Tandoori chicken restaurant style recipe
Tandoori chicken recipe Restaurant style at home
Tandoori chicken is one of the most iconic Indian dishes, loved worldwide for its smoky, juicy, and spicy flavor. Traditionally cooked in a clay tandoor, this dish gets its signature red color from Kashmiri red chili and its tenderness from a double marination.. And the best part is you don't even need a tandoor to make it at home. With just an Oven or stovetop you can recreate the same restaurant style taste at home. If you are looking for such a tandoori chicken recipe, you have come to the right place. Here I bring you the step by step guide on how to make tandoori chicken at home without a tandoor.
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What is Tandoori chicken
Tandoori chicken is a chicken dish prepared by roasting or grilling either a whole chicken or only leg and breast part over charcoal fire in clay oven (tandoor). Chicken pieces are marinated in a spiced based yogurt marination and typically roast in a tandoor till crisp golden from outside, tender and juicy inside. The Red hue color comes from kashmiri red chili paste.
Origin of tandoori chicken
The dish is originated in Indian subcontinent in Peshawar , now in Pakistan, where Chef Kundan Lal Gujral worked in a restaurant. But due to partitions (India Pakistan) he left and moved to Delhi where he opened a restaurant named Moti Mahal. It was from there this tandoori chicken become so popular that some world's great leader like Nixon , John F. Kennedy and Gandhi visited his restaurant.
Secrets to juicy tandoori chicken
- Always make deep cuts on chicken so the marinade seeps inside.
- Use hung curd (thick yogurt) for a rich coating.
- Two-step marination (first with salt & lemon, then with spiced yogurt) is the key.
- Mustard oil adds authentic flavor, but you can replace with regular oil.
- For best results, marinate overnight.
Tandoori chicken ingredients
- Chicken : Generally Chicken leg and breast piece are used to make it. In some places a whole chicken is often used to make tandoori chicken. In this recipe I have used whole leg and breast.
- Yoghurt : Less sour yogurt is best and use a hung curd for best result.
- Spice powder : Most common spice powder are red chili powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and black pepper powder.
- Lemon juice : A must have ingredient.
- Oil : Use any good quality vegetable oil or mustard oil.
- Red chilly paste : To give the tandoori chicken the distinct red color use kashmiri chilly paste.
- Other : Salt and chat masala
Serving suggestions
What to serve with tandoori chicken or tandoori chicken side dishes are as follows
- Tandoori chicken is generally served with green chutney (Cilantro mint sauce) , onion slices and lemon wedges.
- Other side dishes that goes well are butter naan, garlic naan roomali roti and biryani.
- Tandoori chicken can be used to prepare chicken masala, butter chicken and tandoori chicken curry. You can also prepare Tandoori chicken salad and chicken briyani.
Tandoori chicken recipe video on gas top
Steps to make the recipe
Cutting and marinating
Clean and cut the chicken and remove the Leg and Breasts part separately.
Remove the excess fats from the side of the leg and breast using a knife. Using a sharp knife make 3 - 4 incision to the Leg and Breast part of the chicken. These incision can help to absorb the flavours of the masalas marination.
Tandoori chicken marinade
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Remove the excess fats from the side of the leg and breast using a knife. Using a sharp knife make 3 - 4 incision to the Leg and Breast part of the chicken. These incision can help to absorb the flavours of the masalas marination.
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Tandoori chicken marinade
First marination
Take the chicken pieces in a mixing bowl. Add half of the red chili powder, ginger garlic paste, lemon juice and salt. Mix them nicely with the chicken pieces. Then pour half of the cooking oi and mix gently. Keep them aside for half an hours. These process will make the chicken pieces get tenderized quickly and they become soft and juicy. Due to the presence of Lemon juice, the chicken pieces get rapidly tenderized.Second marination
Second marination gives the chicken all spicy flavors and help to get cooked properly. In this marination , you need to make a masala paste with yogurt called as tandoori masala or tandoori red masala. Why it is called as a red masala ? Because this gives the distinct authentic red color to tandoori chicken. Due to the use of Kashmiri red chilly paste in tandoori masala , the chicken become red in color. You can use artificial red color to give it the said color but that is not advisable.
