Tandoori chicken is a traditional Indian dish full of bold and spicy flavors! A 30 minute marinade and a few minutes on the grill will deliver this tasty dish!
The first time I tried Indian food was in California with my sister Misty. I think I must’ve been about 12 years old and when she took me to this little hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant I thought it looked a little sketchy. But I’ve always been a lover of food and Misty swore up and down that this was some of the best food on the planet. So I tried it.
Oh m’gash. Samosas, where have you been all my life?! And just like that I was a goner. It only took about 2.7 seconds for me to be completely hooked on Indian cuisine.
When I was working at that Chinese restaurant in high school, my best friend happened to be working at the only Indian restaurant in town. If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant you probably know that at the end of your shift you reek of grease and food. My hair would absorb the smells from the kitchen and Chinese-food-smelling hair is about the last thing you want when you’re going to hang out with friends. So on weekends when Kelsi and I both worked, we’d do a food-swap instead of meeting up with everyone else.
The food swap would go something like this: (via text message)
Kelsi: Heyyyy, food swap tonight??
Me: Um, YES. I’m off at 11. What do you want?
Kelsi: Cream cheese wontons. And a bucket of sauce. You?
Me: The usual. And extra chutney. See you in 30!
Kelsi: Yummmmmmmm!
And that’s pretty much how it went down. So we’d meet up at one of our houses and swap Chinese and Indian food. That’s how I’ve tried so many different Indian dishes and tandoori chicken is one of the top 10 on my list of favorites.
Traditionally, tandoori chicken is made in a tandoori clay oven. Oh shoot, I just lent mine out…. Lies. I don’t have a tandoori clay oven. In fact I’m not sure I know anyone personally who has a tandoori clay oven in their backyard. But it’s okay, you don’t have to dig a hole for clay in your backyard because this dish can be made on the grill and I promise it’s just as good as if you’d built yourself a clay oven. Technically you can bake it too but I think the flavor from the grill helps give it that rustic touch that you’d get in an authentic restaurant. We had it over coconut lime rice and we also grilled up some naan with mango chutney – sooooo yummy! Make this – pronto!
What people are saying about this Grilled Tandoori Chicken
“This was AMAZING !
It is so easy to prepare, even I could do it !
All ingredients are readily available at your grocery store and inexpensive.
Even thou I only had it marinating for half a hour, the flavors were fa nominal. I can only imagine hoe it would be after 24 hours.
Give this a try…..you will love it.
5 STARS” – Ricky
Grilled Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Marinade
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together all marinade ingredients. Place marinade in a large zip lock bag and add chicken breasts. Allow to marinate at least 30 minutes or overnight.
- Remove chicken from bag and discard marinade. Cook chicken on the grill over medium heat 5-6 minutes on each side or until cooked through.
- Suggested serving options: cooked rice, lime wedges for drizzling, extra cilantro, indian flatbread (naan) and mango chutney
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Jo Cooks.
i love this food
Made this recipe tonight and COOKED it ON the grill. It was amazing!!!
I love grilling with this recipe!
I triex with this recipe and it worked vry well. Thanks fr sjaring
This is the second recipe of yours I’ve tried (the first is on regular rotation – the kids request it all the time). The flavors were wonderful, and my family really enjoyed it. I was surprised though that it didn’t call for any salt. I added some to the marinade, and then sprinkled a bit on after the grill. I don’t think it would have tasted quite as good without it. Where in the process do you think salt makes most sense? In the marinade? On the chicken itself before marinating? Or salt to taste when done cooking?
For anyone reading this recipe, FYI we used boneless, skinless thighs in place of breasts, and they were really delicious!
If you think it needs it, I’d probably say on the chicken itself or salt to taste when finished.
We loved this chicken recipe and are making it again tomorrow! It will be grilled.