Day 5: chicken tikka masala from a jar

This is Day 5 of my own pantry challenge, seven days of dinners from the jars on my shelves. Yesterday was butternut squash soup.

Today was one of those days I LOVE having a stocked pantry of jars. My normal commute to work is about 2 hours. Lately it's been raining... a lot (you might have seen the news), and today was no exception. The drive home took me about 3.5 hours. I arrived late... and hungry!

So I picked a jar off the shelf, took a bag of frozen pre-cooked chicken and a naan, and put the rice on. 20 minutes later I was having an amazing dinner! ;)

Tonight's jar: my home-canned tikka masala sauce. Present me thanked past me for canning this back in September 2025 ;)

Tonight's dinner

Here's what I grabbed: pre-cooked chicken from the freezer, a garlic naan from the big batch I baked for the freezer yesterday, and some Greek yogurt.

I simmered the sauce for about 3 minutes, dumped the chicken in and cooked it for another 2 minutes.

Lastly I added some yogurt, because I had it in my fridge. Sometimes I add coconut milk, or sometimes nothing at all.

I served it on rice with a little food coloring added, and the garlic naan on the side.

How I can my tikka masala sauce

Here's how I make and can mine: Pressure canning tikka masala sauce (step-by-step guide).

Jars I used

1 pint jar of tikka masala sauce

Before you open a jar

Check the seal and look for spoilage before using any home-canned jar. More in A beginner's guide to safe home canning, Home canning and botulism and Home canning altitude adjustments.

Tomorrow: vegetable beef soup