Tandoori chicken is my go-to dish whenever I have to make anything fancy for a house party or a potluck! I find this a sure shot winner without much of a hassle as all you have to do to make smoking tandoori chicken is to marinade and grill!
Tandoori chicken must have been around since ages and have only become better with each passing day! And the good news is that you can create the goodness right at the comfort of your own home!
If you are as much in love with tandoori chicken as us, then you must already have one favorite restaurant whose special chicken tandoori has taken your heart away and you are already in their frequent guest list!
I urge you to try this recipe of my tandoori chicken just once and I can guarantee you will love this more than any takeaway you have tried so far! Just ensure to give attention to the details so that you don’t miss out on the smokiness e.g. using hung curd instead of regular curd and more.
What is Tandoori chicken?
Tandoori chicken is a type of smoky grilled chicken with a vibrant red color which makes it distinctly different from any other chicken kabab. Traditionally, tandoori chicken or any tandoori dish for that matter is made in a large clay oven at a very high heat using charcoal or wood. Charcoal or wood adds the smokiness to chicken making it so irresistible.
You can read more about the history of Tandoor here.
Also, the spices play a major role in getting the smokiness right. Chicken is marinated using a thick yogurt based marinate which is loaded with immense flavor from all quintessential Indian spices. Make sure to use hung curd in your marinade, else too much water in curd will dilute the spice blend and lead to loss of flavors.
How to recreate the typical tandoori smokiness at home?
You can recreate the similar smokiness at home by using a small piece of charcoal. Just before grilling the marinated chicken, simply heat up the charcoal over an open flame until it smokes. Then put it into a small bowl and carefully place the bowl with charcoal at the center of your bowl of marinated chicken.
Drizzle ghee over the hot charcoal which will produce heavy & thick smoke almost instantly. Cover the bowl of chicken with a large plate or bowl making sure that the smoke doesn’t escape. Leave it for 10 minutes at the countertop to let the chicken get infused with charred smokiness. Voila!
How easy or difficult is it to make Tandoori chicken at home?
You may start being skeptical about making tandoori chicken at home as it may seem too much effort. But trust me, once you have your hung curd sorted, your battle is half won!
Yes, making this hung curd calls for a bit of planning; after all, any good thing requires some amount of effort, isn’t it? And this is not only good but the best homemade tandoori chicken that you will reward yourself with!
The thick & creamy hung curd has double action – it tenderizes the chicken during the marination time; plus due its thickness, it binds all the spices together enabling them to adhere to the chicken pieces. Ensuring that the spices remain stuck to the chicken is very important as that will infuse the meat during the grilling process and help penetrate the flavors deep inside!
Which chicken portion is best for Tandoori chicken?
Drumsticks & thighs are best suited for tandoori cooking thanks to their high fat content which is why they never turn dry & hard. Plus, unlike chicken breasts, flavor penetrates easily into these portions of chicken through all the nooks & crannies.
In any restaurant, tandoori chicken is sold in full portions or half. Full portion serves the full bird whereas half portion serves half the bird. One issue I have personally felt with store-bought tandoori chicken is that their breast pieces turn out extremely dry and sometimes very tasteless.
This happens due to the high heat of their commercial oven which sucks out all the moisture from the lean & fatless chicken breasts leaving them awfully dry and unappetizing! You can easily overcome this issue when you make your own homemade tandoori chicken! Don’t use chicken breast for tandoori chicken! Use the dark meat instead i.e. chicken drumsticks & thighs.
Some other useful tips to make best Tandoori chicken at home
Traditionally tandoori chicken is made using skinless chicken pieces and I have used the same here. But if you like some crispy skin, you can use skin-on chicken too; just make some incisions over the meaty part of the chicken drumsticks.
About the use of artificial food color! You will also notice that I have used red food color in my recipe and that’s only to replicate the restaurant style tandoori chicken as without that vibrant red color, you won’t get that feel! But yes, the use of color is entirely optional; feel free to leave it out; your tandoori chicken will still turn out to be exceptionally delish!
How to make Tandoori chicken?
You just need a bit of pre-planning to make this favorite delicacy. Let’s start with the very first thing i.e. making hung curd.
Step 1: To make hung curd, take a clean thin cloth, preferably muslin or cheesecloth and place it over a deep bowl which is smaller than the cloth so that four corners are hanging outside and you can tie them up. Now transfer the curd to the cloth.
Then gather all 4 ends of the cloth at the center and tie a knot. Squeeze out as much water as possible from the watery curd. Then hang this cloth pack at a convenient place e.g. tie around the tap over the kitchen sink and let the remaining water drip off.
Leave it for 4 to 5 hours and you will end up with the thickest & creamiest curd ever!
Step 2: Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces thoroughly so that no moisture is left. Make multiple incisions on them so that the marinade can go deep inside. Set aside.
Step 3: To bring out the best flavors in your Tandoori chicken, I suggest you marinade your chicken a night before and leave them to soak up all the flavors overnight. Here is how to do it.
First Marinade: Take the washed chicken pieces in a large bowl and add salt, Kashmiri red chilli powder, juice of 1 lemon, ginger-garlic paste and mustard oil. Massage this marinate into the chicken pieces making sure to go deep inside the incisions you had made. Set aside for 30 minutes.
Step 4: While your chicken is soaking up the first marinade, prepare the main tandoori marinade mixture which is the second one to go!
