Tandoori Chicken
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This Baked Tandoori Chicken features healthy and delicious Indian flavors you can enjoy right in your home. Made from scratch, baked in your oven and perfect for a weeknight meal!
Tandoori Chicken Recipe
Indian cuisine has to be one of my favorite cuisines with tandoori chicken being right there at the top of my favorite dishes. I’ve been going to Indian restaurants for a while now and I pretty much always order tandoori chicken. What attracts me to it really is the red color, I think it makes the chicken look so exotic.
However, a long time ago I learned to make tandoori chicken at home. With a few spices and a few tricks, the popular tandoori chicken can be made right in the comfort of your home in your own oven. Not only can you bake the chicken in your oven, you can also grill it!
What is Tandoori Chicken?
Tandoori chicken is an Indian chicken dish prepared by roasting chicken marinated in yogurt and spices in a tandoor cylindrical clay oven. You can read more about tandoor ovens here on thekitchn.com.
This delicious chicken dish is extremely popular in Indian restaurants, and it’s one of my favorite dishes to order. However, I also love making it at home without a tandoor oven. All you need is your oven.
What Cut of Chicken Can You Use
When you visit an Indian restaurant and order tandoori chicken, almost always you will get chicken drumsticks. However, I have made this many times with boneless skinless breast as well as thighs and drumsticks.
In this recipe I am using both breasts and drumsticks. It works just as well with both cuts of chicken. Chicken breast with skin and bones works as well.
How to Make Tandoori Chicken
Clean the chicken and pat it dry. If using chicken breasts cut them in half. In a small bowl, mix all the wet rub ingredients together to form a paste. Using a knife, cut deep slits into the chicken. Smear the rub in between the slits and if there is any left over, rub it over the entire chicken pieces.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together all the marinade ingredients. Since Tandoori chicken is usually red, I used a few drops of red gel food coloring, however this is optional and the more food coloring you use the more red color you’ll get.
Place the chicken in the bowl with marinade and mix well, making sure all the chicken pieces are fully coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours.
How long to bake?
After a couple hours you can start preheating your oven to 400 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and over it, place a grill rack.
Place the chicken breasts over the grill rack leaving a bit of space in between each piece. Bake the chicken for 30 minutes. 15 minutes, in brush some butter over each piece. After the first 30 minutes, turn the chicken pieces over, brush with more butter and bake for another 15 minutes.
The chicken is done when the juices run clear when poked with a fork. The best way to check if your chicken is done, is to use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature near the bone. When it reaches 165 degrees F, the chicken is done.
How to serve
Make sure to serve this chicken with some lemon slices so you can squeeze the lemon juice all over the chicken. It will really bring out all those tandoori flavors.
I usually serve this with a side salad like a simple spinach salad with tomatoes. However tandoori chicken is great with some basmati rice, sliced fresh cucumbers, and some red onions.
Leftovers
As with most dishes, this tandoori chicken should be enjoyed as soon as it’s cooked. However if you have leftover chicken, store it in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
You can also freeze the chicken also stored in airtight containers and it could last up to 4 months in the freezer.
Try These Indian Recipes:
- Indian Cauliflower Fried Rice with Chicken and Roasted Chickpeas
- Lamb Korma
- Indian Style Lentils with Pork Tenderloin
- Mulligatawny Soup
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken
- Vegetable Biryani
- Butter Chicken
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Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 pound chicken (such as breasts, thighs or drumsticks)
- 3 tablespoon butter (unsalted, melted, for brushing)
Wet Rub
- 1¼ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Marinade
- ½ cup yogurt (plain, such as Greek yogurt)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (minced)
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper (freshly ground)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 drops red gel food coloring (optional)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken: Clean the chicken and pat it dry. If using chicken breasts cut them in half. Using a knife, cut deep slits into the chicken.
- Apply wet rub: In a small bowl, mix all the wet rub ingredients together to form a paste. Smear the rub in between the slits and if there is any left over, rub it over the entire chicken breasts.
- Prepare marinade: In a medium size bowl, whisk together all the marinade ingredients. Place the chicken in the bowl with marinade and mix well, making sure each chicken breasts is fully coated.
- Marinate chicken: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours.
- Preheat oven and baking sheet: Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and over it, place a grill rack.
- Place the chicken breasts over the grill rack leaving a bit of space in between each piece.
