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.
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 also 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.
For more Indian Tandoori recipes you can check
Chicken kabab
Tandoori chicken
Tandoori chicken sandwich
Butter chicken
Chicken tikka masala
Chicken tikka
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
How to make the recipe
Preparation for chicken tikka
- 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 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 20 to 30 mins or till fully done. I suggest checking after 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. Serve chicken tikka with some veggies as a appetizer.
NUTRITION
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.
Preparation
1. Add curd, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste and all other spice powders to a plate and mix well.
2. Add oil to the marinade. 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 over night 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 about 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve chicken tikka with mint raita.
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!
🙂
Zainab says
Hi!
Can I freeze the chicken marinade?
swasthi says
Yes you can
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
Selverani Naidoo says
Tasty great & easy to follow.
Thank you SWASTHI?❤
swasthi says
Welcome Selverani
Thanks for the feedback
Babu says
This is the most easy way to learn. Very simple to make and very testy to eat. You work a lot to make it easier to learn . Thank you very much.
swasthi says
Welcome Babu
Glad to know you liked it.
Babu says
This is the most easy way to learn. Very simple to make and very testy to eat
swasthi says
Thank you
Nikita says
How many table spoons of tikka masala is needed if I use ready made masala?
swasthi says
You have to use as mentioned on the pack. How much to use depends on the brand used
Sowmi says
Completely awesome work swasthi….I can understand how much effort you would have put in it….step by step clicks are really helpful…it is a one stop for all chicken recipes 🙂 🙂
swasthi says
Hi Sowmi,
Thanks a lot for the compliments. Yes it takes lot of time and have to be patient enough.
Thanks again. Have a nice day
🙂
Azima says
Hi very nice method to teach recipes. Thanks a lot!
asmita says
Hi swasthi,
Whats the difference between malai chakka( used to make shrikhand) and yogurt? Can it be used instead of yogurt or curd?
What is the purpose of adding besan?
swasthi says
Hi Asmita,
chakka is strained yogurt or hung yogurt. Yes you can use it. Besan gives a very unique flavor and taste like in restaurants. It is optional, you can also skip it.
SMRITI DEY says
I want your recipe book. Thank u for share this recipe
swasthi says
Welcome Smriti,
I haven’t made any recipe book yet.
thanks for the feedback
🙂
Amila Wickramarachchi says
Came across this recipe when I was searching for it.Thanks for sharing and this look so yummy.And thanks for the idea of using red chili powder or paprika instead of red coloring.
swasthi says
Welcome Amila,
Happy to see you here. Hope you are good. Do share with us how it turned out if you try. Thank you