Tandoori Masala Substitutes, Ranked by the Job the Blend Is Doing

Out of tandoori masala? A quick mix of paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger and cardamom from your spice rack gets you closest. Tandoori masala is a ground blend made to stir into yogurt as a marinade for meat cooked in a tandoor, a clay oven. There’s no fixed recipe, and the red is where versions differ most: cookbook author Anupy Singla writes that the bright red of some store-bought blends comes from food dyes like Red 40.¹ Whatever you use, check the salt first: some blends list it first, and others have none at all.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

Check two things before you swap. First, salt. Woodland Foods lists salt first on its tandoori blend,² while The Spice House sells a salt-free one,³ so a recipe written for one can come out under- or over-salted with the other. Second, heat. How hot a blend is depends on which chiles go in. Singla’s recipe uses a whole cup of dried Kashmiri chiles,¹ and Dassana Amit notes that Kashmiri chiles are less hot,⁴ so a lot of that cup is there for color.

If tandoori masala is the whole marinade seasoning

1. A quick mix from jars

The Spice House’s salt-free tandoori blend lists just paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger, cardamom and saffron, and the company suggests rubbing it on meat or mixing it with plain yogurt for a marinade.³ Everything but the saffron is a pantry spice.

Ratio (Method): Here’s a starting point: 2 parts sweet paprika, 1 part each ground coriander and cumin, 1/2 part each garlic powder and ground ginger, and a pinch of ground cardamom. Use as much as your recipe calls for in tandoori masala, add salt separately, and taste the marinade.

Where it falls short: it has none of the cloves, cinnamon or fenugreek in fuller recipes like Singla’s, which also lists peppercorns, cardamom and carom seeds.¹

2. Make the real thing

If you have whole spices, both published recipes compared on our tandoori masala page are worth the time. Anjula Devi’s starts with 8 tablespoons of coriander seeds and dry-roasts the whole spices,⁵ and Singla’s builds on Kashmiri chiles.¹ Use the result in the same amount as the store-bought blend your recipe names.

If you need warm spice plus red color

Garam masala, plus paprika and cayenne

Garam masala covers the warm side of tandoori masala. Bong Eats gives the most basic Bengali garam masala as cardamom, cinnamon and cloves,⁶ and Great British Chefs lists cloves, bay leaf, fennel, cinnamon and cardamom among the usual spices.⁷ Singla’s tandoori recipe shares several of them: peppercorns, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.¹

Where it falls short: The Spice House notes that garam masala means warming spices but isn’t hot like chili peppers,⁸ and a basic version has no paprika, coriander or cumin. It brings none of the red. Recipes also vary wildly; Saveur says there are as many versions as there are home cooks.⁹

Ratio (Method): For each tablespoon of tandoori masala, start with 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala and 1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika, then add cayenne a pinch at a time.

If you want a red, ready-made marinade blend

Tikka masala blend

A tikka masala blend often shares tandoori masala’s red, chile-led profile. Spices, Inc. lists paprika, turmeric, guajillo, garlic, cayenne, black pepper, fenugreek, ginger, cumin and bay leaves, among others, and sells it salt-free.¹⁰ Seasoning-mix packets are a different product. McCormick’s chicken tikka masala mix contains salt, sugar and milk.¹¹

Where it falls short: turmeric pushes the color toward yellow-orange. Mixes built for the sauce, not the marinade, may contain starch or dairy you don’t want in a yogurt marinade.¹¹

Ratio (Method): Use a salt-free blend 1:1 and taste. With a salted mix, start with about half and salt the marinade last.

If you need a curry base with heat

Madras curry powder

Dan Toombs describes Madras curry powder as a blend like any curry powder that also has dried chiles in it.¹² World Spice Merchants’ Madras blend leads with coriander, brown mustard seed, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek and black pepper,¹³ so it brings tandoori masala’s coriander-cumin base and the fenugreek some recipes use. It was often sold as spicier than the Bengal and Bombay styles,¹⁴ though World Spice rates its own blend only 2 on a 5-point heat scale.¹³

Where it falls short: turmeric and mustard. The turmeric turns the marinade yellow instead of red,¹⁵ so add paprika if color matters.

Ratio (Method): Start with about two-thirds as much Madras curry powder as tandoori masala, add a teaspoon of paprika per tablespoon for color, and taste.

If the job is mostly heat

Vindaloo curry powder

Savory Spice’s blend lists turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, fenugreek, salt, mustard, coriander, cumin and ginger, with a touch of cayenne,¹⁶ so it shares several tandoori ingredients and adds salt and turmeric. It suggests about a teaspoon per pound of beef, pork, poultry or fish.¹⁶

Where it falls short: the heat is all over the place. America’s Test Kitchen describes fiery, complex heat in its recipe,¹⁷ while Savory Spice says its own is closer to medium and not as hot as typical vindaloo.¹⁶

Ratio (Method): Start with half the tandoori masala amount, taste the marinade, and add paprika for color.

What isn’t known

• We found no published heat measurement for any tandoori masala. How hot a blend is depends on its chiles.¹⁸
• Ingredient lists give no proportions, so the label alone won’t tell you how much paprika, chile or salt is in a given jar.
• You’ll often read that tandoori masala is a blend from northern India. What’s documented is the restaurant most tied to tandoori chicken: Moti Mahal in New Delhi, opened after the 1947 Partition by two cooks from Peshawar, now in northwest Pakistan.¹⁹ No source we read traces the blend itself.
• You’ll also read that tandoori masala is known for being spicy. No source we read measures that, and Singla’s version leans on mild Kashmiri chiles for color.¹⁴

Related

• Tandoori masala and tandoori masala vs. garam masala
• Garam masala and garam masala substitutes
• Tikka masala and tikka masala substitutes
• Madras curry powder, vindaloo curry powder and vindaloo vs. Madras curry powder
• Paprika, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, garlic powder, ginger, cardamom, fenugreek and turmeric
• Indian spices