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BBQ & kababs

Chicken Tikka Recipe

چکن تکہ بنانے کا طریقہ

Pakistani BBQ chicken tikka: bone-in leg and breast pieces in a tangy yogurt and lemon marinade, charred over coals or under the grill.
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Illustration of Chicken Tikka

Prep

20 min

Cook

35 min

Marinate / soak

6 hr

Serves

4

Difficulty

Medium

Spice

Medium hot

Pakistani chicken tikka is not the boneless curry-house kind: it is a whole leg or breast quarter, slashed to the bone, marinated for hours in yogurt, lemon and spices and grilled over coals until charred at the edges. The lemon and yogurt tenderise the meat, and the deep cuts let the masala reach the bone. A last baste with ghee as it cooks keeps it juicy.

Ingredients

4 servings

For 4 servings

Measures

For the marinade

To baste and serve

Method

  1. Make 2 or 3 deep cuts in each chicken piece, right down to the bone, on both sides. Pat dry.

  2. Mix all the marinade ingredients into a thick paste. Rub it well into the chicken, pushing it into the cuts.

  3. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight. Take it out 30 minutes before cooking.

    ⏱ 360 min

  4. Light the coals and wait until they are covered in white ash with no flames. Set the grill rack about 10 cm above them. (For the oven, heat the grill to high with the rack in the upper third.)

    ⏱ 20 min

  5. Put the chicken on the grill and cook, turning every 5 minutes, until the outside is charred in places and the juices near the bone run clear.

    ⏱ 25 min

  6. In the last 5 minutes, brush the pieces generously with melted ghee on both sides and let it drip onto the coals for a burst of smoke.

    ⏱ 5 min

  7. Sprinkle with chaat masala and serve hot with lemon wedges and onion rings.

Tips for the best result

  • In the oven, the tikka gets no smoke. Put the cooked pieces in a pot, set a hot coal in a foil cup in the middle, drop a little ghee on it and cover for 5 minutes (koyla dum).
  • Kashmiri chilli gives the deep red colour without making it fiery; food colour is not needed.
  • Small, young chicken (about 1 kg whole) makes the most tender tikka.

Common mistakes

  • Grilling over flames. Flames blacken the outside before the meat near the bone is cooked; wait for glowing, ash-covered coals.
  • Using watery yogurt. It drips off and the tikka steams instead of charring.

How to serve

Serve with naan, hari chutney or podina raita and a kachumar salad.

Storing and reheating

Cooked tikka keeps 2 days in the fridge; reheat in a hot oven or pan. Marinated raw chicken freezes well for up to 1 month.

Nutrition and cost

Worked out from the ingredients, not measured in a lab. Treat both as a rough guide.

Per serving Estimate

Calories
850kcal
Protein
58g
Fat
63g
Carbs
10g
Fibre
1.9g
Sodium
1100mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain values for the raw ingredients (100% of the recipe by weight had data). Deep-frying oil is counted at 20%; bones and water lost in cooking are not subtracted, so bone-in and fried dishes can read high. Not medical advice. Method

Cost per servingEstimate

≈ Rs 205

Whole dish ≈ Rs 815 · 89% of ingredients by weight priced

From the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics weekly SPI, week ended 29 Oct 2026. Spices, herbs and some vegetables are not in the SPI and are left out unless you add your price, so the real cost is a little higher. How this works

Chicken Tikka: questions people ask

How do I make chicken tikka in the oven?

Bake on a rack over a tray at 220°C for 25 minutes, turning once, then put it under a hot grill for 5 minutes to char. Finish with a coal smoke for the BBQ flavour.

Why is my chicken tikka dry?

Usually too short a marinade, or overcooking breast pieces. Marinate overnight, take breast pieces off a few minutes earlier, and baste with ghee at the end.

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Read this recipe in Urdu: چکن تکہ بنانے کا طریقہ

https://handi.danixsoft.com/recipes/chicken-tikka · Handi, DanixSoft