Chicken tikka is boneless tandoori chicken on a stick. The pieces are smaller. That’s good. More surface equals more seasoning. These are little tandoori flavour bombs.
Chicken tikka is perfect party food
Who doesn’t love chicken on a stick. This is Indian finger food. Serve it up with a sauce or two. Smiles all around.
Or use it in a curry or two. Chicken tikka masala is probably the most famous curry after butter chicken. Everybody loves it. Start with crazy flavourful chicken makes for amazing curry. Serve that and expect adulation. Impress everyone every time.
Making chicken tikka is easy. Cut up the chicken. Coat liberally with tandoori marinade. Refrigerate for a few hours. Soak your skewers. Assemble. Wear gloves to skewer if you used food colouring. Grill. Eat. Or use them to make chicken tikka masala.
Grilling technique is key
As always I think charcoal makes a difference. If you can cook these over charcoal they will taste better. But they will be pretty darn good over gas as well. Don’t let it stop you.
The big thing is the seasoning. Smoke just puts it right over the top. And charcoal is just the right kind of smoke. Delicate. Delicious.
Grilling technique is key. You are working with small pieces of chicken – it’s easy to overcook them. You need to be careful.
For charcoal, build a two stage fire. Hot on one side. Cool on the other. For gas, turn one burner on high and leave the other one on low.
Start with low or indirect heat. Finish over high direct heat. Get them mostly cooked on low then blast them with heat. You want a bit of char. You don’t want dry chicken. Watch it closely.
All sorts of ways to serve chicken tikka
Serve chicken tikka over a small green salad. You can do a tikka sizzle – serve them on a bed of fried onions. Serve them straight up. Tamarind dip, raita or a green chili chutney mixed with yoghurt all pair well.
The key is this dish is the tandoori marinade. Bad marinade equals bad results. The tandoori marinade here has a lot of ingredients. It may sound a bit daunting but it really works.
Chicken tikka is great on it’s own. It’s delicious in salad. In a naan bread sandwich. And it’s just the thing for tikka masala. Always a hit. Guaranteed.
chicken tikka
Ingredients
chicken tikka
- 12 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- tandoori marinade recipe below
- 1/2 lemon - juiced
Tandoori marinade
- 1 Tbsp cumin powder
- 1 Tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp madras curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp mint sauce (not mint jelly)
- 2 tsp kashmiri chili powder
- 1 Tbsp coriander stems/leaves chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp kasoor methi - dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 Tbsp Patak's tandoori marinade
- 1 Tbsp garlic ginger paste
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup water - you may need a little more. You are after a runny paste.
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the tandoori marinade in a stain proof bowl.
- Cut each thigh into 4 pieces. Cut each breast, if using, into 8 pieces. Combine tandoori marinade with chicken. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.
- Soak skewers in water for 30 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice to the chicken. Mix to combine. Let stand no more than one hour.
- Light your grill. Build a two zone fire if using charcoal. Turn one burner to high and another to low if using gas.
- Remove chicken from marinade. Use gloves if you have them. Tandoori marinade stains something fierce.
- Skewer the chicken.
- Grill over indirect heat until almost done - around 10-15 minutes. You want an internal temperature of about 150F for breasts or 160F for thighs at this point. You will be cooking them a bit more over direct heat. Your final target is 165F for breasts and 175F for thighs.
- Move chicken skewers over direct (high) heat and grill an additional 2-4 minutes, turning every minute.. You want a bit of char but you don't want it to burn or dry out.
Notes
Nutrition
I recently tried your Chicken Tikka recipe from Glebe Kitchen, and it was a massive hit at my dinner party! The flavors were so authentic and vibrant, making it one of the best homemade Indian dishes I’ve ever made. Your detailed instructions and tips were incredibly helpful. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe; it’s definitely going to be a staple in my kitchen.
i always use this recipe,it’s perfect on the bbq.
i also brush with melted butter whilst grilling
I made this as best as i could with what i had, but it tasted a bit more like supermarket sandwich chicken tikka rather than the restaurant stuff. I didn’t have the Patak’s tandoori marinade though, and i substituted it with Tandoori Masala powder. Still got eaten.
I’ve just made a jar of the spice mix and garlic ginger paste. Tomorrow I’m making the curry base mix. Can’t to make my first curry. Thanks for sharing.
It’s work to get started but once you get going it is just so good!
Hi , thanks for sharing this recipe , made a few times for different people and they’ve all said it was restaurant standard , makes a big difference using thigh meat , once again thank you ??
