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BBQ & kababs

Tandoori Chicken Recipe

تندوری چکن بنانے کا طریقہ

Whole skinned chicken in two marinades, lemon first and then spiced yogurt, roasted very hot until charred and finished with a coal smoke.
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Illustration of Tandoori Chicken

Prep

20 min

Cook

45 min

Marinate / soak

8 hr

Serves

4

Difficulty

Medium

Spice

Medium hot

Tandoori chicken is a whole bird, skinned and deeply slashed, marinated twice and roasted in the clay tandoor until the edges blacken. At home a very hot oven does the job, and a piece of burning charcoal at the end gives back the smoky tandoor flavour. The first lemon and salt rub seasons the meat to the bone; the second, thick yogurt marinade gives the red crust.

Ingredients

4 servings

For 4 servings

Measures

First marinade

Second marinade

To finish

Method

  1. Make deep cuts all over the chicken, down to the bone: three on each breast, three on each thigh and two on each drumstick. Prick the rest with a fork.

  2. Rub the lemon juice, salt and kashmiri chilli of the first marinade into the cuts and leave for 30 minutes. Tip away any liquid that collects.

    ⏱ 30 min

  3. Mix the second marinade into a thick paste and coat the chicken all over, inside the cavity too. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

    ⏱ 480 min

  4. Heat the oven to 230°C, as hot as it goes, with a rack over a foil-lined tray. Take the chicken out of the fridge while it heats.

    ⏱ 15 min

  5. Put the chicken on the rack, breast side up, and roast until the edges start to char.

    ⏱ 25 min

  6. Brush with half the melted butter, turn it over and roast until the juices from the thigh run clear.

    ⏱ 15 min

  7. Turn it back, brush with the rest of the butter and put it under the hot grill until blistered and charred in spots.

    ⏱ 5 min

  8. For the smoke, put the chicken in a large pot, set a burning coal on a piece of foil beside it, pour a few drops of oil on the coal and cover tightly (koyla dum).

    ⏱ 5 min

  9. Sprinkle with chaat masala and serve with onion rings and lemon wedges.

Tips for the best result

  • Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth for an hour. A thick marinade sticks and chars; a thin one runs off into the tray.
  • Kashmiri chilli gives the red colour. Restaurant versions use orange food colour; you can add a pinch, but it is not needed.
  • Mustard oil gives a sharper, more traditional flavour. Cook it in a pan until it just smokes, then cool before using.

Common mistakes

  • Shallow cuts. The marinade stays on the surface and the meat near the bone tastes plain.
  • Roasting at a moderate temperature. At 180°C the chicken stews in the yogurt and comes out pale; it needs the highest heat your oven has.

How to serve

Serve with naan, hari chutney and kachumar salad.

Storing and reheating

Keeps 2 days in the fridge. Reheat in a hot oven for 10 minutes. Marinated raw chicken can be frozen 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
825kcal
Protein
59g
Fat
60g
Carbs
11g
Fibre
2.1g
Sodium
1150mg

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 210

Whole dish ≈ Rs 830 · 90% 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

Tandoori Chicken: questions people ask

What is the difference between tandoori chicken and chicken tikka?

Tandoori chicken is a whole or half bird roasted in a tandoor or oven. Pakistani chicken tikka is cut into leg and breast quarters and grilled over open coals.

Can I make tandoori chicken in an air fryer?

Yes, cut into four pieces. Cook at 200°C for about 25 minutes, turning halfway and brushing with butter, until charred at the edges.

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Read this recipe in Urdu: تندوری چکن بنانے کا طریقہ

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