Despite what the internet says, it’s not chicken tikka masala - in fact, it's not even close
Key takeaways
- 49% of Britons say fish and chips is the UK’s national dish
- 24% give that title to roast dinner
- Just 3% name chicken tikka masala, which is often cited on the internet and by social media as the UK’s national dish
- Similar numbers across all generations (45-50%) say fish and chips is the UK’s national dish
- While 86-90% of Britons like fish and chips and roast dinners, this falls to 68% for chicken tikka masala
- 52% of Britons have roast dinner on at least a monthly basis, compared to 35% for fish and chips and 21% for chicken tikka masala
- 52% eat some form of curry at least once a month
If you were to hit the search engines or social media to find out what the UK’s national dish is, you’d very likely come away thinking it is the chicken tikka masala.
While the dish is certainly popular, is it really the UK’s national dish?
Now a new YouGov survey can provide the definitive answer, asking Britons to tell us, in their own words, what the UK’s national dish is.
Fish and chips is actually the UK’s national dish
The resounding winner is fish and chips, with half of the public (49%) naming the classic deep-fried pairing as the UK’s national dish.
This puts it far ahead of the second-placed roast dinner, which 24% of people picked. This includes 6% who made sure to specify a beef roast.
Only 3% of Britons name chicken tikka masala as the UK’s national dish – although an additional 2% did say ‘curry’ or named a different kind of curry.
Smatterings of people also nominated the full English breakfast (2%), bangers and mash (1%) or cottage or shepherd’s pie (1%).
Fish and chips is by far the most common answer across all generations (45-50%). The biggest difference between age groups is that 18-24 year olds are less likely to have nominated roast dinner as the UK’s national dish (14%, versus 21-29% of older age groups) and are more likely to have written chicken tikka masala (11%, versus 0-2%).
Is chicken tikka masala a British dish?
While the origins of tikka masala are mysterious, the curry is thought to have originated in Britain, and is often specifically attributed to Glasgow.
However, the British public are far from having adopted it as one of their own, with a YouGov survey from May of this year finding that only 39% of Britons consider it a British dish, slightly outnumbered by the 46% who do not.
Tikka masala’s rankings relative to fish and chips and roast dinners are hardly surprising when you consider how much the public like each dish. While 90% of Britons say they like roast dinners, and 86% say the same when it comes to fish and chips, this falls to 68% for chicken tikka masala.
These figures are broadly unchanged from a previous 2019 YouGov survey looking at the popularity of classic British dishes.
Of course, it’s one thing to like a dish, but it’s another to have it regularly, and one of the stories of recent years has been the declining numbers of fish and chip shops.
Our survey shows that of the three top contenders for UK national dish, roast dinners are the most frequently eaten, with 52% saying they eat them on at least a monthly basis, including 16% who do so every week.
By comparison, only 35% of Britons have fish and chips at least once a month, falling to 21% for chicken tikka masala – although when we asked about curry in general, we found 52% have any form of curry at least once a month.
A quarter of Britons say they “never” eat chicken tikka masala, versus 8% for fish and chips and 4% for roast dinner.
See the full results here and here
Methodology
- Sample size: Two online surveys of 2,079 and 2,104 adults aged 18+ living in Great Britain
- Fieldwork: 8-9 October and 13-14 October 2026
- Commissioned by: YouGov
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Photo: Getty
