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:
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Saffron Rice– love the colour contrast! Recipe below. Though plain basmati rice will do in a pinch (or other rice of choice).
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Minted Yogurt– the freshness of the mint and cool yogurt pairs so well with all things Indian. Recipe below.
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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).
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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!
Maria says
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!! 😋
Priya says
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
Natasha says
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?
RM says
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.
Heather Stansfield says
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!
Joanne King says
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!
Shawna says
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!!
Nagi says
Hi Shawna, yes 3 teaspoons is correct 🙂 N x
Denise says
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!
Jamila says
This looks amazing! Could I do this with a whole toaster chicken? And if so, would the cooking instructions be different?
Shannon says
Can I use boneless chicken breasts? If so, how does the cooking method change? Thank you!
Shannon says
Also, I would need to make about 6-8 boneless chicken breasts.
LaylaH says
This was soooo good and it made the house smell amazing. Must use the mint yogurt. Another great win. Thank you.
Linda says
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!
Nagi says
Hi Linda, I’ve never had tandoori salmon! One to try I think! N x
Michelle says
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
Jerri Chessecake says
I love yoghurt marinades and this tandoori chicken was amazing!
Matthew Neal says
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.
Dania Fried says
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.
Colin says
NAGI,
I would dearly love to be in a position to shout you a drink or two! My wife and I love your recipients and techniques. We have used many from you and your flavours have turned a few heads from my friends at my BBQ. I am in NZ and we love your work.
Have a VERY good and happy new year, and we look forward to your ideas.
Lots of love. Colin and Cindy Donnelly.
Darren Quadros says
Hi Nagi
Thank you for this lovely recipe. Thanks you I made a lovely lunch for the family which included your recipe for chicken tikka masala .
I noticed that the mint sauce for the tandoori chicken came out watery . Was I supposed to blitz the yoghurt as well along with the other ingredients?
Colleen says
I can’t wait to make this next week. Do you think plain greek yogurt would work for the marinade/mint sauce or should it really be just plain yogurt?
Tara Garmon says
Is ii safe to use the marinade to bast even though the raw chicken was in it? Should I reserve marinade before the chicken is added?
Nagi says
Hi Tara, it’s completely fine as you are cooking the chicken again after basting. N x
Donna Shields says
I have made this dish before. I’m making for dinner this evening. It is delicious. Thank you for the recipe.