Chicken tikka recipe – Tandoori chicken tikka is one of the most popular chicken starter or appetizer from Indian Cuisine. It is also popular across the world. Tikka means a cube or a piece that is grilled. Chicken tikka is cubed chicken that is marinated in spiced yogurt mixture & then grilled to perfection.
The key to a mouth melting juicy, tender & succulent chicken tikka is proper marination. During the marination the chicken not only absorbs the flavors from the spices & herbs but also tenderizes naturally without the need to use any chemical tenderizers.
In restaurants usually the chicken tikka is marinated overnight or even longer. Then they are lined on to a skewer & grilled in tandoor or clay ovens.
Tandoor oven is a traditional clay oven which is used to grill foods. Chicken tikka that is grilled in a tandoor acquires a smoky aroma & enhances the flavors of the meat. Finally a bit of mustard oil is brushed over the tandoori tikkas.
I make the same restaurant style chicken tikka at home using the recipe shared in this post.
For more Indian Tandoori recipes you can check
Chicken kabab
Tandoori chicken
Tandoori chicken sandwich
Butter chicken
Chicken tikka masala
Preparation for Chicken tikka
1. Dry roast besan on a low heat until aromatic. Set aside to cool completely. Add curd, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste and all other spice powders to a plate and mix well. When the besan cools, add that as well.
2. Pour oil and mix all of them. Taste test and add more salt or spice as needed. Oil helps to tenderize the chicken when used along with yogurt or lemon juice.
3. Add the chicken that is drained completely. Make sure there is no water dripping from the chicken before you add it to the marinade.
4. Mix everything well. Set this aside for at least an hour to overnight in the fridge. If you have meat tenderizer, you can use it. But that is optional.
5. When you are about to grill them, soak the skewers for 30 minutes in water to prevent burning. Preheat the oven to 240 C. Set aside the chicken removing excess marinade. To the excess marinade add the cubed veggies. Toss them to coat the marinade well.
6. Skew them alternately – chicken , onion and capsicum. Next grill this for 10 minutes. Then brush them with the leftover marinade. Then continue to grill for another 10 to 20 until well cooked. Check them after a total of 20 mins grilling. Adjust the time as needed depending on the size of your chicken pieces. To brown the chicken, move them to the top rack to broil for another 2 to 3 mins.
Once removed, brush them with butter or mustard oil. Sprinkle chaat masala if desired. Serve chicken tikka with mint raita.
Tips to make chicken tikka at home
You can make the best chicken tikka at home either using a oven or on a tawa. Here are the tips.
1.Using thick curd aka hung curd or greek yogurt is the key to make good tikkas. Whey in yogurt will ruin the tikkas so you can follow this recipe of hung curd to make it at home.
2. Do not skip gram flour or besan from the recipe as it is the key to make the tikkas aromatic. I have used besan directly in the marinade. However you can dry roast or fry the besan in oil until aromatic, cool & add it to the marinade. This enhances the taste a bit.
3. I do not use food color to make my food any time. For a good color, do use a good quality red chilli powder or paprika powder for a vibrant color. I use kashmiri or byadgi chilli powder.
4. Adding too much of garam masala or spice powder, leaves a bitter taste. So adjust the quantity slightly to suit the taste but do not use a lot.
5. Well marinated chicken turn out to be flavorful, tender & succulent without drying out so marinate over night if possible.
6.If you like the smoky aroma of grilled foods, then you can smoke the chicken tikka with char coal. You can check the notes for more details.
Related Recipes
Chicken tikka
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 500 grams chicken boneless & cubed
- 1½ tablespoon gram flour or besan
- ½ cup curd or yogurt or greek yogurt
- ½ green bell pepper
- ½ red bell pepper or tomatoes (deseeded)
- 1 large onion cubed
- Salt as needed
- 1 tablespoon oil preferably mustard oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoon lemon juice (or as needed)
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste or grated
Spice powders
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon red chilli powder or paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper powder
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ tablespoon kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
For serving
- 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or mustard oil
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala
Instructions
Preparation for chicken tikka
- Dry roast besan on a low heat until aromatic. Cool this completely.
- This recipe needs thick curd or greek yogurt. If using homemade yogurt then follow the notes & strain the whey to get thick yogurt.
- Add it to a mixing bowl along with roasted besan, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, pepper powder, turmeric, kasuri methi, garam masala & coriander powder.
- Next add lemon juice, salt & oil. Mix everything well and taste it. Add more chilli powder, salt or lemon if needed to adjust the taste.
- Add the cubed chicken to the marinade. Marinate the chicken for at least an hour to 12 hours. Longer the chicken rests more flavorful & succulent it will turn out. You will have to refrigerate if marinating for longer than an hour.
How to make chicken tikka
- Prepare a baking tray with a foil lined over it. Then place a rack over it.
- Cube the veggies and add it to the marinade. Smear the marinade over it. Put them on to skewers, alternating veggies and chicken. Place these over the prepared tray.
- Preheat the oven to 240 C for at least 15 minutes. Grill chicken tikka for 10 mins. Then brush them with the leftover marinade and continue grilling for another 10 to 20 mins till fully done. I suggest checking after total 20 mins. This depends on the size of your chicken pieces and how tender it is.
- The last 3 to 4 mins, move the chicken to the top rack. Once done brush them generously with butter or mustard oil. Serve chicken tikka with some veggies as a appetizer. Sprinkle chaat masala if desired.
Notes
- Coriander powder is used to bring down the spice levels in garam masala, use it if your garam masala is pungent or very strong.
