Chana masala with a side of a crisp, flaky parantha or some steamed rice is quite a hoot when hunger strikes. In some homes, chana masala has potatoes, some have a tangy tomato gravy and some have a dark brown khada masala tadka. Ready-to-eat chana masala provides us with the convenience of eating them without the fuss of overnight soaking, pressure cooking and meticulously balancing the flavor. But nobody wants to compromise on the taste, even if the meal comes from in a pre-made, ready-to-eat avatar.
We tasted and reviewed five brands of ready-to-eat chana masala in our test kitchen to help you find the best one with the tastiest homestyle flavor. Here are our top lip-smacking recommendations for your Punjabi food cravings.
Table of Contents
Mishry Reviews: Best Ready To Eat Channa Masala
Top Pick (Spicy): MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala
MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala scored the highest due to its well balanced homestyle flavor, perfect seasoning and delicious gravy.
MRP – Rs 90/- for 300 grams packing
*Price at the time of review
Why MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala is our top pick
MTR’s chana masala has the tastiest homestyle gravy amongst all contenders. It is not over spicy, just enough to bring the heat that is expected from masala chana.
The chanas are perfectly cooked. They are soft, with adequate bite, and not mushy at all. The size of chanas used are big (dollar chana).
With a vibrant orangish gravy, visually too, MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala won.
Overall flavor is fresh and natural, and resembles homecooked chana masala. A big upside is that there are no added preservatives.
Top Pick (Mild): ITC Pindi Chana
ITC Pindi Chana also has delicious homestyle cooked chanas with a milder gravy.
MRP – Rs 90/- for 285 grams packing
*Price at the time of review
Why ITC Pindi Chana is our top pick
ITC’s Pindi Chana has a lovely homestyle gravy with little pieces of potatoes.
The tomato based gravy of ITC Pindi Chana is spiced mildly and is perfect for people who like their food with lesser chillies.
There are big sized chanas that are cooked well. Again, they are soft but not mushy.
With a light brown gravy, ITC Pindi Chana is made with no preservatives.
Our Review Process
The supermarket is stocked sky high with ready-to-eat meals. One of them being chana masala. We didn’t differentiate on how the brands labeled them. Be it – Pindi chana, Dilli style choley or chana masala, as long as the contents of the packaging had a dominant north Indian style chana-gravy combination, it was chosen as a contender in our review. All easily available brands (online and offline) were picked.
We heated the ready-to-eat chana masalas according to the instructions given on the pack. We applied the stove top method, where the contents of the packet were emptied into a pan. We heated the chana masala for 3-5 minutes and switched off the stove once done.
No garnishes like coriander or ginger were used. No extra tadkas were added to the contents of the package.
First, we tasted all the chana masalas individually without any accompaniments. Second, we tasted them with a side of jeera rice. We reviewed the chana masalas on parameters like taste, homestyle cooking, quality of the cooked chana, chana to gravy ratio, seasoning of the gravy and if there were any preservatives added. All brands were tasted side by side, on the same day.
After careful judgment, MTR and ITC emerged as our winners.
The Brands We Picked
The Contenders
ITC Pindi Chana (Buy now on Amazon)
MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala (Buy now on Amazon)
Kohinoor Choley Masala (Buy now on Amazon)
Haldiram’s Dilli Style Choley (Buy now on Amazon)
Sita Ram Diwan Chand – Chole With Onion
Who Is This Review For?
This chana masala review is for everyone who loves to eat chanas but doesn’t want to get into the cumbersome and long process of cooking them at home. But why buy ready-to-eat meals when food apps are much more convenient to order in from? Sure, you can order in. That’s easy. But this review is specifically for those who crave some homestyle chana masala.
What do we mean by homestyle cooking?
- It is not excessively oily
- The food is not industrial to taste
- Does not have any added preservatives
- Spiced with masalas that are generally available in any household
The Parameters – How We Reviewed
In all our reviews, the taste is priority numero uno. Apart from taste, we judged on four other aspects.
Quality of the cooked chana – The least you expect from a gravy dish is well-cooked chanas. The quality of the cooked chana in a dish plays a crucial rule in determining the winner. The chanas of both our winners were cooked to perfection. They were soft, not mushy and still had a bite when eaten.
Chana to gravy ratio – The chana and gravy ratio should be in complete harmony to be enjoyed. We answered the following questions to pick a winner – Was there too much or too little gravy? Were the chanas added sparingly or in bulk? Was the gravy enough to pair well with a single serving of rice?
Seasoning of the gravy – The seasoning of the gravy can make or break the entire meal. The overall flavor of the gravy, the appearance, salt quotient, spice levels all determined who won as the top pick.
Preservatives – If the chana masala had added preservatives or not, was also a big deciding factor.
| Brands | Price | Size of the chanas | Color of the gravy | Quality of the cooked chana |
| ITC Pindi Chana | Rs 90/- | Big | Light brown | Perfectly cooked |
| MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala | Rs 90/- | Big | Orangish | Perfectly cooked |
| Kohinoor Choley Masala | Rs 95/- | Big | Very dark | Undercooked |
| Haldiram Dilli Style Choley | Rs 75/- | Small | Light brown | Well cooked |
| Sita Ram Diwan Chand – Chole With Onion | Rs 105/- | Small | Dark brown | Overcooked (Mushy) |
Results Of Our Review
Some lacked in just one department and some were just outright unpalatable. Our winners aced in all areas – ITC Pindi Chana and MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala topped our list in the best homestyle cooked chana masala department.
Top Pick (Spicy): MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala
MTR Ready To Eat Chana Masala scored the highest due to its well balanced homestyle flavor.
MRP – Rs 90/- for 300 grams packing
*Price at the time of review
Top Pick (Mild): ITC Pindi Chana
ITC Pindi Chana also has delicious homestyle cooked chanas with a milder gravy.
MRP – Rs 90/- for 285 grams packing
*Price at the time of review
* If you do agree with our review, please give it a thumbs up! And, tell us which one is your favorite from this list. If you don’t, please tell us why!
* Food & Beverage is a constantly evolving segment with new products launched daily. Our endeavor here is to help shoppers buy better. If there’s a product you would like us to review tell us by clicking here.
* Our reviews are unbiased and all samples used during the reviews were paid for by us. Read our entire ethics statement here.
* No part of this review is sponsored by any brand. All expenses were borne by us.
