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Since chicken tikka masala is one of the most popular choices at U.S. Indian restaurants, it’s only natural that tikka masala sauce has become an equally popular bottled sauce you can pick up at the grocery store. It’s much more convenient than making the sauce from scratch, and there’s a wide selection of store-bought tikka masala sauces to choose from. However, one grocery brand to avoid completely is Kroger Indian Inspirations tikka masala sauce.
Our taste tester, writer and chef Lei Shishak, ranked 10 store-bought tikka masala sauces and found the Kroger brand the worst. Shishak used her Indian heritage and a lifetime of eating and making Indian dishes to come up with the criteria for her ranking, including aroma, sauce consistency, flavor, and price point. While she gives Kroger brand tikka masala sauce points for its budget-friendly price tag, vibrant hue, and buttery aroma, the terrible taste and texture were insurmountable. Like many Indian sauce recipes, tikka masala sauce should deliver a complex depth of flavor and a rich, creamy texture. However, the Kroger tikka masala was disappointingly flavorless. Even more disappointing was the gelatinous texture, which Shishak attributes to the addition of cornstarch. While cornstarch slurries are popular thickening agents in East Asian stir-fry recipes, they decidedly ruin the consistency of tikka masala sauce.
We’re not the only ones who don’t like the Kroger sauce
Reviews of Kroger’s Indian Inspired tikka masala sauce from customers on Kroger’s own website back our last-place ranking. Disgruntled customers gave one or two-star reviews, saying the sauce was bland at best and unpleasantly sweet and sour at worst. Another review on Youtube bemoans the price of Kroger’s simmer sauce, and thought the Patak’s tikka masala sauce was better and cheaper, a sentiment that our ranking also shares.
While Kroger’s brand falls short, there are other high-ranking options that are just as budget friendly and widely available, like the Target brand Good and Gather Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce. If you’re willing to spend a little more, our top-ranked sauce was Maya Kaimal Tikka Masala Indian simmer sauce (available on Amazon), which is well worth the expense. While the sauces are premade, they are meant to simmer over the stove to develop the flavor and infuse any protein you decide to throw in. Chicken may be the most common addition, but our recipe for paneer tikka masala proves that the sauce pairs just as well with this Indian cheese. For vegan-friendly tikka masala, you can also simmer chickpeas, cauliflower, or potatoes.