Add yoghurt in a mixing bowl first and then add ginger garlic paste, Kashmiri chilly paste, red chili powder, cumin powder, Garam masala powder, coriander powder and black pepper powder. Next add lemon juice, cooking oil or mustard oil, chat masala and salt. Mix everything with a whisk to make a thick masala .
Now bring the first marinated chicken pieces and mix well with this tandoori masala mixture. Coat the masala properly so that it can enter inside the chicken pieces using the incision marks.
Now bring the first marinated chicken pieces and mix well with this tandoori masala mixture. Coat the masala properly so that it can enter inside the chicken pieces using the incision marks.
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Keep the chicken refrigerated for at least 3 hours to marinate or overnight for best results. After the said time bring the marinated chicken pieces out of the fridge and keep at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Cooking Methods
1. Stovetop ( Tawa) method:
Take a pan and heat oil in medium flame. When the oil become hot add the marinated chicken pieces one by one on the pan. Roast them for 5 minutes on low flame heat.
After five minutes flip the chicken pieces and cook for another five minutes. You can use a lid to cover the pan while cooking.
Grease a BBQ grill ( jali) with oil and place over a gas top. Then place the chicken leg piece over it. Brush some butter on both side of the chicken leg.
Switch on the gas and roast for 1 minutes on both side or till all the masala become dry and the chicken become crisp.
Remove and garnish in a plate to serve hot .
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After five minutes flip the chicken pieces and cook for another five minutes. You can use a lid to cover the pan while cooking.
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Grease a BBQ grill ( jali) with oil and place over a gas top. Then place the chicken leg piece over it. Brush some butter on both side of the chicken leg.
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Switch on the gas and roast for 1 minutes on both side or till all the masala become dry and the chicken become crisp.
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Remove and garnish in a plate to serve hot .
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2. In Oven Method:
You can also cook Tandoori chicken in an oven. Preheat the oven to 240 degree celcius for at least 15 minutes . Place silver foil on a baking tray and grease it with oil or butter. Now place the marinated chicken pieces over the foil and grill for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, flip the chicken pieces to the other side and cook for another 7 - 8 minutes busting some butter over them.
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When the chicken pieces get crisp golden bring them out and serve in a plate hot.
3. Using Charcoal grill ( Authentic)
Tandoor is a cylindrical oval shaped clay pot where charcoal or woods are used to heat it up to cook food items such a tandoori roti , Naan , paratha . It is also used to cook chicken Tikka, mutton , Seekh Kebab, fish Tikka and paneer Tikka. To cook food items in tandoor, Shewer are used which are generally made with iron. They come in different shapes.
Take a Shewer and thread the marinated chicken pieces one by one. Keep a minimum gap between them. This ensures the chicken pieces will get cooked evenly.
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Now place the Shewer inside a preheated Tandoor and cook for 10 - 12 minutes busting oil or Butter over the chicken pieces at some regular intervals. The temperature of the tandoor should not be high otherwise the chicken pieces will get burnt from outside. And will not cooked from inside . In a medium heat temperature cook them . Rotate the Shewer while cooking them at regular intervals . This will help them to get cooked evenly from all sides.
After 7 to 8 minutes , remove the chicken with the Shewer from the tandoor and keep rested for one minute busting some clarified butter over them. Again place them inside the tandoor and cook till crisp golden. It will take around 6- 8 minutes more to get cooked. This is the standard tandoori chicken recipe in Indian restaurant and hotels or you can say Indian tandoori chicken recipe.
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Recipe Card.....
