simmers slightly, which only takes a few minutes. My picture shows the contents of a single pouch in the pan, or 1/2 the entire 36 ounce box.
The heating instructions offer either microwave or stove top directions. It’s extremely quick to heat this on the stove, so I always choose that method. I also like to add additional spices or water to my curry, and the pan makes it easy to do this.
Why would I add additional spices? Well, this is remarkably mild curry! Bewilderingly mild. The front of the box says “Medium,” but it’s got almost zero spiciness. I can feel the slightest tickle of warmth at the back of my throat after eating an entire bowl, but otherwise, no heat. I enjoy this curry enormously more if I add some additional ginger and cayenne (or even Kashmiri chili), and let it simmer for a few minutes. I don’t really think of myself as a spicy-food-fanatic, but this is just a few steps up from ketchup, in mildness. The good news is, you could serve this to almost anyone, even people who are entirely spice-intolerant, and they’d still be your friends afterwards.
On the up-side, the sauce has a wonderful aroma and savory taste. I wouldn’t describe it as bland. There’s a satisfying tension between the zing of the tomatoes and lime peel, and the buttery richness of the real cream. In fact, Sukhi’s creamy texture is lightyears ahead of any jarred simmer sauce I have tried thus far. I personally prefer a much more aggressive garlic and ginger taste, but this is still quite yummy in its subtlety.
Typically, I cook 1 cup (dry) plain white basmati rice for each pouch of the tikka masala. My bowl here has 1/2 my pot of rice and 1/2 a pouch of the tikka masala. Yes, this is a much larger serving than the box recommends.
If you don’t like to cook rice, the Sukhi’s package suggests eating this with their own brand of Sukhi’s Lemon Rice. I’m way too frugal to ever buy pre-cooked rice, but it sounds tasty.
As you can tell from my pictures, there is more chicken than gravy. Tons of chicken. I appreciate this. The gravy is thickened with chickpea flour and caramelized onions, so it coats the chicken in a rich layer of yum. There’s a little more sweetness to the sauce than seems necessary, but not at all unpleasant. You can adjust the thickness of the gravy by adding water or cooking some of it out, depending on how you like the texture. I sometimes add a little coconut oil to mine, just to get some extra fat in my diet.
Meat Quality Issues
The meat chunks are large pieces of white chicken breast. It’s mostly tender, juicy, and delicious. Mostly. When the meat is good, it’s excellent. When it’s bad, it’s terrible. Alas.
I have gotten a couple packages with terrible meat — grisly, jiggly, tough, etc. Once, I ended up spitting out nearly 1/3 the chicken because it was so awful and un-chewable. It was so bad, I contacted Sukhi’s customer service to tell them about it. They listened graciously to my complaints and promised to correct the issue. I haven’t had a really bad batch since then, but there are still some small stringy bits of skin or gristle or tough meat that pop up. I pretty much always spit out at least a little bit. So, the meat is 80-90% awesome, and only minimally terrible. I can’t tell if this is because mine comes from Costco, and I’m getting bargain meat, or if this is the MO for all of Sukhi’s products. They are so close to excellence, I would think they’d just nip that in the bud and make sure all the chicken is high quality. But nobody asked my opinion, did they?
Anyway. Here’s a fork-full of the excellent chicken. Succulent, moist texture. It’s not as deeply flavorful as what I buy from restaurants, but it’s still pretty dang yummy.
Ingredients in Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala
If you’re a long-time fan of Indian food like I am, you’ve probably experienced some tikka masala that has red food dye added to achieve the rich color. And perhaps that knowledge haunts you at night. Fortunately, that is not the case here — there are no artificial colors in the ingredients, just richly colored natural spices. Whew.
Here are the ingredients, from the label:
- White chicken
- Tikka sauce (tomato paste, water, cream, cane sugar, ginger, expeller pressed can ola oil, vinegar, garlic, chickpea flour, onions, spices, butter [cultured cream salt], sauce contains 2% or less rice flour, salt, jalapeno, caramelized onion [onions, expeller pressed canola oil], curry paste [lemongrass, spices, garlic, shallot, salt, kaffir lime peel, turmeric], paprika oleoresin, cilantro, onion powder, xanthan gum, turmeric powder, fenugreek leakves, garlic powder, lemon juice concentrate, cardamon oleoresin)
- Water
- Sugar
- Salt
- Baking soda
Nutrition Facts in Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala
The nutrition profile is impressive — 21 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of fiber. Of course, there will be lots more carbs once you add your rice. This is also assuming you stick to the small, 5 ounce serving suggested on the box, which contains only 180 calories.
Additionally, this tikka masala is:
- Gluten free
- Certified Halal
- No preservatives
- No added antibiotics or hormones in chicken
Shelf-life
Mine has an expiration date ~3.5 months from the date of purchase, which is outstanding for a refrigerated product. The label says it can be frozen up to 3 months. I assume this is an additional 3 months past the expiration date. I always eat mine too quickly for freezing to ever be an option. But hey. Maybe someday. Freezers gotta have dreams, too.
Price and Servings
Although the label says there are 7 servings per 36 ounce package (3.5 servings per pouch), I would say hungry adults are going to get just 2 servings per pouch, or 4 servings per package. I eat small meals, and I sometimes get 8 servings total if I am adding other items to my meals, like veggies or bread (or a yummy dessert!). A single pouch is approximately how much curry I would receive as a take-out meal from a local Indian restaurant.
This is priced at $14.99 for 36 ounces at Costco, so if you did manage 7 servings, the price would be $2.14 per serving, which is excellent. If you only get 4 servings, the price is $3.75 per serving, which is still pretty awesome.
The End
I absolutely recommend this product, and I would love to try some of Sukhi’s other selections, especially some spicier options. If you decide to make your own Chicken Tikka Masala from scratch, I particularly like this recipe; I’ve made it several times, and it has “never-not” been amazingly delicious and nearly fool-proof: Cafe Delights Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe
Author’s note: I wasn’t paid or compensated in any way for this review and I have no affiliation with Sukhi’s Indian Cuisine or Costco.
