Tandoori chicken, one of the popular Indian chicken leg recipes can be easily made at home (without tandoor) in the oven. The easy homemade tandoori marinade paste can be used for any cut of chicken: breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or quarters. Learn the secret to getting the bright red color on your tandoori chicken legs without food coloring!
Mix all the spices and add to the rest of the ingredients for the marinade. Mix well.
Coat the chicken legs with the tandoori marinade.
Marinate in the refrigerator overnight or for a minimum of 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 230°C / 446°F.
Place the chicken legs in a roasting pan lined with parchment paper.
Set the oven to "roast" mode and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the chicken legs and baste with the pan juices. Cook for another 15 minutes.
Now set the oven to "broil". Baste the chicken legs with a little butter and broil for 15 minutes, flipping once after 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Drain on paper towels and transfer to a serving platter. Enjoy your perfectly browned tandoori chicken legs with restaurant-style green chutney!
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Notes
This recipe uses chicken leg quarters which are drumsticks with thighs attached. The measurements and cooking time are based on the size of chicken legs as mentioned in this recipe.
You can also use individual pieces of drumsticks or thighs. Decrease the roasting time and broiling time by 5 minutes each. So it would be 25 minutes of total roasting time plus 10 minutes of broiling.
Marinate the chicken legs overnight, or at least for 2 hours. The longer you marinate, the better.
Make-ahead option: The marinated chicken legs can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days or frozen for a week. Thaw the frozen legs overnight in the refrigerator. Leave the chicken legs out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
Kashmiri chili powder gives the Tandoori chicken its characteristic bright red color. It looks a few shades darker than chili powder, but without the heat.
Do this for a 'smoky' tandoori flavor (restaurant-style) and even brighter color: Heat 2 teaspoons of mustard oil and mix it with Kashmiri chilli powder. Cool it completely before adding to the marinade. Proceed as per the instructions.