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!
Your photos always leave me with puddle of drool, Nagi! So making this for dinner this week. And gosh, I bet that grilled tandoori chicken over charcoal must have been epic! Thanks for sharing the story. 😉
Thank you Shinee, you are so sweet! Hope you do try it – and LOVE it!! N x
We love Indian food at our house so this recipe is totally up our street! 🙂
Ooh, I hope you do!
The restaurants in my area suffer because of you. Why would I go out and pay money to a restaurant when I can be at home cooking your meals?!
This looks amazing. Another meal that will be good to add to our catalogue of meals that will come in handy once I go back to work. I’ll give this a whirl shortly – can’t wait to fill my house with the glorious aromas of tandoori chicken! And thanks for the tips with other cuts of meat – I’m going to give the thigh fillets and breast fillets a go – dark meat for me, white meat for J Daddy – everyone’s a winner!
Ooh, you are bang on, the smell is incredible!!! 🙂 PS save your money for Eastwood dumplings 🙂 Too tedious to make at home!
Marinade made, chicken are in a bag swimming in the rich sauce, and into the freezer it goes. Can’t wait to cook this next week!
Exactly what I do 🙂 I have some in the freezer TOO!!
I think you win the Internet with this recipe, Nagi. I’ve been telling myself for ages that it’s time to try this in the oven. There’s an Indian restaurant not far from here and I get my fix there but at home is better.
Thanks Maureen!! This is a bit of a personal fave, so I’m glad you approve! N x
This looks fabulous Nagi and perfect for our Sunday arvo sess. Do you think this is suitable for wings?
I love how you came about the recipe. My latest cook book is a Greek one by the owner of my lunch spot.
Hi Ange! Yup, it certainly does work with wings 🙂 Baking time is about 35 min. Oooh, Greek? My recipe for tomorrow is Greek, from a Greek cookbook!!!
These look great! It’s funny but somewhere on my list of things to cook are Tandoori chicken legs! I’ll will have to make these soon.
Well there you go!!! Now you have a recipe to check out!
What amazing memories, Nagi! Also, this recipe truly could not have come at a better time for me… I just had some tandoori chicken over the weekend and I’ve been absolutely craving it since. Now I can make my own, thanks to you!! 🙂
YES make it yourself!!! It really is easy!! N x PS Aren’t you supposed to be taking a break??
Oh, this is so my kind of dish – Nagi – surprise:-) I have Qmin cookbook – lucky you to have worked so close to the restaurant! Love that book and have made number of dishes from it.
NO WAY! I can’t believe you have the cookbook! It is not widely known. 🙂 Our list of unique similarities is getting longer…. PS It was 22 degrees today, I was at Pittwater swimming with Dozer! Summer is here, YAY!!
This sounds delicious, but concerned about the very high sodium content. What is driving it? You only use 1-1/2 P of salt. Is it the yoghurt?
Hi Russell! Thanks for the question, I was a bit heavy handed with the salt in this which is unusual for me. 🙂 It is only the salt that is driving the sodium. I have cut it back from 1 1/2 tsp to 3/4 to 1 1/4 tsp. The flavour of the spices is so strong that even if you err on the less salty side, it’s still got tons of flavour.
I love Tandoori Chicken, Nagi, and have made many versions. Two have been very good (and don’t use bought Tandoori spice mix; the others, okay. I’ve had good results with the bought spice mixes, though. I brought back a lot of spice mixes from India as well; they are very potent even after several years so I use them sparingly and have lots left. Can’t wait to try yours–maybe tomorrow so I can marinate overnight.
PS–do you find garam masala blends vary a lot? Here they do.
Yes!! I’ve noticed that too! i.e. garam masala blends varying 🙂 I do find though that they have a similar undertone and because of all the other favourings in this, I would not be concerned. 🙂
I wasn’t concerned, though I find that some garam masalas are much hotter than others, so I always taste first. The spiciest I’ve had came form th chef at Umaid Bhavan Palace Hotel in Jodhpur, who gifted me his blend when he gave me a recipe I requested. I was sorry when it ran out….I made this the other night and it was good. One question: Other recipes I’ve made call for removing the chicken skin so the marinade can penetrate and also cutting slits in the meat. I can’t tell fro the photos if you removed the skin. (I worked marinade under the skin as best I could.)
Hi Marlene! I recommend slitting the chicken if you are only marinading for a few hours (it’s in the notes 🙂 ) but if you marinade overnight, I find the flavour definately penetrates into the flesh!
I adore tandoori chicken – every Indian restaurant buffet I have had the pleasure of gorging at, tandoori chicken is the first thing that hits my plate! And they have all been so different – your version looks spectacular Nagi!
I love that about ethnic foods, that there are so many variations! 🙂
This looks like heaven embodied on a chicken…so delicious looking,Nagi
Aww, thank you! You’re way too sweet! N x
This has me salivating, especially since we are going to India next March, so excited. I have been working on a tandori recipe as of late so will give this a go as well… you know I LOVE these flavors. Beautiful photos too. Pinned.
Ooh, really? Wow!!! I look forward to hearing where you are going – and even more so the FOOD you will share after you get back!! 🙂
Nagi Nagi Nagi!!! This is so beautiful! These pics are for sure some of my favorites!!! And another Nagi travel story! YAY!!! That is MY FAVORITE way to travel too by the way…we like to eat with the locals 🙂 No better way to get to know a country or a culture than with their food right 🙂
We would be DANGEROUS if we ever travelled somewhere together!!! Nx
This looks phenomenal! I love tandoori chicken but was turned off of making it at home after my initial attempt, which yielded okay-tasting chicken but it was one of the ugliest dishes I’d ever made (somehow the spice and yogurt mixture ended up lumpy and more gray than red). I’m glad that this recipe doesn’t require any specialty ingredients OR fancy equipment!
I do hope you consider trying it!! I promise this will NOT turn out grey – he he!!
Your pictures of Nepal are excellent. So wonderful to travel and taste foods ‘first hand’. (No idea what I mean by first hand….who eats food second hand – YUCK!) Hopefully you know what I mean 😉
And this chicken….Chicken that cooks in the oven and is packed with flavour. This is my sort of dish!!!
Can’t wait to try this. I’m thinking plenty of chicken thighs so there is some left over to put onto of a pizza. Tandoori chicken pizza. Is it wrong to eat tandoori two days running?
Pinning
OMG, too funny, pizza is what I used the leftovers for!! SO GOOD!!! 🙂