Tandoori chicken

55 min
Tandoori chicken

Indian food is known for its vibrant colours, bright flavours, and wonderful ability to warm up body and soul. Fortunately, red, oven-baked tandoori chicken is no exception. With our easy tandoori chicken recipe, making an incredibly flavourful chicken served with a zingy mango salad as well as nutty basmati rice to mellow the spiciness is simple and even takes less than an hour.

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Ingredients

Tandoori chicken:

Whole chicken thighs (approx. 800 g)
4
Greek inspired yoghurt
250 ml
Dried tandoori spice mix
1 tbsp
Concentrated tomato purée
3 tbsp
Small garlic cloves, crushed
2
Fresh ginger, finely grated
1 tbsp
Coarse salt
1 tsp

Mango salad:

Mango (approx. 250 g), cut into cubes
1
Pineapple (approx. 250 g), cut into small cubes
½
Green pepper (approx. 125 g), cut into small cubes
1
Red chilli peppers, finely chopped
1 tbsp
Lime juice, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp
Coarse salt
½ tsp

Serve with:

Basmati rice, boiled
240 g

Instructions

Tandoori chicken:

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C (regular oven).
  • Clean the chicken and remove any potential remaining feathers. Separate it into thighs and drumsticks.
  • With a sharp knife, make 3-4 scores on both sides of each piece.
  • Mix Greek yoghurt with tandoori spice mix, tomato purée, ginger, garlic, and salt in a large freezer bag.
  • Transfer the pieces of chicken to the bag and massage the meat well with the marinade. Place the marinaded pieces in an oven-proof dish and cook them in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes.
  • Move the baking tray to the top of the oven and grill the tandoori chicken for about 3 minutes – it is all right if the edges are slightly burnt so it looks like you used a traditional, charcoal-fuelled tandoor oven.

Mango salad:

  • Mix the mango and remaining ingredients well. Season to taste.
  • Serve the tandoori chicken with mango salad and warm, freshly boiled rice.
Enjoy!

Tips

Our flavour-packed marinade with Greek yoghurt can be used to flavour any part of a chicken. Tasty ideas include oven-roasted, grilled, or fried wings, thighs, or breasts as a scrumptious snack, or even a half or full tandoori chicken if you are having people over for dinner or want enough to have delicious leftovers. You can even use the marinade to infuse different vegetables or delicate seafood like shrimp or prawns with bold flavours.

Questions about tandoori chicken

Making a tasty Indian-inspired meal is easy with our recipe for tandoori chicken. To learn more about the dish, read our answers to the most frequently asked questions about it below.

What is tandoori chicken?

Tandoori chicken is a well-known Indian dish. Traditionally, the chicken is coated with a tandoori spiced yoghurt marinade and cooked in a tandoor – a large urn-shaped oven usually made from clay or ceramic used since antiquity to roast meat and bake unleavened bread – to give it its characteristic red and charred appearance. The spice mix tandoori masala is made with cumin, cardamom, pepper, cloves, coriander seeds, bay leaf, nutmeg, chilli, paprika, ginger, and turmeric.

How to make tandoori chicken?

Making this delicious Indian dish is quite easy. Simply prepare the pieces of chicken and score them with a knife to allow the yoghurt marinade with tandoori spice, tomato purée, garlic, and ginger to infuse it with flavour. Rub the marinade into the meat and bake it in the oven. You can also leave it to marinade as long as you want, for example, for a few hours or overnight, if you have the time. Serve immediately after cooking with, for example, rice and mango salad.

How to reheat tandoori chicken?

It is best to reheat tandoori chicken in an oven preheated to 180°C. Take it out of the fridge and let it acclimate for a few minutes. Then, cover it with aluminium foil to prevent it from drying out. Reheat it for 10-15 minutes. You can check its temperature with a meat thermometer to ensure that it has reached an internal temperature of 75°C. Once it is heated through, remove it from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. Using the microwave for reheating is not recommended as it can easily dry out the tender meat.

Is tandoori chicken spicy?

Tandoori chicken, which is known for its robust and flavourful taste, is somewhat spicy. The sauce infuses it with a range of flavours, and some of the spices it contains, such as cumin, coriander, turmeric, and paprika, can give the dish a mild to medium level of heat. Other ingredients like fresh ginger and garlic also make it highly aromatic and a bit spicy. Even without being cooked in a traditional tandoor oven, it gets a characteristic smoky flavour as the marinade is baked.

What to serve with tandoori chicken?

Good sides for tandoori chicken include freshly boiled rice and salads. A vibrant salad with exotic fruits and a zingy dressing is perfect, and it is also great with different vegetables which may even be seasoned with the same fragrant yoghurt marinade. Serving the dish with naan or using any leftovers you might have to stuff wraps or pitas is also incredibly tasty.

Nutritional values

Nutritional value, per

2123 Kcal

Fibre 15.5 gram fibers
Protein 106.5 gram
Carbohydrates 281.1 gram
Fat 62 gram

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Flavourful Indian tandoori chicken

From the bold and aromatic spices to the tender and juicy texture, Indian tandoori-style chicken is a true feast for the senses. Whether enjoyed on its own or served alongside other Indian delicacies, it is sure to satisfy any cravings for this bold and flavourful cuisine.

When prepared well, red tandoori chicken thighs have a wonderfully succulent texture that is both satisfying and mouth-watering. The outside of the chicken is often slightly charred and caramelised from the high heat of the oven's grill, which adds an extra layer of texture to the dish. Grilling it for the final few minutes in the oven may also crisp up the skin and thus add a bit of crunch.

Classic tandoori chicken marinade with yoghurt

The authentic tandoori chicken masala or marinade infuses the mild-tasting meat with a range of aromatic spices, zingy fresh ginger, pungent raw garlic, as well a tangy yoghurt flavour. The popular Indian spice mix packs a lot of flavour, including bright turmeric, citrussy coriander, smoky paprika, and depth-enhancing cumin. It flavours the meat and gives it the characteristic beautiful red colour.

The yoghurt acts as a tenderizer, which helps make the chicken soft, moist, and juicy when baked. While it is traditionally marinated for several hours or overnight to allow the flavours to penetrate the chicken, a quick version of it is incredibly tasty as well.

Serve with rice and spicy mango salad

It is quite popular to serve tandoori chicken with rice and fresh salad as side dishes. Basmati rice is a good choice as this type of rice is known for its distinctively nutty flavour and slightly floral aroma. Its flavour and aroma make it a perfect side to this flavourful, Indian tandoori chicken.

The fresh mango salad packs plenty of flavour, too. Sweet-sour mango, sweet-tart pineapple, and somewhat bitter green pepper are tossed with zingy lime juice and spicy red chilli pepper for a combination of bold, bright flavours. With tender and crispy textures, this juicy mango salad makes for a delicious side dish that matches the flavourful meat perfectly in intensity.

Add your own touch

Mixing up how you serve your marinated chicken or enjoy your leftovers is a great way to keep things interesting. You could, for instance, serve tandoori chicken and vegetables with the mint raita from our recipe for samosas or make a tasty mango chutney from scratch. A mix of sweet and somewhat bitter oven-baked vegetables like carrots, green peppers, red onion, brussels sprouts, zucchini, and cauliflower is great with the flavourful, red meat.

Any leftovers you might have can be used to make delicious wraps, pitas, or salads. Simply use two forks to shred the chicken, mix it with the mango salad, and fill up freshly baked pita bread or a wrap. Leftover tandoori chicken wraps and pitas make for delicious, packed lunches. If you prefer a more traditional, Indian bread option, we suggest serving homemade naan.

https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/tandoori-chicken/