If you love tandoori chicken from your favorite Indian restaurant you will love this recipe. The best and only way to get the authentic flavor of Indian tandoori is to cook in a tandoor oven and if you’re like me, you don’t have easy access to one.
What is the tandoor oven?
If you’ve every been to an Indian restaurant, then you’ve eaten something that was cooked in the tandoor, naan bread, tandoori chicken or seafood.Tandoor is a traditionally bell shaped clay oven that is open at the top.
Used in Indian cuisine to get that unique cooked flavor into naan bread, chicken and seafood that is operated at a very high temperature of 900 degrees F. Not your traditional type of cooking that we know, meat and seafood are cooked on skewers, where the naan bread is stuck to the side of the oven to cook, that’s how you get that unmistakable char and flavor.
There’s no perfect way to re-create the flavors of the tandoor, but us home cooks can certainly try and the next best thing to getting the tandoori flavor is making tandoori sauce.Starting with greek yogurt, all the great Indian spices are mixed to make a marinade.
How to get that recognizable tandoori color
To recreate the very recognizable red hue of the meat an Indian red chili powder is used. This chili powder can be found on the internet, which is where I bought it. If you’re lucky to live close to an Indian market, they should have it.
The key to getting the most flavor into the chicken is the marinating. This recipe has a 2-stage marination process. The chicken is first coated in the red chili powder. Then coated in yogurt and spices for the final marinating.
Chefs tip
Traditionally, tandoori chicken is cooked using larger pieces of chicken. The get the marinade into the chicken for more flavor, the chicken is scored and rubbed into the scores. You can do this if you like, but since these are smaller pieces you can skip this step.
Oven roasting method
This recipe can be made in those cold winter months by roasting the skewers in the oven (I would not recommend using wooden skewers). Roast at 350°F for 20 minutes then broil the get a nice char. If you don’t want to use skewers, use boneless, skinless chicken breasts using the marinade and roast them whole for 20 – 30 minutes then broil.
Grilled Tandoori Chicken Kebabs – Step by Step
In a small bowl, mix the Indian red chili powder, salt and oil to make a paste.
Coat the chicken breast pieces with the paste mix.
In a separate bowl, Greek yogurt, mix more Indian red chili powder, garam masala, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cardamom.
Thread the chicken pieces onto metal skewers.
Grill 5-8 minutes per side until cooked through to a an internal temperature of 165°F.
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Grilled Tandoori Chicken Kebabs
Skewered chicken is grilled with lots of Indian spices and yogurt then grilled for the most delicious tandoori chicken.
Ingredients
- 3 teaspoons Indian red chili powder kashmiri chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
- 4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Indian red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 garlic clove peeled and grated
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
To a small bowl add the 3 teaspoons red chili powder and salt, mix with oil to form a paste.
- To a large bowl with a lid, add the chicken and massage half of the chili paste all over the chicken pieces. Set aside.
- To a separate bowl add the yogurt, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, garam masala, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, ginger, salt, garlic, lemon juice and the other half of the chili paste, mix well. Add this to the chicken and mix to coat well. Cover and allow to marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Preheat grill on high.
Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers. Grill for 5-8 minutes per side until cooked through and the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.
Recipe Notes
*Food coloring can be omitted, it is only used to get that distinct red color of tandoori chicken.
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Sophia Del Gigante says
Ohhhh my gosh, absolutely LOVE these! I need to make them this weekend!
Janette Fuschi says
Thank you 🙂
Nisa Homey says
Absolutely love this perfect tandoori chicken!
Janette Fuschi says
Thank you Nisa 🙂
Linda says
These kabobs are absolutely stunning! I would love to serve these to my family and friends! Beautiful photography and excellent step by step directions as always!
Janette Fuschi says
Thank you for your kind words Linda 🙂
Mary Robinson says
LOVE the spices in this, looks amazing!!!
Janette Fuschi says
Thank you Matt, they are pretty tasty 🙂
Nicole Neverman says
Love this! Sounds fantastic!
Sarah Bates says
These are gorgeous and I can just imagine how delicious they are! I can’t wait to make these very soon!!
Joanne DiPalo says
I’ve never tried tandoori chicken but your recipe sounds delicious. I might just have to give it a try, I think grampy might like this.
Alex Tomm says
I love this recipe! You have captured the color so well. I have tried this recipe with Paneer instead of the chicken and it came out great. Thanks for the idea.
Sylvia Tatlock says
Super delicious. Great recipe. Thanks for posting this…
Cheryl Cheung says
I love that your recipe does not use food coloring. I’ve made this a few times and it’s the closest I’ve had to the real thing. I love your updated pics 🙂
Janette says
Thank you so much Cheryl, I’m so glad you like the recipe.