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!
Quick question- should I just reserve some of the marinade to baste with? I’m a bit nervous about basting with the marinade the raw chicken was sitting in- am I being too cautious? This looks wonderful!
Hi Margaret, it’s perfectly fine to use the marinade to baste as you’re cooking it after basting. – N x
Hi Nagi… lovely mouth watering recipe u hv given of tandoori legs. I hv made it in the pan first and
then in the oven ..It came out very well..Thanks dear 💖💖
Great to hear Sapna!
Really delicious. I butterflied and marinated a whole chicken and then cooked it on the weber. We had it with your everyday cabbage salad on wraps. Needless to say I’ll have to make 2 next time, my boys loved it😁
Yum!!! Great idea Mandy – N x
Nagi, thank you so much for this recipe! I made it for dinner tonight and my husband and I loved it. And thank you for making it so easy. I was very intimidated but once you have the spices the hard work is done. I blogged about it on my blog, A Fridge Full of Food, at http://www.afridgefulloffood.typepad.com Thank you! Lovely, lovely meal!
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe. Both my boys l9ved it. And this is my first tandoori diy! Turned out really well! 👌
That’s so great to hear Saras!!
Hi Nagi!
I’ve come back to make your tandoori marinade again.. but Is this a new/different one? Didn’t you have one with onion, and it all (marinade ingredients) went in the processor?!
Or am I thinking of another recipe altogether??!😋😄
This was delicious with bone-in chicken thighs! Paired it with basmati rice, spicy cucumber raita and store bought naan. So delicious!
Sounds like you nailed it Alexis!!
Another Mr. Fussy-approved recipe, Nagi! I have Kashmiri Chili (San Diego has great Inidan groceries) and various tandoori masalas from my trip to India, so I used those in addition to your recipe. I’m glad I made enough for a second meal, which I froze and we had a week later. Definitely added to my favorites Pinterest board. (I shoudl have one just for your recipes!) Next time I will make a larger batch.
I’m so glad it was a hit Marlene, thanks so much for letting me know!
I make this Tandoori chicken every week we all love it… it cooks very well in halogen oven thanks nagi 😁
I’m so glad it is a hit!
Tried a lot of recipes for tandoori chicken and its variants. This one tasted as good as one of the best I had had 20 years back in India. My wife and I loved it. Thank you. Since you got us the taste we were looking for, we are very eager to try your other recipes.
Thanks so much Uddip for the great feedback!
Marinated a whole chicken which had been cut into separate pieces and then cooked on the Bbq. Very very tasty. Yum yum. Eaten with flatbread, tomato and onion salad and home made raita. A recipe to keep and use over and over again.
Perfect Carol!
Cooking this tonite for dinner, can’t wait to taste it. About the saffron rice and the end of the recipe notes, how would I cook it in a rice cooker?
I haven’t tried just yet Monique, but I hope you love it!
Every Indian family has its own recipe, but I find they often put in a little red food colouring. It gives the dish a brighter colour and goes well with the yellow of the rice.
I have a stone pizza oven. It is a good alternative if you don’t have the traditional Indian oven! I mention it as perhaps some of your other readers have one too……
Great idea Lincoln!
I made this last evening for dinner! Fantastic!! Love your blog!
Thanks so much Emma!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Does the skin get soggy? Do you think it would work well if I used skinless chicken? Thanks!
Hi N! I hope your having a great time with ur friends in the US! I love turmeric in my food and I also have smoky paprika, so I could make this chicken dish…not spicy!😂
Dozer looks like he has a new girlfriend Lucy! 🐕 His birthday cake looks so yummy! 🎂
Have a great weekend coming up in the States! Yay!
Thank you so much for sharing your helpful information. It’s very unique post
This looks so delicious but I am Lactose intolerant. Is there any substitute for the yoghurt please?
I used coconut yoghurt – lactose free. Tastes good – not quite the same but the spices make up for it. My son is lactose intolerant- a good substitute!!
Oh, I would so love I to have a tandoori oven . . . restaurateur friends do and I am pea green with envy! Absolutely love your marinade which methinks will become a standby !!! Can get Kashmiri chilli an all my country supermarkets . . . . legs are fun to serve and eat . . . truly yum !
Belated Birthday hugs to you Dozer. That cake looks yummy!
I made this Tandoori Chicken previously. Very tasty.
x x x