How to Make The BEST Chicken Tikka at Home
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According to the Oxford Dictionary, a tikka is “an Indian dish of small pieces of meat or vegetables marinated in a spice mixture.” Chicken Tikka can be made with dark meat such as boneless chicken thighs or white meat using chicken breast. Depending on the occasion, I cook it either way and it turns out delicious every time.
At my favourite Indian restaurants in India, I would always get a starter of a trio of chicken tikka. This includes the traditional tandoori chicken tikka marinated in yogurt and a mix of spices, which is what we’re making here. This starter also includes Hariyali chicken tikka, made with a marinade of fresh herbs and spices, and finally, Malai chicken tikka, which is made with a marinade of cream and cheese. Do let me know if you’d like me to make recipes of these other chicken tikkas in the comments below!
The Marination
First Marinade
The chicken is first marinated in a mixture of lemon juice, Kashmiri deggi mirch and salt. The lemon juice helps tenderize the chicken slightly and intensify the overall flavour from the spices. The marination is quick, only about 20-30 minutes. The chicken may become mushy if left too long in an acidic marinade as this.
Second Marinade
The final marinade consists of yogurt, which helps to further tenderize the meat. Ginger and Garlic Paste combined with garam masala adds an underlying heat, while the deggi mirch adds a lot of color. NO FOOD COLOURING! Unlike other recipes, no artificial colour is used to achieve the classic red colour for tandoori chicken tikka.
The chicken may get a bit spicy. If desired, you can cut the amount you use but remember that using less chili powder will affect the final colour of the chicken tikka. This chill powder is not at all as hot as regular chill powder, so use it responsibly to suit your tastes.
Oven-Broiled Method
Usually a traditional tandoor oven (Indian clay oven) is used to prepare this delicacy, and the chicken tikkas, being boneless is ready within minutes. This recipe attempts to replicate the char and smokiness achieved in a tandoori using your oven broiler.
This technique includes placing the marinated chicken pieces on a wire rack, over a baking sheet. The baking sheet is then placed at the top most shelf of the oven and broiled until charred.
The tikkas are then tossed in butter to serve. You can skip this step if using chicken thighs as the dark meat is already extremely juicy. For chicken breast, however, I recommend you baste with butter during cooking and turning and brush a final layer of butter before serving. The chicken will turn out amazing and this recipe will completely change your outlook on what home cooked food means. I use this recipe to make my Murgh Makhani - Restaurant Style Butter Chicken and to make my tandoori chicken pizza.
Oh, and after cooking, the wire rack may be a bit hard to clean. A nifty trick I use to clean would be to flip the rack upside down on the baking sheet, pour water and let it soak for a few minutes.
Pan-Seared Method
If you don’t have an oven or forgot to preheat it and you’re ravenous for dinner, this method can be a life saver! What’s great about pan-searing the chicken is that the meat cooks much faster. However, I have to warn you that there’s a more likely chance of the meat becoming dry, so be careful.
I like to add a generous amount of oil, this will help keep the yogurt and lemon juice based marinade from sticking too much since both will caramelize. Simply add the chicken and cook on a medium high heat to give each side a nice sear.
If the chicken has the colour you’re looking for but it’s still under-cooked, lower the heat and gently cook until cooked all the way through. Turn the chicken pieces as necessary to get an even sear. I showcased this method in my recipe for Britain’s favourite - Chicken Tikka Masala here.
Chicken Thighs or Chicken Breast?
Chicken thighs are definitely my first choice if I am planning a special meal. It is much more tender and tender. Also, due to the fat content, the thighs are practically self-basting and don’t require additional help like chicken breast.
Chicken breast, on the other hand is great if you want a quick lunch or if you are looking to get the extra boost of protein. I use chicken breast for my Deconstructed Tikka Masala Lunch Bowl. It still tastes great with this marinade and is an easy swap to make!
A combination of the two cuts of meat can work as well, just keep in mind that chicken breast and thighs have varying cooking times.
Watch How to Make The BEST Chicken Tikka at home Here:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!