Oven Broiled Tandoori Chicken
This Oven Broiled Tandoori Chicken is super flavorful, charred, and smoky- just like at your favorite Indian restaurant! This healthy, low carb recipe takes only 20 minutes to cook and is perfect on its own or in your favorite Indian chicken dish. If you’re looking for a healthy, delicious way to start the new year, you MUST try this easy recipe!
Because the chicken is broiled rather than baked, it gets that delicious char on the outside that you’d normally get from grilling. That, plus the addition of smoked paprika, gives it a great smoky flavor without the hassle of grilling. The smoked paprika also gives it a great red color without the use of artificial dyes. It’s super quick to make- it only takes 20 minutes to cook in the oven! And it’s very healthy, since it’s made with chicken breast pieces rather than bone-in, skin-on pieces (which take longer to cook and have more fat).
The only thing that takes some time with this recipe is marinating. I recommend marinating overnight, but an hour will do in a pinch. You can also freeze the chicken marinated and transfer it from your freezer to fridge one day before you want to make it.
I love Indian food. But our favorite Indian restaurant is a thirty minute drive away. It’s not THAT far, but I know our days of going out to eat randomly are coming to a temporary hiatus, as we are expecting a little girl in only a few short weeks! I’m SO excited I have this recipe for when Indian food cravings hit but we’re trapped in the house. I’ll probably use this recipe next time I make my shortcut Chicken Tikka Masala, or for Curried Chicken Salad.
Tonight, we’re having this with an AWESOME Nepalese Potato Salad, which I’ll be posting about very soon. (With a GIVEAWAY! Woo hoo! Make sure you’re subscribed to Bowl of Delicious so you are in the know- just scroll to the top of the page for the subscription form.)
One quick word of advice. This chicken marinates in yogurt- I recommend using full-fat yogurt, but you can also use fat-free. If you do, I recommend adding a couple of tablespoons of olive (or other) oil to the marinade.
Recipe for Oven Broiled Tandoori Chicken below!
Oven Broiled Tandoori Chicken
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Equipment
- Wire baking/cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. chicken breast meat cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt*
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- salt and pepper to taste
- juice of one lime
- cilantro and lime wedges for serving optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl or gallon-sized plastic bag. Stir (or smush around, if in a bag), to coat the chicken evenly. Cover and marinate for at least one hour, and up to overnight, in the refrigerator.
- Place the chicken on a baking rack in a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
- Broil for ten minutes on each side, or until chicken is charred and fully cooked (see notes).
- Serve with extra lime wedges and garnish with cilantro, if desired.
Notes
- I recommend using full-fat yogurt. If using fat-free, I recommend adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the marinade.
- The chicken may come out dry if it overcooks - this can happen depending on if the chicken is cut into small pieces (and therefore cooks faster), if your broiler is hotter than most (I've had some that cook fast and some that cook slow), and even the kind of chicken used (air chilled vs. water chilled, etc.). Please adjust the cooking time according to these factors if necessary, and check the temperature for doneness with a meat thermometer (it should be 165 at the center of the thickest part when it's cooked fully).
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Wow, was this bad. Dry and over spiced. Threw the meal and the recipe away.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with this recipe! The chicken may come out dry if it overcooks – this can happen depending on if the chicken is cut into small pieces (and therefore cooks faster), if your broiler is hotter than most (I’ve had some that cook fast and some that cook slow), and even the kind of chicken used (air chilled vs. water chilled, etc.). I’m going to add a recipe note to this that talks about this with the recommendation to adjust according to these factors and to check the temperature for doneness with a meat thermometer (it should be 165 when it’s cooked). Hope that helps, to you or anyone else reading this comment!
I have a gass oven with two distances from the flame. Which setting should I use? The upper, or the lower? Looking forward to trying this.
When you broil things, usually it’s on the top rack, really close to the flame. That said, all ovens are different, so you may need to adjust the distance from the flame if it seems to be cooking too quickly! Hope that helps.
How long to broil if using drumsticks?
It should take about 20 minutes total to broil drumsticks- 10 on each side (depending on how hot your broiler is and how big the drumsticks are). I recommend double checking that the internal temperature is 165 degrees F just to be safe. Hope that helps!
Amazing!!!!
Glad you liked it!
Great recipe! I’ve tried it a couple of times in my broiler and it turned out very well. I added tandoori masala 1-2 tsp. (easily available in Indian grocery stores) as well, and that give us an edge in flavor.
So glad you liked it! Thanks for the suggestion to add tandoori masala- I’ll have to try that next time!
Thank you for the recipe! Is there any specific temperature to be set or pre-heated? If needs to be pre-heated, how long would it be? Sorry, i’m a first time oven-user. :)
Good question! The broiler will emit high heat from the top of the oven. I have a gas oven, so it’s literally just flames that come from the top. I don’t preheat mine, but if you have an electric oven, you might want to (about 10 minutes). There shouldn’t be a temperature setting for the broiler- but there might be high and low. If you have that, try high, and if it looks like the chicken is burning, turn it to low. Make sure you move your oven rack up close to the top of the oven as well. Hope that helps, and good luck! :-)
Looks delicious- On my list for this week-
Congratulations ? with precious zoey Rae
Many blessings for you and family- enjoy
Thank you Zoe! Hope you liked the recipe :-)