This is an easy baked Tandoori Chicken recipe for everyone who happens not to have a tandoor sitting in the middle of your kitchen! Made with accessible ingredients from scratch, chicken is infused with flavour from a yogurt tandoori chicken marinade then baked until golden with little charred bits.
Finger lickin’ good!
Tandoori Chicken recipe
Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala or Tandoori Chicken?? Any outing to an Indian restaurant causes a crisis of indecision as we battle it out between these 3 wildly popular Indian chicken dishes!
There’s no denying that one of the reasons why we love Tandoori chicken is the signature smokey chargrilled flavour that can only be achieved in a clay tandoor built to withhold fierce charcoal heat.
But don’t worry, you won’t miss the chargrill flavour in this Tandoori Chicken recipe. My trick is to jack up the flavour of the marinade to compensate – we’re talking big, big flavours here!
Tandoori Chicken Marinade
Here’s what you need for the Tandoori Chicken Marinade.
Kashmiri Chilli is what gives Tandoori the signature red colour. Tastes like paprika with a bit of spiciness, you’ll need to hunt down an Indian grocery store for this. But don’t worry, paprika is a near perfect flavour sub! The chicken won’t be quite as red but will still have a red hue. You can easily increase the redness with a drop or two of red food colouring.
How to make it
The making part is very straight forward: mix marinate, add the chicken, then leave to marinate. 12 to 24 hours is best, or 48 hours. If you’re in a rush, then 2 to 3 hours will do the trick if you cut slashes into the chicken.
While this is a baked tandoori chicken recipe, it’s a ripper on the barbie too. And off the charts amazing if cooked over charcoal!
What to serve with Tandoori chicken
Here’s what I serve with Tandoori Chicken:
Saffron Rice– love the colour contrast! Recipe below. Though plain basmati rice will do in a pinch (or other rice of choice).
Minted Yogurt– the freshness of the mint and cool yogurt pairs so well with all things Indian. Recipe below.
Side Salad*– try this Indian Tomato Salad or use the same dressing with slices of cucumber. Otherwise, check out this South Indian-style Cabbage & Carrot Salad with Coconut. A simpler alternative is Everyday Cabbage Salad (it’s in the recipe notes).
Flatbreads – When naan is in hot demand, I reach for my Easy No Yeast Flatbreads. Because it’s not a saucy curry, I like to brush the flatbreads with garlic butter for extra flavour – SO GOOD!
* Fresh side salads are less common in Indian cuisine, vegetables tend to be cooked. So don’t get too caught up about an authentic fresh side salad – go with what you like! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Baked Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
Tandoori Marinade:
- 1 1/2 cups plain yoghurt (full fat best)
- 2 tbsp oil (any)
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp ginger , grated
- 5 garlic cloves , minced
- 3 tsp garam masala spice mix (Note 1)
- 1.5 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder (Note 2 subs)
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder, adjust to taste (pure, not US chili Note 3)
- 1 tsp salt
Chicken:
- 1.2kg / 2.4lb drumsticks, bone-in skin on chicken thighs or Marylands (whole chicken legs) (Note 4)
- Oil spray
Mint Yoghurt (optional)
- 1 cup plain yoghurt
- 1/2 cup mint leaves, packed
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
Serving
- Basmati rice OR Saffron rice (see note)
Instructions
- Mix Marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken, cover and marinate 12 to 24 hours (Note 5)
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a tray with foil and place a rack on the tray.
- Remove chicken from the Marinade, shaking off excess (reserve Marinade), and place on the rack. Bake for 20 minutes, then slather Marinade generously on both sides.
- Bake for a further 10 minutes, brush/dab top with Marinade.
- Bake further 10 minutes, do a final baste with Marinade then spray with oil.
- Increase heat to 220C/450F. Bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until you get some nice charred spots. Serve with Minted Yogurt and Saffron Rice (below) or plain Basmati Rice.
Minted Yoghurt:
- Combine ingredients in a food processor and blitz until mint is very finely chopped.
BBQ Option:
- Preheat BBQ with closed lid to medium, brush grills lightly with oil. Place bone-in skin-on chicken skin side down on grills, cook 5 min until surface is just caramelised – no more.
- Baste, then flip. Baste, then close lid. Cook for 20 minutes or until internal temperature is 175F/80C (bone in thighs and drumsticks), basting once or twice more.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published September 2015. Completely rewritten April 2019, new photos, new video, tidied up video and most importantly, new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
Final photo from Dozer’s birthday cake recipe from Monday – when I was trying to do a “nice” overhead photo of the cake and when he saw I was teetering on a ladder fiddling with my camera, he knew it was an opportune time to lunge in for ANOTHER slice!