- Bake: Bake the chicken for 30 minutes. 15 minutes in, brush some butter over each piece. After the first 30 minutes, turn the chicken pieces over, brush with more butter and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Garnish with lemon slices, parsley and serve.
Video
Notes
- As with most dishes, this tandoori chicken should be enjoyed as soon as it’s cooked. However if you have leftover chicken, store it in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- You can also freeze the chicken also stored in airtight containers and it could last up to 4 months in the freezer.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I have really enjoyed this recipe and make it regularly for friends and family. If I make the paste and marinade in advance what is the longest I can leave it in the fridge before actually adding the chicken? Hoping to make it 24 hours in advance so can just add the chicken the day I want to eat it – would this work do you think?
You can definitely leave the marinade and Tandoori paste in the fridge for up to 2-3 days, then add it to your chicken and cook it as instructed in the recipe.
Let us know how it all turns out!
I swear by this recipe! First time I tried my whole family loved it and since then I’ve make it at least 6-7 times within 2 months. Honestly thank you so much for such a simple and tasty recipe.
My pleasure, so glad to hear you guys enjoyed it! 🙂
2nd time with this recepie, this time I added 1 finely chopped Chipotle pepper in Adobe sauce to the marinade…WOW..!
What a great recipe… I loved it and it was so easy to make. Very tasty
Really loved your recipe of delicious looking tandoori chicken. It was worth reading this article, Thanks for this recipe.
I’d like to use my slow cooker or instant pot for this recipe, so you think I can? What are you thoughts and suggestion? Thanks!
You probably could but you’re not going to get that crispy exterior, so I would still maybe put them under the broiler for a couple minutes to crisp up a bit. If you have an air fryer, I think that would be perfect.
This recipe is fantastic! I didn’t change a thing. I added red gel food coloring (didn’t have liquid), and they turned out great! Definitely a keeper.
Love to hear it! So glad you liked the recipe 🙂
Me and my daughter loved making this, very easy to follow thank you x
This recipe was great. I made it this evening, and everyone loved it! I added a tad bit more garam masala. Totally hit the spot. I’m loving all your recipes. I wish I can add a photo of my Tandoori Chicken!
Thanks for a great, simple recipe! I’m Indian, and really enjoyed this :).
I made a few minor changes, and grilled my chicken for the nice dark char and smoky flavor! For the chili powder in the rub I used Kashmiri chili powder- this gave me a nice spicy chicken and the red color (did not use red food coloring). Had only about a pound of chicken so I put a lot of this paste on and added in some extra lemon juice. I loved how this helped with the flavor! In the past I’ve only done the straight marinade in the yogurt and spices. This was much better!
In the marinade I also added in a tsp of mustard powder, and used double the garlic. Instead of garam masala I had a good curry powder which I used (about the same ingredients with a few additional spices), and I doubled this because I had no corriander powder. Left the chicken to marinate in the fridge for about 5 hours.
Highly recommend and will make this again soon!
Oh and adding onto my review- I used boneless skinless chicken breast tenders, and the butter during grilling was a must! Chicken picked up a nice flavor and char and did not dry out!
Very good recipe, but if you’ll accept my constructive feedback, quantities of dry spices are too small if authenticity is what you’re after (I’m from India). Need to be doubled at least to bring out that richness of flavor after cooking. Again, very good recipe – flavor profile is spot on.
I cooked mine sous vide with just the wet rub. Coated cooked chicken with yogurt mix and finished over charcoal. Excellent.
Thanks, I have not yet tried this recipe. Did you also double the amount of yoghurt?
This is delicious and so easy! I used chicken thighs, and didn’t find it necessary to add butter while baking. Will definitely make again!!
Absolutely delicious! We loved it and will be making this often
Very good, very easy dish that went over well. Not as spicy as I expected but very tasty. One tip the longer it marinated the better it is!!
Love these recipes Jo!!
Yay! So glad you liked it!
Hi, Joanna, This sounds absolutely wonderful, but before I try it, I want to clarify the cooking time. Is it a total of 1 hr. 15 min. (30-baste-30-baste-15) or a total of 45 min. (30-baste-15)? Sorry to be so dense! Thanks much for your wonderful blog! Vicki
You’re not dense don’t be silly. So it’s a total of 45 minutes, 15 min – baste – 15 min – flip over – baste- 15 min. Does that make sense? 30 min on one side and 15 on the other, but you baste every 15 min.
PERFECT sense! Thank you SO much!
My pleasure! 😉 You got this!