Method
- First marinade: mix lemon juice, salt and 1 tsp Kashmiri chili. Rub into the deep slashes in the chicken pieces. Rest 20 minutes — this draws out moisture and seasons the meat at the bone.
- Heat mustard oil in a small pan until smoking — this destroys its raw pungency — then cool to warm. Whisk into the yogurt with ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, cumin, coriander, the remaining Kashmiri chili, paprika and crushed kasoori methi.
- Coat the chicken thickly in the yogurt marinade, pushing it into the slashes. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.
- Heat the oven as high as it will go — 240–280°C — with a heavy tray on the top rack. The hotter the better; a pizza stone or steel is ideal. The clay tandoor reaches 480°C, so we compensate with prolonged high heat.
- Lay the chicken pieces directly on the screaming-hot tray. Roast 12 minutes. Flip, brush with melted ghee, roast another 10 minutes. The skin should char in patches, the marinade dry into a deep red-orange crust.
- Optional smoke step: place a small bowl with a single piece of glowing charcoal among the cooked chicken, drip a teaspoon of ghee onto the coal, cover the dish for one minute. The smoke perfumes the meat. Serve with raw onion rings tossed in lemon and chaat masala, and mint chutney.
Common questions
Can Tandoori Chicken be made ahead?
Tandoori Chicken is best made and eaten the same day, but the components can be prepped earlier — chop and measure the ingredients up to a day ahead, refrigerated separately. Final cooking takes about 25 minutes.
Is Tandoori Chicken spicy?
Tandoori Chicken as written is mild to mildly warming — the heat comes from aromatics rather than chili. Add fresh sliced chili or chili oil at the end if you'd like to push it spicier.
Is Tandoori Chicken vegetarian or gluten-free?
This recipe is suitable for most diets. If you have specific restrictions, the substitutions section in each ingredient note covers the most common swaps.
How hard is Tandoori Chicken to make at home?
Tandoori Chicken sits at intermediate difficulty — total time about 55 minutes. The ingredients are not unusual but the timing requires attention.
Can Tandoori Chicken be scaled up or down?
This recipe is written for 4 servings. To scale, multiply each ingredient proportionally; the cooking times stay the same up to about double the volume. Beyond that, expect to cook in batches because of pan size and heat distribution.
Cultural Note
Tandoori chicken in its modern form was developed at Moti Mahal in Peshawar in the 1920s by Kundan Lal Gujral — the same hand that invented butter chicken twenty years later. Before Gujral, tandoors cooked breads, not meat; the innovation was hanging chicken on long iron skewers down into the heat. The signature red colour is Kashmiri chili and (in restaurants) often artificial colouring; the home version skips the dye and is no less delicious. Real tandoors give a smokiness that home ovens approximate but cannot quite reach.