Second marinade: In a bowl, combine the hung yogurt, chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, kasoori methi, mustard oil and whisk thoroughly so that all the spices blend well. Finally add the red food color and give a vigorous mix since it takes time to mix food color thoroughly.
Step 5: After about 30 minutes, take each chicken piece and rub the second marinade mixture on it again making sure that it goes inside the incisions. Coat all the pieces with a thick layer of marinade and keep them packed in the bowl. Cover with a cling film and keep inside the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight (8 to 12 hours).
Step 6: Preheat the oven to 220 C/425 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a grill rack on top of the baking tray. Place the marinated chicken pieces on this grill rack in a single layer.
Step 7: Now place this grill rack with the chicken (along with the lined baking sheet below to catch the drippings) at the middle level of the oven. Bake the tandoori chicken for 35 to 40 minutes.
Step 8: After about 35 minutes, take the grill rack out, turn the chicken over and bake for another 35 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is all cooked through. Keep checking after every 15 minutes since it may take less time if you are using a lesser quantity.
Step 9: Baste the chicken pieces with oil or melted butter after every 10 minutes. Do not skip the basting as it would prevent the chicken from turning dry. [You can even grill the chicken on an outdoor grill on high heat for almost the same duration.]
Step 10: After about 30 minutes, check if the chicken is done – there should not be any traces of pink and the juices should run clear and a toothpick could be inserted at the thickest part of the drumstick very smoothly without any resistance from meat.
If you have a food thermometer, check if the temperature registers at least 165 F when inserted into the thickest part of the leg. If yes, your tandoori chicken is done!
Step 11: Now to add a special touch, shift the grill rack with chicken to the top-most level of your oven and turn on the broil mode which is nothing but directing the heat from top.
This near-heat will give the authentic charred effect to your tandoori chicken and add some smokiness to it. Broil the chicken for 2 minutes each side, always keeping an eye on them as it may burn pretty quickly.
Step 12: Your homemade tandoori chicken is done! Take them out and let the chicken rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Then sprinkle some chat masala on top and serve your yummy tandoori chicken with lemon wedges and coriander-mint chutney. Enjoy!
Other tandoori dishes from my blog that you will love!
- Chicken drumsticks – 4, bone-in & skinless
- Chicken thighs – 4, bone-in & skinless
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2 tbsp
- Lemon – 1
- Mustard oil – 2 tbsp (if you do not use mustard oil, feel free to use flavorless vegetable oil, but no olive oil please)
- Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
- Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Hung curd/Greek yogurt – ½ cup
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2 tbsp
- Kasoori methi (Dry fenugreen leaves) – 1 tbsp
- Garam masala – 2 tsp
- Roasted cumin powder – 2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tbsp
- Mustard/vegetable oil – 4 tbsp
- Red food color (optional) – 4 to 6 drops (but totally depends on the texture and quality of the color you are using, hence use with caution)
- Chat masala – ½ tsp
- Oil or melted butter for basting
- To make hung yogurt, tie the plain yogurt in a muslin cloth and hang it over a bowl or kitchen sink for 2 to 3 hours so that all the water drips out and you are only left with the thick yogurt.
- Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces thoroughly so that no moisture is left. Make multiple incisions on them so that the marinade can go deep inside.
- There are two marinades for this recipe. Prepare the first marinade by mixing together salt, 2 tablespoons of Kashmiri red chilli powder, juice of 1 lemon, ginger-garlic paste and 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Massage this marinate into the chicken pieces making sure to go deep inside the incisions you had made. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the second marinate in the meantime with the ingredients listed under Tandoori marinade. In a bowl, combine the hung yogurt, chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, kasoori methi, mustard oil and whisk thoroughly so that all the spices blend well. Finally add the red food color and give a vigorous mix since it takes time to mix food color thoroughly.
- Add this yogurt mixture to the chicken and rub it on them, one piece at a time, again making sure that it goes inside the incisions. Coat all the pieces with a thick layer of marinade. Cover with a cling film and keep inside the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight (8 to 12 hours).
- Preheat the oven to 220 C/425 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a grill rack on top of the baking tray. Place the marinated chicken on this grill rack.
- Now place this grill rack with the chicken at the middle level of the oven and place the lined baking tray below to catch all the drips. Bake the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes. Then take the grill rack out, turn the chicken over and bake for another 35 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is all cooked through. Keep checking after every 15 minutes since it may take shorter time if you are using a lesser quantity.
- Baste them with oil or melted butter after every 10 minutes. Don’t skip the basting as it would prevent the chicken from turning dry. [You can even grill the chicken on an outdoor grill on high heat for almost the same duration.]
- After about 30 minutes, check if the chicken is done – there should not be any traces of pink and the juices should run clear and a toothpick could be inserted very smoothly without any resistance from meat. If you have a food thermometer, check if the temperature registers at least 165 F when inserted into the thickest part of the leg. If yes, your tandoori chicken is done!
- Shift the grill rack with chicken to the top-most level of your oven and turn on the broil mode which is nothing but directing the heat from top as it gives the authentic charred effect to the chicken and adds some smokiness to it. Broil the chicken for 2 minutes each side, always keeping an eye on them as it may burn pretty quickly.
- Take them out and let the chicken rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Then sprinkle some chat masala on top and serve your yummy tandoori chicken with lemon wedges and coriander-mint chutney. Enjoy!
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