Tandoori chicken recipe – grilled chicken with spiced yogurt marinade
Tandoori chicken …yum! This dish makes me think of my first experience with Indian food and my love affair with butter chicken.
In my country, I used to go to an Indian restaurant pretty often and have most of the time – butter chicken. Of course there were plenty of other delicious dishes in the menu but there was something special about the butter chicken that I wanted to have it every time.
When I first tried my hands on butter chicken at home and searched for recipes, I came to know that one of the secrets for a perfect butter chicken is marinating the chicken in yogurt with some Indian spices and grilling it or baking it in the oven. And this grilled chicken with spiced yogurt marinade is called tandoori chicken.
Tandoori chicken gets its name from the popular Indian oven called tandoor, in which is cooked – a large outdoor oven made from clay, heated with charcoal or wood that can reach a very high temperature to give a charred and wonderful flavor to the food.
I don’t have a tandoor oven (like most of you) but an oven, barbeque grill or a stove grill, like I used, will do just fine for this recipe.
The marination in yogurt and spices makes the chicken tender and packs it with amazing flavor. More you marinate, better will be the taste.
Don’t worry if you don’t obtain the perfect deep red color of the tandoori chicken you have probably seen in the restaurants, this color is due to the addition of food color or saffron, it’s just for the sake of the color and has no effect on the taste.
Enjoy and if you have any tandoori chicken leftover, you can reuse it and turn it into a delicious butter chicken dish. Here is the recipe for butter chicken made with leftover tandoori chicken.
If you search for more Indian chicken starters or other spicy grilled chicken recipes, you may want to take a look at these:
Step by step tandoori chicken recipe
In a bowl add ginger and garlic paste, all spices, yogurt, salt and lemon/lime juice. Mix it well.
Note: Fenugreek leaves are not easily available in Western markets, you can find them at your local Indian market (fresh fenugreek leaves are called methi and dried fenugreek leaves are called kasoori methi) or you can buy online on amazon
Rub the marinade on the chicken pieces. Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours. More you marinate, better the taste.
Once the meat is marinated, all you have to do is to grill the chicken pieces on a griller or tandoor (if lucky to have one).
Place the chicken pieces on a well-oiled grill rack and grill, covered, turning 3 or 4 times. Baste with oil or butter at regular intervals. It will take around 35-45 minutes to be ready, depending on the temperature used.
Best tandoori chicken should be little hard on the outside and soft and juicy in the inside.
Serve as an appetizer with salad, mint chutney, yogurt raita or as a side dish.
- 500 gm pre-cut chicken skinless (half chicken);
- 1 cup plain yogurt;
- 1 tbsp lemon/lime juice;
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder;
- 1 tbsp cumin powder;
- 1 tbsp coriander powder;
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste;
- 1 tbsp garam masala;
- 1 tsp salt;
- 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves/kasuri methi (optional);
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder (optional);
- In a bowl add ginger and garlic paste, all spices, yogurt, salt and lemon/lime juice. Mix it well.
- Rub the marinade on the chicken pieces. Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours. More you marinate, better the taste.
- Once the meat is marinated, all you have to do is to grill the chicken pieces on a griller or tandoor (if lucky to have one).
- Place the chicken pieces on a well-oiled grill rack and grill, covered, turning 3 or 4 times. Baste with oil or butter at regular intervals. It will take around 35-45 minutes to be ready, depending on the temperature used. Best tandoori chicken should be little hard on the outside and soft and juicy in the inside.
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