Chicken Tikka Recipe

Make juicy and delicious Chicken tikka kebabs at home! Tandoori Chicken tikka is a popular gastronomical delight from the North Indian Cuisine. Also known as Murgh tikka, these are chunks of chicken marinated in a spiced yogurt and grilled to perfection. All thanks to the tikka marinade, it makes your chicken tikka super succulent and soft with bursting flavors of spices and herbs. Serve these chicken tikka kebab as an appetizer with Cilantro chutney, Mint chutney or Raita. Even more they go fantastically well as a filling in your Butter Naan rolls/wraps, with a drizzle of chutney & salad veggies. I have many more serving idea below.

What is Chicken Tikka?

Chicken tikka are boneless pieces of chicken, marinated in spiced yogurt, threaded on a metal skewer and cooked on live charcoal. The term “Tikka” translates to a piece or chunk. So you will find tikka being made with different kinds of foods. We have the paneer tikka, chicken tikka, lamb tikka, mushroom tikka and many more.

Tandoor a cylindrical clay oven consisting of live charcoal or wood fire is used for the purpose of grilling tikkas and kebabs. The temperature inside this oven can rise to very high. During the process, food juices and fats drip over the live coal and create a lot of smoke. This imparts an invigorating smoky flavor to the tikka.

The finished food is chargrilled and has absolutely fantastic and mouthwatering smoky aroma. Sounds so good right? This aroma is mesmerizing and you will instantly fall in love with the tandoori foods.

Since we don’t have such tandoor at home, for the homemade chicken tikka, we can simply grill the chicken in the oven, air fryer, on a stovetop griddle or a grill. To get a similar smoky flavor, you can optionally smoke the chicken after the tikkas are grilled.

To begin with, we briefly marinate the chicken with red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, cumin powder, salt, chaat masala, kasuri methi and lemon juice. Kasuri methi and chaat masala are optional ingredients but highly recommended to get the authentic Indian flavors. After a short time, Yogurt, ginger garlic paste and oil are added.

Marinated chicken is rested for a minimum of 8 hours, up to 48 hours, before grilling. I have been making chicken tikka for many years and have eaten the best to the average in Indian restaurants.

Make the Best

The ingredients used, double marinating and resting time, all 3 contribute to the best chicken tikka. Here are my key pointers

Kasuri methi and chaat masala are an absolute must and can’t tell you how big difference these 2 make to your tikkas. If you do not have chaat masala, you can use amchur (dried mango powder) and black salt.

Twice marinated chicken has the best flavors. The first marinade with spices, lemon juice and salt help the chicken to absorb the flavors well and removes the raw meat flavor instantly. Your chicken is not bland at all. Later we add the yogurt, ginger garlic and oil which help to tenderize the chicken and also prevent the meat from turning dry during the high heat grilling.

Resting time: Chicken thighs require only 20 mins and breasts require 3 to 4 hours of resting time. But resting for a minimum of 8 hours makes a huge difference to the flavor and texture of your tikkas.

How to Make Chicken Tikka Kebab (Stepwise Photos)

Cut chicken thigh or breast to 1 to 1 ½ inch pieces and add them to a mixing bowl. For this recipe I used about 500 grams boneless chicken breast. You can also use thigh if that is your choice. Make sure there is no excess moisture (water) in your chicken. You may want to pat dry with a few kitchen tissues.

Add the following spices and herbs

• 1 teaspoon salt (I use pink salt, you may reduce or increase according to the kind of salt you have)
• ½ to 2 teaspoons Kashmiri Red chilli powder (To make it less spicy use ½ teaspoon)
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ¾ teaspoon roasted cumin powder (roasted ground cumin)
• 2 teaspoons coriander powder (ground coriander)
• 1 to 1 ¼ teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon chaat masala (skip if you don’t have or 1/3 teaspoon amchur, dried mango powder)
• ½ teaspoon black pepper crushed

Add 1 tablespoon kasuri methi and 1 tablespoon lemon juice (skip lemon if your yogurt is even slightly sour).

Mix together and rest for at least 10 to 15 mins. If you are in a rush you may carry on with the next steps.

Add 1½ tablespoons ginger garlic paste (1 tablespoon each, ginger & garlic, minced and crushed) & 1 tablespoon oil (if possible mustard oil).

Add ½ cup Greek Yogurt (Hung curd, strained yogurt). You can make your own from this Hung curd recipe post. Don’t use sour yogurt, that makes your tikka sour.

Mix well. Your marinade has to be thick and not runny.

Cover and rest in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. If you are in a rush 30 mins works.

When you are about to grill the chicken tikka, add 1 ½ to 2 cups diced bell peppers (200 grams green and/or bell pepper) and 1 medium onion diced and layers separated. I used 1 green and 1 red medium sized bell peppers. You may skip but they add an extra mild sweet flavor to your grilled chicken tikka.

Mix well to coat the bell peppers and onions with the marinade.

Thread the bell peppers, onions and chicken cubes in alternating patterns on to metal skewers. If you want to use wooden skewers, make sure you soak them for 30 mins in water, pat dry and use.

Place them on a prepared tray and bake in a preheated oven at 240 C or 460 F for 9 to 10 mins, turn them and bake for another 9 to 10 mins. Brush them with butter as soon as you remove the tikka from the oven. If you want to char your chicken, broil for 2 mins or until slightly charred. You can also smoke the chicken tikka by following my recipe card below.

Serve Chicken tikka hot with Cilantro chutney or Mint Chutney. You can also shred these tikkas and make butter naan rolls/wraps with a drizzle of chutney and fresh salad veggies. Fill your tortillas and sandwiches with this or even more make a chicken tikka salad or top your pizza with partially grilled chicken tikka and finish cooking in the oven when you bake the pizza..

Air Fryer Chicken Tikka

You can also air fry the chicken tikka kebabs at 240C or 460 F for 12 mins, turning them half way to the other side. I prefer to brush them with the marinade or butter or with mustard oil and air fry for another 2 mins. Brush them again with butter before serving.

Grill or Stovetop

You can also grill them on a grill or on the griddle on the stove top. Grease your pan generously with oil and place the chicken cubes on the hot pan, you don’t need to thread them on a skewer. Cook the chicken until fully cooked and slightly charred. Repeat in batches. You have to do the chicken and veggies separately. I will update the pictures shortly.

Pro Tips

Chicken breast vs Chicken thighs for tikka: If you don’t have much time to rest the chicken, use chicken thighs. Chicken breasts are best marinated longer and used so they remain juicy even after grilling at high temperature.

Bell Peppers & Onions: You can skip the bell peppers and onions. But these are the key ingredients used in a restaurant Indian chicken tikka. Both these add so much flavor during the grilling and is in fact healthy to include them so you don’t miss out your veggies in the meal.

Skewers: If using bamboo skewers make sure you soak them for safety. Avoid using bamboo skewers on direct fire.

Spices: Using a lot of spices can make your tikkas bitter.

Besan (Gram flour): A lot of restaurants also use a small amount of roasted gram flour to impart a nutty aroma. You may consider that but I have not used it here.

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Recipe Card

Chicken Tikka Recipe first published in February 2013. Updated and republished in June 2022.