Nagi, I’m a 23 year old bloke who, three months ago, only knew how to ‘make’ Weet-Bix. Since discovering your website, I have cooked every night for my housemates (using only your recipes!), and not one of the 60 recipes that I have tried has been anything less than delicious. You break the instructions down so simply, and your ‘notes’ and ‘videos’ are so helpful. As someone who has never been taught how to cook, please know that I am so so grateful. Thank you, and keep the great content coming!
Awesome! You totally rock learning a new skill! N x
Fab tandoori chicken recipe. I used chicken breast and cooked in grill. Adjusted cooking times ofcourse. Basting it every now and again really makes the difference! Thank you!
Oh my I stumbled on your website I love cooking but I’m no master chef. I have some favourites but I like cooking new things and test then on my husband and kids.
I have cooked several dishes that are on your site and they have gone down a treat. Love the videos, easy to follow and most are storr cupboard ingredients.
Thank you for inspiring me to cook more.
Louise
Couldn’t find my go to tandoori paste at the supermarket. So, I asked myself “what would Nagi do ??” Hardest decision was air fryer or BBQ. Looks like one less jar in the fridge.
Cut up a whole chicken into pieces and marinated per the recipe. Then cooked in the air fryer for around 50 minutes turning over and basting every 15 mins plus lightly spraying with oil.
Turned out amazing! Not one litlle bit of chicken left!! 😋
Can I please ask what temperature you popped it in the air fryer for?
So delicious! My first time attempting to make Tandoori chicken and I’m Indian haha. Flavours were spot on and it had the perfect amount of heat. Danish husband loved it as well. Another recipe of yours that’s a total keeper. Thank you. xx
Hi Nagi! Thrilled to have found your site. My chicken is in the marinade right now – can’t wait! Quick question: I’m using boneless thighs. I see your time adjustment above, but what about basting and the temp shift from 350 to 450? Still do that, or cook at one temp and then blast under the broiler at the end?
I was so pleased with how this turned out. Made on the BBQ — would recommend high heat for the skin-side to get a nice crisp on the thighs. Otherwise, great flavors. Thank you for such detailed recipes, especially with spice substitutions.
I have always wanted to make Tandoori Chicken. This was amazing. I had most of the ingredients on hand and used the substitutes listed. I made the mint yogurt sauce using mint grown in my garden. It went so well with the chicken and we had garlic Naan with it and rice. My family loved it!
My first Tandoori. Really fancied it but didn’t have all the ingredients to hand. I used Tandoori mix on 2 largish chicken breasts and low fat creme fraische instead of yoghurt added garlic and coriander and marinated for about 5 hours. Charred breasts in little oil in frying pan before oven baking, but what made the dish was your advice on coating chicken with marinade every 10 mins. Result was fantastic, best tandoori we’ve eaten – served with vegetable pilau rice!
The substitute for Kashmiri chilli is smoked paprika, it says 3 teaspoons- is this right or is it 3tbsp?
Can’t wait it make it!!
Hi Shawna, yes 3 teaspoons is correct 🙂 N x
This recipe is almost as good as doing tandoori chicken on the BBQ! I used a pre-mixed tandoori masala instead of your mix. It’s available in just about every grocery store in Canada. Yummy!
This looks amazing! Could I do this with a whole toaster chicken? And if so, would the cooking instructions be different?
Can I use boneless chicken breasts? If so, how does the cooking method change? Thank you!
Also, I would need to make about 6-8 boneless chicken breasts.
This was soooo good and it made the house smell amazing. Must use the mint yogurt. Another great win. Thank you.
Hi Nagi. This recipe is delicious and I regularly make it with drumsticks. How do you think it would go with Salmon Fillets (skin on)?? Thanks for all the wonderful inspiration!
Hi Linda, I’ve never had tandoori salmon! One to try I think! N x
This was divine! The only minor change I made was cooking this in an air fryer as it was too warm to turn the oven on. Came out beautifully, charred bits and all! Thanks for a great recipe
I love yoghurt marinades and this tandoori chicken was amazing!
Followed this recipe to a T, internal temp of thighs were about 155. I would highly recommend making sure you’re all cooking to safe temps.
This recipe was delicious. I pretty much followed it and was delighted with the taste and authenticity – as were the rest of my family. Definitely a keeper.