You are welcome. Thing meat really does make it work!
Proper handsome favorite good ever Indian anything spicy,since an eight year old nicking some of my dad’s takeaways in mid 70’s! Keep cooking the gorgeous recipe’s you post! Thanksgiving
Haha. OK. I will!
Made this tonight without the patak paste, still amazing better and tastier than restaurant tikka so moist and a taste sensation on a gas BBQ with Mint sauce and lemon juice in yoghurt as a dip, packed into pittas with a red pepper tomato and cucumber salsa
That sounds like an absolutely delicious sandwich!
Hi
If I halve the ingredients will it taste the same?
Thank’s
Yes, it should scale roughly linearly.
Thank you,
I will give it a go on the BBQ later in the week.
Hi there,
I’ve tried a couple of the recipes and they have turned out really well. Love the curry base and followed the videos, as we are on lock down with your help I’m cracking the curry’s. However want to try the tikka but have none or the tandoori marinade, what can I use instead?
Thanks
Glad you are enjoying yourself. You could use a simple mix of ingredients like cumin, coriander, kashmiri chili powder, salt and garlic ginger paste and maybe some paprika. Toss that with your chicken and some oil. A squeeze of lemon juice right before you start grilling. Should be pretty tasty…
Thanks for the advice, I went ahead and cooked them without the Tandoori paste as I couldn’t wait and they were delicious. Perfect in fact very tasty, just as the other Indian recipes I’ve tried.
Having to substitute a couple of ingredients as it’s tricky to get, Kasoor methi, Kosher salt, curry leaves and Indian bay leaf. I guess if and when I can get these things I will be flying.
Thanks for the videos. So helpful
Thank you.
The best tikka marinade I have ever made, thanks. I will never use yoghurt to marinate my tikka ever again. It definitely makes it better leaving it out, and I have tried so many recipes that all call for yoghurt.
Can the chicken tikka be frozen after cooking to use in curries at a later date? Does it thaw well to be added to a curry?
Also, do you have a good samosa recipe, for the filling and wrap? Veggie or meat? I see that you have some keema recipes that can be used for a samosa filling, i.e. “lamb or beef keema”. But what about a veggie option and how to make the wrap etc.?
Thanks again
Glad you liked it and especially glad you’ve decided to leave out the yoghurt. I’m not a fan of frozen chicken in general so I’ve never tried. Chicken suffers badly from freezing in my experience – cooked or raw.
I’ll put samosas on the to do list.
HI,I’ve made this chicken tikka amazing people have said it’s even better than restaurants , thanks for sharing .
Thanks for saying so! If you’d like, try the marinade with tandoori chicken or shashlik. It works the same for all of them.
Hi! You cook it at temperature 150F???(for breast) which means 65°C???
Yes. And then over direct heat to finish cooking.
Hi going to make chicken tikka for supper just wondering why you don’t use yogurt in your recipe. Thank you
Because I don’t like the way yoghurt dulls the flavour. I learned that trick at a kebab house in Bangalore and much prefer it…
Tried out the chicken recipe. Kudos for an excellent recipe
So glad you liked it!
Hi Romain,
Thanks for all the recipes. I’m getting your restaurant style technique. It’s a revelation. My wife thought the lamb saag I made her this week was better than she had ever had in an Indian restaurant.
Anyway, I am making some tandoori drumsticks on the bbq tomorrow, so I thought I’d also do some tikka sticks to use in a curry later in the week.
Apart from tikka masala, which of your chicken curries benefit the most from using chicken tikka in rather than simmered chicken?
Many thanks, Chris (north London)
Nice to hear you’re getting into it. It’s lots of fun and results are worth it I think!
The butter chicken recipe uses tandoori chicken and it has a bit more flavour and bite than the average butter chicken.
I have the chicken marinating in the kitchen right now. I’m very much looking forward to it, I even have a few chunks of lamb marinating in a separate bowl smothered in your tandoori paste recipe.
I will report back and rate soon.
Please do!
is mayo a good dip for chicken tikka?
I don’t know actually. Never tried. Might be a bit to heavy. I think a yoghurt based dip would go best but these are flavourful enough you don’t even need dip if you don’t want to bother…
Oh, my. this looks sooo good! I’m definitely going to try this out!!
Thanks Neena. I’m a fan of leaving the yoghurt out. Hope you like it.
This is the best recipe in the world!
I have just prepped 72 thighs,there all in the fridge marinating….
Perfect for the BBQ.
Now that is the highest praise I have ever received! 72 thighs. Sounds like a party to me!