- For a restaurant smoky flavor, just burn a char coal until hot & red. Then place it in a small bowl. Keep this in the pan. Add a tsp of ghee to it over it. Then it will begin to smoke immediately. Cover and smoke the chicken tikka for 5 mins.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Hina Fatima says
Hello maam,
I am hina..I mostly follow ur recipes and they always turn out to be delicious..ur recipes hve always been of great help to me…
swasthi says
Hello Hina,
Glad to know! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. Makes me happy.
🙂
Amy says
I am hoping to make this tomorrow but just wanted to check something.. is the chicken put in the oven at 240° or is it done under the grill? Thanks
swasthi says
Hi Amy,
I think I am late. You can either grill in oven at 240 C or grill it over direct charcoal fire (not stovetop)
Mehak says
When do you put the besan and the ginger garlic paste?
swasthi says
Hi Mehak,
They go with the other marinade ingredients. I have updated it.
Meenu Choudhary says
Mam I really enjoy cooking with your recipes , it always comes out very well. You describe it so well. I have tried your dal makhni , butter chicken, paneer butter masala, malai kofta and many more. Even if I know how to cook something I do check with your recipe what different you have added. Love your recipes. Keep cooking , keep posting and keep motivating all of us to enhance our flavours. Stay blessed always 🤗🤗 love n hugs ❤️❤️
swasthi says
Hi Meenu
Wow! That’s great to hear. Thank you so much for the love!
🙂
Asha says
whenever i want to try a dish , i look up to ur recipes. they are explained in an easy to follow steps and the dishes come out really well. Thank you.!
swasthi says
Welcome Asha
Glad to know
Vindhya says
Tried Chicken Tikka recepie today.. As every other recepie of your recepies this one came out outstandingly delicious.. My husband and kids loved it. Thank you so much 😊
Vindhya Santhoshi D says
Tried Chicken Tikka recepie today.. As every other recepie of your recepies this one came out outstandingly delicious.. My husband and kids loved it. Thank you so much 😊
Srinivas says
Your recipe explanation and photos are very well presented.
Appreciated 👌👌
swasthi says
Thank you!
Sheetal says
Hi Swasthi,
Your recipes are too good. I started following your recipes few days back. They are really easy and nice. Specially red pasta sauce recipe , my daughter loved it. If I want to make any new dish, I prefer to follow your recipe. Thank you very much for making cooking easy and delicious for us.
swasthi says
Hello Sheetal,
You are welcome! Glad you like the recipes. Thanks much for following the blog.
🙂
Tanusree says
Hi Swasthi
Prepared yesterday night. Just substituted capsicum with finely chopped mint leaves. It was amazing. My family loved it.
For accurate taste and succulence overnight marination is mandatory.
Tanusree.
swasthi says
Hi Tanu,
Yes overnight marination is best. Glad you all loved it!
🙂
Darsh nagpal says
This is very good recipe I like it sent me good recipes to me
Natcha says
Hi Swasthi,
I have not been able to get any dried fenugreek leaves near where I live. Do u think it would be ok to use the seeds instead? Thank you.
swasthi says
Welcome Natcha
Actually there is no substitute for fenugreek leaves, it lends a unique aroma. However yes you can use 1/4 tsp of seeds powder for every 500 grams as it is done for some tandoori dishes. The seeds need to be roasted and then finely powdered.
Haris says
which oil we use during marination process?
swasthi says
Mustard oil is best for flavor, but you can use any cooking oil
ruhi says
i jstd wanted to ask if we are making these kabab dishes on induction completely then how should we fry them……its difficult to hav oven in hostels so plzzzz let me how to make kababs….ty
swasthi says
Hi Ruhi
Yes you can make these on tawa on the induction stove. Just heat 1 to 2 tbsps of oil on a tawa. when it is hot place the chicken on the tawa and cook on a medium to low flame. Flip and fry them. Intially chicken will release lot of water, just continue to flip and fry until lightly charred. You will have to use a non stick pan otherwise masala will stick up to the tawa.
Lalita Ghosh says
This recipe is amazing. The only change I made was to use a combination of mustard oil and vegetable oil, I also marinated it overnight.
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Lalita
Glad to know you liked it.
Yes mustard oil adds flavor.
🙂
reena says
Excellent n eazi
swasthi says
Thank you
reena says
Perfect first try thanx
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Reena
Mobin Shaikh says
When I want learn make new dishes I will choose u r website.
I m very Thankful to you and team
THANKING YOU
swasthi says
Welcome Mobin
Glad to know the recipes are helpful. Thanks for the comment
Shanthamurugan says
Followed your receipe step by step. Came very well. Thanks.
swasthi says
Welcome Shantha
Thanks for feedback
Ann says
All your recipes are easy to follow and always delicious,
Can we see more recipes for healthy Indian greens and South Indian greens . See several varieties at the store.
swasthi says
Thank you. There are lot of healthy recipes made with greens on the blog. You can check these
Palak paratha
Palak chole
Palak paneer
Palak paratha rolls
Palak rice
Palak pakoda
If you like to know the recipe of any particular leafy greens then you can let me know. I would suggest you something. Thank you
Vindhya Santhoshi D says
Tried Chicken Tikka recepie today.. As every other recepie of your recepies this one came out outstandingly delicious.. My husband and kids loved it. Thank you so much 😊
Selverani Naidoo says
Tasty great & easy to follow.
Thank you SWASTHI?❤
swasthi says
Welcome Selverani
Thanks for the feedback