Mama Cozzi’s Artisan-Inspired Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe Flatbread Pizza

I’ve loved Indian food ever since my husband introduced me to it back when we were dating. We’d sometimes go together to an Indian buffet, and although some of the food was very spicy, it was unforgettable. Nowadays, one of our family’s favorite things to do is to head to a local Indian restaurant on the days when they have a lunch buffet so we can sample a little of everything.

We can’t always get dinner from a restaurant, though, and while most grocery store Indian food is not anything like what we get at restaurants, it’s a reasonable alternative when dining out isn’t in the budget. Aldi sells several Indian options, including some decent jarred tikka masala sauce, korma sauce, and butter chicken sauce. They also regularly stock good naan and basmati rice, and occasionally they sell some excellent mini samosas.

Most recently, I spotted a new Indian-inspired option at Aldi among the refrigerated take and bake pizzas. It’s a flatbread pizza topped with tikka masala sauce, chicken, and cheese. Of course I had to get one.

Mama Cozzi’s Artisan-Inspired Flatbread Pizza Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe cost $3.99 for an 8.4-ounce pizza at the time of publication.

This is an Aldi Find, so it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, these are gone unless Aldi decides to bring them back at some point. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products that aren’t in stock at your local store.

The package describes this as “mozzarella cheese, seasoned chicken, red onion, and cilantro with tikka masala recipe sauce on an oval pizza crust.”

This is a ready-to-heat food that does contain some processed ingredients including acacia gum as well as some preservatives. It’s also — as you would expect with pizza — loaded with calories, fat, sodium, and carbs. If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk and wheat.

There are two servings per pizza, and one serving (119 grams) has 360 calories, 18 grams of total fat (23% DV), 11 grams of saturated fat (55% DV), 630 mg of sodium (27% DV), 35 grams of total carbohydrates (13% DV), and 1 gram of added sugars (2% DV).

Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)

This can be baked in a conventional oven or cooked on a gas or charcoal grill.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the pizza from the packaging and place the pizza directly on the oven’s center rack (I placed the pizza on a pizza baking sheet). Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese in the center is melted, the crust is golden, and the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Carefully remove the pizza from the oven. Let cool for 2-3 minutes before slicing and serving.

To grill, preheat a gas grill for medium indirect heat, leaving one or two burners off, or preheat a charcoal grill for medium indirect heat by banking the coals to one side of the grill. Remove the flatbread from all packaging and place it directly on the grill, keeping it away from open flame. Close the lid and grill for 6-9 minutes or until the cheese is melted, the crust is golden brown, and the internal temperature is 165 degrees as measured by a food thermometer. Remove the pizza from the grill and let it stand for 1-2 minutes before slicing and serving.

After baking.

I baked this flatbread pizza in my oven, and it was nicely done after about 8 minutes. Based on appearance, it looked like a lot of the cheese was concentrated in the middle, but this had a decent amount of cheese all around.

This was a hit with my family members who like Indian food. One person who doesn’t like many spicy foods didn’t care for this. It does have a mild kick, but it’s definitely on the subdued side in terms of how spicy many Indian dishes can be. The sauce on this flatbread is excellent, with a nuanced flavor typical of many tikka masala sauces I’ve had. It’s not heavily loaded with toppings such as chicken and onions, but it’s got enough.

I’ll be looking for this again on my next shopping trip, and if my local store still has a few of these left, I’m certainly going to stock up and put a few of these in my freezer.

The Verdict:

Mama Cozzi’s Artisan-Inspired Flatbread Pizza Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe features soft, doughy flatbread topped with a tikka masala sauce, gooey mozzarella cheese, and diced chicken and onions. It combines the best of Aldi take and bake pizzas with one of our favorite Indian dishes. Any fan of Indian food will find this worth trying.