Tandoori Fish Tikka
By Swasthi on August 3, 2022, Comments, Jump to Recipe
Fish tikka recipe, how to make tandoori fish tikka in oven. A tikka in oven is one of the easiest healthy Indian appetizers that can be made at home. Tikkas in the pictures are made using salmon, you can use any fish of your choice, but large boneless fish is all that is needed to make good tikka.

fish tikka recipe, shared here can be used to make a tandoori tikka or a barbecue tikka and is fairly easy to make even if you have a crowd. You don’t need any fancy ingredients, just the basic ingredients that exist in most Asian kitchens will do.
This is an updated recipe, the new ingredient I would suggest is chickpea flour/ gram flour/ besan. It gives an unique aroma to the fish tikka. As always I have not used any food color, as color adds no taste to the food, it doesn’t bother me. But if you wish to, you can use it to make it colorful. Can even use beetroot color, but I have never tried for oven tikkas. I have used salmon you can use any boneless fish fillet of your choice.
How to make Fish tikka
1. Add yogurt to a muslin cloth and drain off the excess whey or water.You will be left with thick yogurt. Add all marination ingredients to a bowl, mix them well.

2. Add oil if you desire, if using salmon you can skip.

3. Wipe off the moisture from the fish cubes with absorbent papers.

4. Marinate the fish and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Refrigerate the marinade as well.

5. Soak the skewers in water for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 240 C, Remove the extra marinade from fish and add cubed veggies to the marinade and mix well.

6. Remove the excess marinade. Skew the fish and veggies alternating. Bake them for about 10 minutes and then turn down to 180 C and bake for 5 to 10 minutes. In between you can baste the tikkas, with the left over marinade to prevent them from drying.

For more fish recipes, check
andhra fish fry
baked fish
vanjaram fry
tawa fish fry
fish tikka masala
Recipe Card

Tandoori Fish Tikka
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
Marination Ingredients
- 400 to 500 grams fish fillets
- ¾ to 1 cup yogurt , regular thick
- 1 ½ tsp red chili powder , Kashmiri is prefered
- 1/8 tsp pepper powder
- 1 ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/8 tsp turmeric
- ½ tbsp dried fenugreek leaves / kasuri methi , (crushed) (optional)
- 1 to 2 tbsps Lemon juice (skip if using sour curd)
- ¼ tsp biryani masala powder or ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp coriander powder (I do not use)
- Salt to taste
- 1 tbsp oil (can skip if you are using salmon)
- 1 to 1 ½ tbsps besan / chickpea flour (optional)
vegetables (optional)
- ½ green bell pepper , cubed
- ½ red bell pepper or 1 tomato deseeded cubed
- 1 onion , large, cubed
Instructions
- Add yogurt to a cheese cloth and drain off excess water or whey. You will be left with thick yogurt. You can even hang it inside the refrigerator to make hung curd.
- Wash and peel of the skin, if cannot just proceed.
- Cut them to equal cube sized pieces, remove the moisture from them using disposable or absorbent tissues.
- Mix all the marination ingredients and marinate for at least 2 to 12 hrs.
- Soak the wooden skewers for at least 30 mins in water to prevent burning else you will have burnt skewers like mine.
- Just before you begin to bake, cube the veggies and marinate in the left over marination. Veggies at room temp, using from the fridge right away makes them soggy. I do not marinate for long as tend to lose the crunch, so I marinate just before I bake them.
- Remove the excess marinade and put them on to skewers, alternating veggies and fish. There will drippings from the meat while baking, do not forget to place a tray to collect the spills in case you use a wire rack for placing the skewers and not a tray. Otherwise it will mess up your oven.
- Preheat the oven to 240 C, bake for 10 mins and then on 180 C for another 5 to 10 mins. I suggest you to check after 15 mins.In between you can baste the marinade to the tikkas to prevent them from drying.
Notes
There will drippings from the meat while baking, do not forget to place a tray to collect the spills in case you use a wire rack for placing the skewers and not a tray. Otherwise it will mess up your oven
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
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills.
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Tried it, came out very well. Used tandoori masala too
Thank you!
Glad it turned out well.
Hello!
Tried something for the first time in an oven (apart from cake, which too I always baked in microwaves and once in an oven). To my surprise, it turned out just perfect. Just one small question, though the fish was done, the marinade was still a bit raw/wet on some pieces. In the second round of remaining fish though, it got better. What could be the reason?
Awaiting a reply and thanks too for the to-the-point instructions for novices like me 🙂
Hi Priyanka
You are welcome
There are 2 ways to fix this. One is prehaeating the oven very well intially for about 25 minutes at 250 C. SEcond one is to continue grilling at 240 C till the end instead of 180 c.
The reason I have suggested 180 C is to prevent the meat from charring which is personally not prefered by us due to health reasons.
You can also move the tray to the highest rack and grill for the last 5 mins. All these tips will dry up the marinade very well and you may also need to brush a bit of butter towards the end. Hope these help
Okay. Guess I did not preheat it well then. Was avoiding basting with butter as a family member has been asked to go v low on oil because of health reasons. This is why I am taking to grilling now!
Will try again and write back next Sunday. Thanks!
Welcome Priya
Yes preheating well should work good. Do try
Thanks the recipe. Your website is of great help for a bachelor like me.
I have a oven whose max temperature is 200C. You said to preheat at 240C- what happens if I preheat at 200C?
You are welcome. You can go ahead with 200 C for preheating as well for grilling. Usually kebabs and tikkas are grilled at very high temperatures to give them a charred flavor and taste. You may need to grill for little longer than mentioned in the recipe
My husband makes such tikkas in the oven and they turn out super!! Love you version and presentation
Cant ask more, fish tikkas tempts me a lot and feel like inviting myself to your place.
So Yummy and so tasty
Great job
Perfectly made,tempting appetizer with fish
excellent!…A variation from regular chicken tikkas! hmm…lemme try!
delectable n delicious 🙂 perfect tikka..
wow looks soooooooo good, i love tandoori and always wanted to do it with fish… after this post i think i will 🙂 love the platter Swasthi
Omg! Super irresistible fish tikka Swasthi. Delicious and nicely presented.
Yummy tikka…mouth watering…
Very nice appetizer! This is nice for parties. I agree it is not necessary to put coloring as there is no added value.
Delicious and flavorful tikka…looks so yum..
Love fish and loving this tikka.. Nice one