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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!
Hi Nagi,
Great recipe, I added a more heat and I always slash the drumstick with a sharp knife 45 down deg to the bone. 2 slashes on each side to get better penetration from the marinade. I mightt be weird, have you tried adding finely chopped banana, lemon juice and chopped coriander and bot of chilli into the yogurt instead of or as well as the mint. ? mmmmm
Not sure about the banana but everything else sounds amaaaaazing!!! N xx
Really yummy and great flavour. We devoured them in seconds. Served with basmati rice, icy cold sliced cucumbers and crunchy raw sliced onions. Chilled Greek yoghurt with coriander and mint. Of course lemon. The onions and cucumber really complimented the tandoori.
If I may add here, I did cook the chicken legs for an extra 20 minutes. They were only ‘just’ cooked. I think about another 5 to 10 minutes on top of this, would have made them even better.
I wonder if 400F might be better at the time recommended in your recipe…at least in my oven.
Thank you for this recipe. It is a keeper for us.
Do you use both the masala and the tumeric, cumin, coriander and cayenne or just the masala?
Hi Nancy – yes, everything in the ingredients list is required. 🙂 N x
Couldn’t get the knife and fork working quick enough to get this food inside. It was sooooo yummy!
I LOVE HEARING THAT!! 😂
Hi, Is there a way to use any leftover marinade? like reducing it down to a sauce or something?
Hi.
This looks so yummy. I want to give itva try.
I have a doubt. Half onion means: half brown, half white and half yellow?
Pls let me know.
Thank you in advance
Half of any of those will be great! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
I’d really appreciate if you tell me how and for how long do I have to defrost the marinated and frozen chicken? And do I really have to foil the tray or is there an alternative? I have never really cooked before so perhaps I am being silly.
Thanks
You’re not being silly! 🙂 Defrost 24 hours in the fridge, and the foil on the tray just makes clean up easier, that’s all. Hope you love it! N x
I chose this recipe out of all I found on the internet, because it looked like it was created out of love for the dish
I’m also a long term lover of Tandoori chicken, and has been my go to dish for any Indian takeaways or restaurants for years
Imagine my surprise, when I followed this recipe, that it was more than I hoped it would be
So delicious and moreish, all my dinner guests had seconds and thirds
For cooking in a regular oven, it turns out the additional marinating and spraying with oil was key, as it kept the dish alive (I’d imagine this recipe was the result of much trial and error)
Also I would imagine you could cook it to heat preference by adjusting the amount of cayenne pepper
Thank you so much for sharing x
I’m so pleased to hear that Matt! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this recipe 🙂 N xx
I cannot tell a lie Rick Stein was my go to Indian guy – simple recipes without a lot of pallaver, however Nagi you have just replaced him! This dish plus the vegie curry so good, so easy and so delicious.
Oh no! I can’t replace him! 🙂 I love Rick Stein!! N xx
Hi Nagi, I made this yesterday using chicken thigh fillets and in my new homemade Tandoor oven,the Kebab’s came out absolutely amazing, No difference between any Indian restaurant/takeaway than yours… except the price…way better value doing homemade 😊.
Again these were exceptional,Thank you yet again,I LOve your recipes 😉
Check out simplenick.com to build your own Tandoor oven…3 terracotta pots and some vermiculite (insulation) £13 yip £13…$22AUD That’s for a small one,the bigger family one shouldn’t be all that much more and the results are truly fantastic and it’s so simple to put together,give it a go Nagi and let me know how you get on.
Thanks again Nagi.
Phil from Scotland x
Yessss! So great you enjoyed this one Phil, thanks for letting me know! N xx PS MAKING YOUR OWN TANDOOR…..???!!! 😳
Ye of little faith, give it a go girl… you’ll surprise yourself 😀
i do not know it turned out good for everyone.
I cooked exactly like you said and i mean EXACTLY. the chicken tasted not fully cooked. I put it for an additional 25 minutes and it was still not that good.
i remember tandoori as a dry variety of food. its not supposed to bet wettish like baked chicken.
id say nowhere even close to the actual thing
Hi there! Yes as I explained in the post, real tandoori is cooked over charcoal, this is a baked version. The recipe calls for the drumsticks to be cooked for 45 minutes which should be long enough, an extra 25 minutes sounds terribly extreme. Just checking – you didn’t accidentally use frozen chicken??
