Easy Tandoori Chicken Tikka

Baked tandoori chicken tikka in oven that taste as delicious as the ones made in tandoor! Learn the tips and tricks to make them easily with simple ingredients in your kitchen. You can also make these tandoori chicken kebabs without oven, simply on a frying pan (instructions included in the post).

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Why You’ll Love These Chicken Tandoori Skewers

It doesn’t matter what cut of chicken you use: boneless, skinless thighs or breasts. This recipe results in tender, juicy and perfectly charred tandoori chicken kebabs. Every single time you make it!

More importantly, this recipe proves that chicken tikka need not be drenched in oil or ghee for it to taste great.

Tandoori chicken tikka recipe is as easy as marinating cubes of chicken in a homemade tandoori paste and roasting them. Like how we did for roasted tandoori chicken legs or most of the tandoori tikka recipes, right?

Right and wrong.

Yes, the marinating and roasting part is somewhat similar. But you have to remember that here we’re using boneless, skinless chicken.

That means roasting requires some caution. Else you would be left with RUBBERY OVERCOOKED CHICKEN. That’s hard to chew and requires a lot of sauce (and jaw strength!) to soften it up.

If you’re using chicken thighs as in the garlic parmesan chicken skewers, you don’t have to worry much.

The yogurt marinade is just NOT ENOUGH to tenderize the chicken breasts. These are not thin-sliced chicken breasts that we baked in a covered tray.

Baking tandoori chicken tikka in the oven (as with chicken hariyali kababs) is a completely different story.

Roasting time is just 20 minutes, but PREP WORK is the most important one here. (Unlike tandoori prawn tikka which takes just 10 minutes to marinate.)

This recipe is more like tandoori pomfret recipe, where the cooking part is more straightforward than preparing.

Make sure you follow all the tips and tricks to make awesome chicken tandoori skewers that will wow your guests.

Video

Ingredient Notes

(You can find the exact measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card at the end of this page.)

• Chicken: boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs.
• Ghee or melted butter: to baste the tikka. Olive oil can be used instead, but ghee/butter gives a rich flavor. Anyway, just 1 tablespoon won’t kill you. (that’s what I tell myself!)
• Chili powder: I’ve used 2 types of chili powder. The regular one is for the heat which you can omit if you don’t want the tikka to be spicy. Kashmiri chili powder is for the color and flavor. This is an essential ingredient in tandoori and tikka recipes.
• Ginger garlic paste: blend equal quantities of ginger and garlic. You can also use grated ginger and garlic.
• Mustard oil: adds to the characteristic tandoori flavor. If not available, you can use olive oil.
• Besan: this is split chickpeas ground into a fine powder. Chickpea flour can also be used.

How To Make Tandoori Chicken Tikka In Oven- Step by Step

1. Tenderize the chicken

You need to tenderize only if you’re using chicken breasts. Skip to the marinating step if using boneless thighs or legs.

Use the hack I used in recipes like “better than takeout” sesame chicken and crispy panko chicken. I’ll repeat here to save you an extra click:

Clean and dice the chicken into 1½-inch cubes. Mix in 2 teaspoons of baking soda (the ratio is 1 teaspoon for every 250 grams) and keep aside. Rinse after 20 minutes. Your chicken is now tenderized!

2. First Marinade

• Add salt, pepper, ginger-garlic paste and lemon juice.
• Mix and let it marinate for 10 minutes while you prepare the second marinade.

3. Tandoori Marinade Paste

• Take Kashmiri chili powder in a small bowl. Heat mustard oil and add. Mix and let it cool. (for pictures/video, visit: recipe for tandoori salmon) This gives the characteristic bright red tint to the tikka.
• Add rest of the marinade ingredients (except besan) and whisk.
• Mix the prepared tandoori masala to the chicken and mix.
• Roast besan on a low flame for 3-5 minutes until you get a nice aroma. Cool and mix into the chicken. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes.

4. Smoked Tandoori Chicken Kebabs

This step is completely optional. But I would recommend you do it to get chicken tikka tandoori with MAXIMUM FLAVOR with a little effort.

Break up a few sticks of cinnamon and heat the pieces on direct fire until they are red hot. Place in a small bowl inside the bowl of marinated chicken.

Quickly drizzle a spoon of oil or ghee to produce smoke and cover the bowl with a lid. It wouldn’t produce as much smoke as charcoal, but a little goes a long way here.

Let it smoke for about 10 minutes. (You can do this before refrigerating and leave it in while marinating. Or do it 10 minutes before roasting. It doesn’t make much of a difference.)

This hack gives an amazing SMOKY CINNAMON FLAVOR to tandoori chicken skewers that beat the restaurant ones. I promise!

5. Assemble

• Preheat the oven to 230°C/446°F.
• Thread the chicken cubes onto skewers.
• Prop the skewers on the walls of a baking tray (lined with parchment paper) so that they don’t touch the bottom of the tray.

6. Bake Chicken Tikka In Oven

• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes on “roast” setting.
• Take out the tray and baste the chicken tikka with ghee/melted butter.
• Return the tray to the oven and cook on “broil” mode for 10 more minutes.

Tandoori Chicken Tikka Recipe Without Oven

You can cook this tandoori chicken tikka on a grill pan or frying pan, too.

Marinate in the same way as above, but leave out besan. Thread the marinated cubes of chicken leaving a little gap between the pieces (not so close together as in the oven recipe). This will ensure that they are cooked on all sides.

Add a tablespoon of oil in the pan. Place the skewers and cook on high flame for 5 to 8 minutes each side, until browned. KEEP BASTING the chicken with hot oil or melted butter while cooking.

Do you want the chicken tikka fry to be charred (restaurant-style)?

Cook them on direct flame for about 2 to 3 minutes after removing from the pan. Keep turning the skewers to expose all the sides to the flame.

Recipe Tips, Substitutions and Variations

1. Marinade: Add ½ teaspoon ground cumin or chaat masala for variation. (Chaat masala contains salt, so reduce salt accordingly.)
2. Chilli powder: I’ve used Kashmiri chilli powder for the color (it’s not hot) and regular chili powder or cayenne pepper for the heat. You can skip the latter if you want to avoid the heat.
3. Roasted besan: You can try this recipe without besan too. It would tastes equally good with a slight difference in texture. You’ll also get a brighter red tint on your tikka without besan!
4. Marinating time: Marinate the chicken for 8 hours or overnight for best results.
5. Assembling: Shake off the excess marinade when you thread the chicken onto the skewers. Discard the leftover marinade.
6. Skewers: If using metal ones, smear them with oil before threading the chicken. This will help remove the tikka with ease. If using wooden skewers, soak in water for about 20 minutes before using. This will prevent them from getting burnt.
7. For easy clean-up: Line the baking tray with parchment paper.

Common Questions about Tandoori Chicken

What To Serve With Tandoori Chicken Tikka

Serve this chicken tikka tandoori as an appetizer with the classic mint chutney. Or make it a complete meal using wraps like chicken tikka rolls.

It tastes great with easy green mango chutney or spicy avocado chutney, too.

Make this tandoori tikka a main dish with a side salad like kabuli chana salad or chana dal salad.

You can also serve chicken tikka with vegetable biryani pulao.

Serve with coconut cauliflower rice for a low carb dinner.

Get creative and serve chicken tikka with mango and pomegranate salad for a balance of spice and fruity sweetness.

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