Unfortunately, we don’t all live down the road from an amazing curry house. Tikka masala isn’t at our fingertips. Fresh naan isn’t available at the local grocery store. But you know what is? Frozen Indian food. A lot of it, actually.
But is any of it good? We tried 16 frozen Indian meals (as well as every frozen Indian meal from Trader Joe’s, which we previously ranked) in order to find out.
We weren’t delusional. We didn’t think any of the frozen Indian food we tried would taste exactly like our favorite curries from our favorite restaurants. But we were hopeful for close approximations. We wanted bold spices and vibrant flavors. We wanted creamy curries and tender, seasoned (!) rice. And if the meal came with naan, we wanted it to taste like naan—not pita, not flatbread, not a pancake. Naan.
The results? Well, if you’re too lazy to read the full, dang ranking, let’s just say you’re safe if you shop at Trader Joe’s or if you buy Deep brand Indian frozen food. If you want the specifics, though, read on for our full ranking of the best frozen Indian food you can buy.
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- Deep Chicken Vindaloo
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Chicken vindaloo is traditionally spicy and tangy, with ingredients like ginger, chilis, cloves, and vinegar. I was surprised to taste coconut in this frozen version, but, after doing some searching, it seems like it’s not all that uncommon to add coconut cream to the Goan curry. The chicken came out a touch tough, but the spicy sauce makes up for it. It really packs a ton of heat. It’s not playing around. And the turmeric rice is tasty, too. It’s delightfully aromatic and a good foil to the spicy curry.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Deep Coconut Chicken Curry
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This gently coconutty curry is packed with extremely tender chicken. You really get a TON of chicken, which is a nice change from some of the other frozen Indian entrees we tried. (What’s with the three chunks of chicken, other frozen Indian food brands?) There’s a touch of heat, but overall it’s a pretty mild curry. And while you don’t get naan (the one good thing about the Sukhi’s frozen Indian meals we tried), you do get basmati rice. The package says “cumin basmati rice,” but it’s pretty light on the cumin. It could’ve used more, in my opinion. But it still filled out the meal well.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Trader Joe’s Chicken Tikka Masala
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If you treasure your side of rice, then Trader Joe’s makes the best frozen Indian food for you. It’s so tender and flavorful. You can eat it plain and be satisfied. It doesn’t come with all of the store’s frozen Indian entrees, but it does come with their frozen chicken tikka masala, which happens to be the best frozen chicken tikka masala we tried. The chicken is tender—not tough, but not so tender that it falls apart, either. And it actually tastes like chicken! The sauce is savory and creamy and tomato-forward with a good blend of spices. It might not be up to par with your favorite curry house, but it’s damn good for frozen Indian food.
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
- Deep Butter Chicken
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We tasted a few iterations of frozen butter chicken. But none of them held a buttery candle to this frozen butter chicken from Deep. It’s really, really, really buttery. It’s downright decadent. The rice is nicely spiced with cumin to add some dimension and zest to the meal. And, once again, you get a ton of chicken. It really feels like a meal. It’s the best Deep frozen Indian food you can buy and the best frozen butter chicken.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Trader Joe’s Channa Masala
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It’s roasty. It’s toasty. It’s packed with slow cooked spices that meld into a symphony of flavors in the curry. It’s the best frozen Indian food you can buy—and you can only get it at Trader Joe’s. This vegetarian curry is made with uber-tender chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, and spices. It seems simple, but it tastes so complex. It doesn’t even come with rice but it’s still some of the best frozen Indian food to buy.
Credit: Merc
Best Frozen Vindaloo
Best Coconut Curry
Best Tikka Masala
Best Butter Chicken
Best of the Best
Other frozen Indian meals we tried: Saffron Road Chicken Biryani, Saffron Road Lamb Saag, Saffron Road Butter Chicken, Amy’s Matar Paneer, Amy’s Palak Paneer, Saffron Road Chickpea Masala, Saffron Road Chicken Tikka Masala, Deep Chicken Tikka Masala, Deep Spinach Paneer, Deep Chicken Biryani, Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala, Sukhi’s Butter Chicken, Good & Gather Tikka Masala
Trader Joe’s is solid, tcertainly the first Indian-style frozen food that ever hit at all for me, but Deep is on a whole other level. Love to see the love!
This is really cool! Would love to see you try some Indian store brands like deep more!