Hi,
I have about 4.5 lbs of chicken thighs. Would you suggest I double the marinade?
Lourdes
We had this recipe last night made with bone-in thighs. It worked beautifully, however, they were barely cooked. I would increase the baking time, especially if using American chicken thighs on steroids.
Hi David! Gosh – 45 minutes and the thighs weren’t cooked? They must be GIANT!! N xx
Hi Lourdes! yes double the marinade 🙂
Thanks! I was impatient and Pam fried a piece of chicken after just 4 hours of marinating. So very delicious!! I can’t wait to make it for dinner tomorrow!
Hi Nagi
The recipe sounds wonderful. Does it matter if I cook with the skin on or off? I plan to use thighs and drumsticks.
Hi Reema! I do skin on which I think is better but skin off will be fine too!
Nice recipe, it would be great if you can include a comment about shaking off excess marinade before putting it in the oven initially, I did not do that and now I have a curry swirling on my baking sheet.
Hi Ag, thanks for the tip I will add it now! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂 PS that curry is swirling around is DELISH!
Loved it! This is the first time my husband’s enjoyed my baked chicken. I’ll add it to my list of fool-proof recipes. Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that Abi! Thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
Hi Nagi, This looks wonderful! I just bought 3 kilos of chicken breasts for a bunch of guests and would love to use with this recipe, and will be using my gas grill for the cooking. Could you please advice on what would be best for cooking temp for breasts? It would be marinated over night and hopefully will get enough flavour and juiciness as a result of the long marinading time.
Hi Liliane! This is a good one for breast because of the yoghurt – its the ultimate marinade for tenderising 🙂 I would add extra oil into the marinade, brush the grill well with oil. Cut the breast horizontally to make them thinner, that will work much better I promise. They will cook faster – grill on medium high for around 3 min each side for chicken (halved) that is around 1cm thick. 🙂
Ohhhh it turned out amazing!!! I cut the breasts to large cubes and skewered them. High heat with the lid down for 5 minutes on each side. I turned them twice brushing more marinade in between and it was so moist and delicious. Served it with butternut squash and zucchini stewed in my masala sauce, and first time ever home made naan bread (yeast and egg free!!!)
Thanks for the great tips and recipe. (-:
Ooooh! So glad Liliane!!!
Hi Nagi
Mine is similar to this but I use coriander, cumin seeds and cook them for three minutes in a pan first with peppercorns, cardomon and a couple of cloves. I find it gives a more pure flavour and a bit smoky.
Just me.
Hi,
We made this exactly as directed and the flavor was wonderful. My question is how can we get a more “baked-on” coating? The coating texture was very much like batter and we would like a drier coating. Any suggestions? Thanks.
I am planning to make this tonight for the first time. Can I make it with skinless thighs? Also, what would you serve with this for a vegetable and starch? Thinking of making a coconut rice, but do you think a plain basmati rice would be better for an American palate that is not accustomed to Indian food?
Hi Debbie! This will work great with skinless thighs 🙂 And yes I would go with plain basmati because the flavours of this are quite strong. For a vegetable, I like to make a fresh ‘slaw – so shredded veggies then I lightly toss in a yoghurt sauce thinned down with lemon juice and olive oil. I add a sprinkle of Indian spices – think cumin, coriander – and add mint for freshness. 🙂
Hi there, I don’t usually have fresh ginger can I use ginger paste or minced ginger from a jar and if so how much ?
the recipe sounds delicious.
Thank you
Diane
Hi Diane! Just use the amount specified in the recipe 🙂 Though fresh has a fresher ginger flavour, paste is juicier so it works out equally! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I tried this recipe tonight. The skin did not turn out crispy and I think all the flavour was baked onto the rack! 🙁
Any tips for making it again in future so that the tandoori marinade stays on the chicken?
Also, are your oven temperatures fan-forced or non-fan-forced? I used fan-forced 160 degrees. I figured maybe it wasn’t hot enough?
Thanks!
Nathan
Hi Nathan, oh dear yes that is the problem, the temp was too low. I do have a fan forced oven so please stick to the oven temp I provide! When it matters whether it’s fan or non fan, I provide different oven temps 🙂 Usually it’s just a matter of an extra 5 – 10 minutes cook time, but in this case, it needs the stronger temp to get that crispy skin!
Hi Nagi,
Thanks for your reply. Makes sense 🙂
I’ll have to try to make your tandoori chicken again, but this time with the proper oven temperatures!