Tandoori Chicken
⏱️ Prep: 15 min | 🍳 Cook: 15 min | 🍽️ Serves: 2
By Mobasir Hassan
Published: Feb |
Last Modified:
Tandoori Chicken is a classic Indian dish marinated in yogurt and spices, then roasted to perfection. Learn how to make restaurant-style tandoori chicken at home without a tandoor – juicy, smoky, and full of flavor.
🥗 Ingredients
- 600 -700 gm one whole chicken
- 1/2 cup hung curd ( Greek yogurt)
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilly paste
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/3 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1/3 teaspoon black pepper powder
- 2 teaspoon mustard oil ( cooking oil)
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- Salt to taste
- 1/3 teaspoon chat masala
👩🍳 Instructions
- First remove the skin from the chicken and cut to separate the leg and breast parts. Trimmed any unnecessary fats from them and make 3 to 4 deep incision on them about 1 1/2 inch long.
- Take the chicken pieces in a mixing bowl and mix with half of the red chili powder, ginger garlic paste, salt and lemon juice. This is first marination, keep them refrigerated for 1 hour.
- Now in a mixing bowl take the yogurt and mix with the remaining ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, lemon juice, salt, red chilly paste, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, chat masala and oil. Whisk everything nicely to make a masala known as tandoori masala.
- Bring the first marinated chicken out of fridge and mix with this tandoori masala. Keep again refrigerated for 3 to 4 hours or overnight. This is the second marination for tandoori chicken.
- Using Oven : preheat the oven at 240° C for 15 minutes. Take a baking tray and cover with silver foil. Grease it with oil or butter. Bring the chicken pieces out of the fridge and place over the baking tray.
- Brush them with butter and place inside the oven and cook for 7 minutes. After that bring them out and flip to other side and brush butter. Place them again inside the oven and bake for another 7 - 8 minutes or till crisp golden.
- Using gas top : heat a non stick pan or tawa over gas stove in medium flame. when hot enough place the marinated chicken pieces over it after removing extra marination.
- Roast them for 5 minutes and then flip to another side and further roast for another 5 minutes or till crisp.
- Grease a BBQ grill with oil and place over the gas top. Place the chicken leg over the grill and brush butter or oil on both sides. Switch on the gas flame and roast for one minute then flip and again roast for one minute or till all the masala dry.
- Remove and serve with mint chutney, lemon wedges and onion slices.
👨🍳 Chef’s Tips
- Always make deep incisions for flavor.
Avoid chicken >1 kg (remains undercooked).
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Mustard oil = authentic flavor, but can be replaced.
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Overnight marination = restaurant taste.
📊 Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 915 | Protein: 70 g | Fat: 64 g | Carbs: 14 g
❓ FAQs
Q1: Why is tandoori chicken red?
The color comes from Kashmiri red chili powder. Authentic recipes avoid artificial colors.
Q2: Can I make tandoori chicken without oven or tandoor?
Yes! You can use a grill pan, regular tawa, or even an air fryer.
❤️ Did you love this recipe?
I’d love if you’d leave a rating or review below!
I’d love if you’d leave a rating or review below!
Q3. How long should I marinate tandoori chicken?
At least 4 hours. Overnight marination gives the best flavor.
Q4. Is tandoori chicken healthy?
Yes, it’s high in protein and cooked with little oil, making it healthier than fried chicken.
Q5. What is tandoori masala?
Tandoori masala is a spice mixture used in the marination of tandoori food items. It has two form one is the dry mix of spice powder and another one is a masala paste.
If you love more tandoori recipes then you must try and make the following popular recipes as well
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Butchers Chicken
Wow, the recipe looks mouth-watering. The authentic Tandoori Chicken recipe is my all-time favorite. However, I prepare it in a slightly different way. I am going to try your recipe this time.
Love your blog. Just discovered it. Thanks a million for sharing so many tips.
Tried this one out. Must say, it's a really awesome and simple recipe!!
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Thanks for sharing tandoori chicken recipe. I must try this at home. This is one of the most famous Indian recipes.
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