How to make Grilled Tandoori Chicken! | 45-sec video
Tandori Chicken Marinade ingredients:
- PLAIN yogurt
- Garlic
- lemon or lime juice
- olive oil
- salt
- cumin
- coriander
- paprika (not smoked)
- ground turmeric
- cayenne
- ground ginger
- ground clove
- ground cardamom
For the simple marinade, add the Indian spices to plain whole milk yogurt, along with garlic, salt, olive oil and lime juice, and give a stir. Let this marinate 20 minutes or up to 48 hours!
You can grill the chicken whole, or thread onto skewers, up to you!
Marinate the chicken for at least 20 minutes before grilling, or preferably overnight!
The chicken can be skewered or grilled as whole thighs if pressed for time!
I love adding “grillable” veggies – here I have scallions and bell peppers. Zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, or green beans work well too!
If you don’t feel like starting up your barbecue, a grill pan over your stovetop works great too.
Make sure to grease your grill or grill pan well. Grill each side so all sides are nicely marked, and finish in a warm oven.
What to serve with Tandoori Chicken?
- Indian Spinach Salad with Lentils & Cauliflower
- Bombay Carrot Salad
- Raita!
- Mint Chutney
- Aloo Gobi
- Basmati rice
- Naan Bread
- Authentic Chai!
- Chai Cookies!
Grilled Tandoori Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: chicken, grilled, main
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: Indian
Description
How to make the most flavorful Tandoori Chicken in a yogurt marinade, cooked on a grill!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken thighs (boneless, skinless, left whole or cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes for skewers) or chicken breasts (see notes)
Marinade Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup whole milk PLAIN yogurt
- 6 cloves garlic – finely minced ( or sub 1 1/2 tablespoon granulated garlic)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 2 teaspoon paprika (not smoked)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, more for spicy (this is quite mild)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
In a medium bowl whisk all marinade ingredients together until well combined (or use a blender) Add the chicken and let marinate for at least 20 minutes or up to 24-48 hours in the fridge. The longer, the better. 🙂
If using wood skewers, soak wood skewers in water at least 30 minutes to prevent burning.
Pre-heat grill to med-high heat. Make sure the grate is cleaned and very well greased.
Sear the chicken, for 4-5 minutes or until good grill marks appear. Resist the urge to move them early, or too much or you will lose the lovely yogurt crust.
Once the chicken has nice deep grill marks it will naturally release itself a little from the grill. I really like to use a metal spatula to help preserve that golden yummy crust.
Once both sides have grill marks, turn the grill down, or move to a cooler part of grill and cover – or alternatively, finish cooking in a 350 F oven until meat is cooked through.
Serve the Grilled Tandoori Chicken with Raita, grilled naan bread or basmati rice and grilled veggies.
Notes
For vegetarians -feel free to use the same marinade on tofu! Super tasty.
Feel free to substitute chicken breasts- cooking time will shorten- so be mindful that your chicken doesn’t dry out.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5.5 ounces
- Calories: 242
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 568.9 mg
- Fat: 10.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.1 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 32.5 g
- Cholesterol: 145.1 mg
Great recipe! I’ve tried it with chicken and tofu. Both are delicious!
Glad to hear this Beth! Thanks for taking the time to review.
So good!
Great!
It’s delcision on chicken, and we would love to try oit on tofu this time. I would like to try to bake it, cubed and marinated, but I worry the marinade migth burn? Thanks for any advice on this!
You might try making our baked tofu recipe and use this tandoori marinade. Once the tofu has cooled (even better if refrigerated for a a few hours) it grilled up nicely!
You nailed it again, Sylvia. These skewers were delicious and looked as good as they tasted. I’ve made enough of your recipes now to know not to mess with them – they’re always perfect just how you’ve written them. Thanks again!
You are so kind Paula! Thank you and so happy you enjoyed these!