A whole delicious juicy Tandoori chicken that will feed a crowd. It’s easy tray bake cooking that leaves hands free for opening a bag of salad! Bake your Tandoori Chicken in the Oven or Airfryer
What is Tandoor cooking?
The name refers to a clay oven used extensively by Indian cooks. It has a fire at its base and the food cooked in it has a smokey charred flavour, outside cooking very quickly. The famous dish of Tandoori is when the meat or chicken is coated in a spiced red paste mixed with yoghurt, which is then cooked by being skewered and plunged into the hot clay Tandoor creating the classic charry exterior and a juicy inside.
The ultimate timesaving cheats version of Tandoori Chicken
The Tandoori paste for this cooking style is delicious and not so hard to make, however, this cheat version skips the step where you need to buy all of the spices and uses a ready-made paste.
What’s in a Tandoori paste: Depending on who makes it, these are some of the ingredients, chilli powder, ginger, garlic, turmeric, fennel seeds, cumin, garam masala, fenugreek, lemon or lime, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, mace, coriander and paprika & yoghurt.
My version contains: Tandoori paste, fresh grated ginger, fresh garlic, and yoghurt.
This represents a substantial timesaving advantage
Make Tandoori Chicken work for you
This recipe is easy to customise. Bake it in the oven or in your air fryer. Add more or less tandoori paste to suit your taste. I added lightly steamed potatoes, to the tray before baking. You could even make Tandoori drumsticks or Maryland legs or any chicken parts you’d like. Just remember to adjust the cooking time.
How do I know when chicken is cooked? If you have a kitchen probe thermometer, pierce the thickest part or closest to the chicken joint. The temperature should be 75C or 165F. If you don’t have a thermometer then use a skewer to pierce the chicken. The juices should run clear.
I like to use a big fat chicken and butterfly it. This is done by cutting down one side of the backbone. Once this is cut through I open and push down the chicken until it is flat
- Mix the Tandoori paste with crushed garlic, ginger and yoghurt and 2 Tbsp oil. Stir well
- Put the chicken into this mixture and coat well. Cover, put into the fridge and set aside for an hour or up to a day
- Cut potatoes into medium chunks. Steam until just tender ( You can do this in the microwave too if you like). Cool and toss in a couple of tablespoons of oil.
- Put the chicken onto a lined tray (this prevents the chicken from sticking). Poor the oiled potatoes around the edges
Oven or Aifryer
The difference in cooking in the oven or the air fryer will depend on the chicken size. For cooking in the air fryer, choose a smaller chicken, and cook on a lower temperature. Details below. You could also use chicken pieces.
What do I serve with Tandoori Chicken?
- Rice
- Salad
- Steamed Vegetables
More chicken recipes
- Korean One Pot Roast Chicken
- Balinese Chicken
- Dry Brined Miso Maple Chicken
- Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potato and Hoisin
- Butter Chicken Tray Bake
- One Pot Roasted Chicken Stroganoff
Roasted Tandoori Chicken
Can I use leftover Tandoori to make Salad? Yes try these:
- Pumpkin Chickpea salad
- Spice Roasted Cauliflower, Carrot and Olive salad
- Vietnamese Salad with pickled carrot
- Poached Coconut Chicken Sesame Salad
Tandoori Chicken Tray Baked or Airfried
Ingredients
- 1.5- 2.0 kg chicken (whole)
- 100 gm Tandoori paste
- 100 gm plain greek yoghurt
- 1 Tbsp ginger, grated ginger
- 1 Tbsp garlic, crushed 2 large cloves
- 500 gm potatoes peeled cut and steamed
- 80 ml oil 4 tablsp
Instructions
Oven directions
- Set the oven to 180C. Line an oven tray (13 x )
- Cut the chicken in half down the back and flatten, the chicken.
- Mix the tandoori paste, crushed garlic, grated ginger, yoghurt and oil in a large bowl. Put the chicken into the bowl and coat well. Set the chicken aside in the fridge for 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
- Cut and steam the potatoes and toss in the remaining oil. Put the chicken onto the tray adding any extra marinade and add the poatoes around the edges.
- Bake the chicken for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the juices run clear when tested.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before cutting
Air fryer Tandoori Chicken
- Set the airfryer to 170C.
- I like cooking the chicken at a lower temperature in the air fryer. The chicken will cook for about 40 minutes to 50 minutes in the air fryer.
- Spray the base of the air fryer with a little oil. Put the marinated butterflied chicken into the air fryer. Cook at 20 minute intervals. Checking the chicken in the thickest part each time.
- If you have a 10 litre air fryer or bigger you will probably fit the potatoes as well. You may need to cook the potatoes separately if you have a smaller one. Set the chicken aside covered to rest while they cook. They will take 15 minutes on 190C
I am a huge fan of skin on bone in chicken legs…this looks so flavourful and tasty. I prefer to make this in oven. My airfryer is too tiny.
MMM will try this one out directly!