# Fakeaway Fridays: Recreate Your UK Takeaway Favourites > Save money and impress everyone at home with these spot-on fakeaway recipes. *Section: Lifestyle — By Emily Chen (Lifestyle & Wellbeing Writer) — Published April 5, 2026 — 5 min read* Canonical URL: https://dailyjunction.co.uk/lifestyle/uk-takeaway-fakeaway-recipes Tags: fakeaway, recipes, takeaway, budget cooking, UK food, home cooking, lifestyle ## Key takeaways - Making fakeaway meals at home can save up to 70% compared to ordering in - Classic chicken tikka masala can be recreated at home in under an hour - Batch cooking fakeaway sauces means weeknight meals are faster and cheaper - Swapping one takeaway per week for a fakeaway could save over £1,000 a year # Fakeaway Fridays: Recreate Your UK Takeaway Favourites Friday night. The week is done, the sofa is calling, and that familiar itch to ring the local curry house or dial up a Chinese is already tugging at your wallet. The average UK household spends around £30–£50 on a single takeaway order — and that figure climbs steeply if you're feeding a family or adding drinks and extras. Over a year, that's an eye-watering sum quietly draining your account. Enter the fakeaway: home-cooked versions of your favourite takeaway dishes that are cheaper, often healthier, and — with the right recipe — genuinely hard to tell apart from the real thing. This Friday, we're starting with the undisputed king of British takeaways: **chicken tikka masala**. --- ## Why Bother Making It Yourself? Beyond the obvious cost savings (more on those in a moment), cooking at home gives you complete control over what goes into your food. You can dial back the salt, skip the artificial colouring, and use better-quality chicken. There's also something deeply satisfying about recreating a dish you assumed required a tandoor oven and thirty years of professional experience — and discovering it didn't. If you're trying to get your household finances in better shape, small habitual changes add up quickly. Switching just one takeaway per week for a homemade fakeaway could put more than £1,500 back in your pocket annually. If you're also reviewing other outgoings — things like broadband, insurance, or energy bills — a comparison site like [QuidCompare](https://quidcompare.co.uk) can help you see where you might be overpaying across a range of financial products, so your Friday night savings are part of a broader picture of smarter spending. --- ## Chicken Tikka Masala — The Nation's Favourite ### Ingredients (serves 4) **For the chicken marinade:** - 600g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks - 150g full-fat natural yoghurt - 2 tbsp tikka masala paste (shop-bought is absolutely fine) - 1 tsp ground cumin - 1 tsp smoked paprika - Juice of half a lemon - 1 tsp fine salt **For the masala sauce:** - 2 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee - 1 large onion, finely diced - 4 garlic cloves, minced - 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated - 2 tbsp tikka masala paste - 1 tsp ground coriander - 1 tsp garam masala - 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes - 150ml double cream - 1 tsp caster sugar - Salt to taste - Fresh coriander to serve --- ### Method 1. **Marinate the chicken.** Combine the yoghurt, tikka paste, cumin, paprika, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces, mix well to coat, and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes — overnight in the fridge if you can manage it. 2. **Cook the chicken.** Heat your grill or oven to its highest setting. Arrange the marinated chicken on a foil-lined baking tray and grill for 10–12 minutes, turning halfway, until lightly charred at the edges and cooked through. Set aside. 3. **Build the sauce.** Heat the oil or ghee in a large, deep frying pan or casserole over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 8–10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. 4. **Add the spices.** Stir in the tikka paste, ground coriander, and garam masala. Cook for 1–2 minutes until fragrant — this step is important; it toasts the spices and deepens the flavour. 5. **Add the tomatoes.** Pour in the chopped tomatoes, add the sugar, and season with salt. Simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and darkened. 6. **Finish with cream.** Stir in the double cream and bring back to a gentle simmer. Add the grilled chicken pieces and cook for a further 5 minutes to let the chicken absorb the sauce. 7. **Serve.** Scatter with fresh coriander and serve alongside fluffy basmati rice, warmed naan (shop-bought is fine — no judgement here), or both. --- ## Tips and Variations **Get ahead:** The sauce freezes brilliantly. Make a double batch at the weekend and freeze half in portions for a genuinely effortless weeknight dinner. **Make it lighter:** Swap the double cream for coconut cream or a half-and-half blend with natural yoghurt. You'll lose a little richness but gain a slightly fresher, lighter result. **Vegetarian version:** Replace the chicken with paneer, butter beans, or a combination of cauliflower and chickpeas. Roast them in the same tikka marinade before adding to the sauce. **Smokier flavour:** A quarter teaspoon of smoked paprika in the sauce, alongside a pinch of fenugreek, gets you closer to the chargrilled, slightly smoky depth you associate with a good restaurant version. **Rice shortcut:** Toast your basmati in a dry pan for two minutes before adding water. It takes on a nuttier flavour and the grains stay separate. --- ## Cost Per Serving | Item | Approximate cost | |---|---| | Chicken thighs (600g) | £2.80 | | Yoghurt, cream, tinned tomatoes | £1.60 | | Tikka paste + spices (per use) | £0.60 | | Onion, garlic, ginger | £0.40 | | **Total (4 servings)** | **£5.40** | | **Per person** | **~£1.35** | Compare that to a typical takeaway chicken tikka masala — usually £11–£14 for a single portion once delivery fees and a tip are factored in — and the arithmetic is obvious. You're saving roughly £10 per person, every single time. --- ## The Bigger Picture Fakeaway Fridays aren't about deprivation. You're not giving up the thing you enjoy — you're just making it yourself, spending a fraction of the cost, and honestly, often eating something better. Once you've nailed tikka masala, the same logic applies to salt-and-pepper chips, crispy aromatic duck pancakes, katsu curry, or a proper doner wrap made at home. The money you save is real. Put it somewhere useful, whether that's a rainy day fund, a family day out, or just the satisfaction of knowing your Friday night cost less than a round of coffees. ## Sources - [UK Household Food Spending — ONS](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure) - [The Hairy Bikers' Perfect Pies](https://www.bbc.co.uk/food) - [Money Saving Expert: Cut Your Food Bills](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/food/) --- Daily Junction — https://dailyjunction.co.uk/lifestyle/uk-takeaway-fakeaway-recipes