Chicken tikka is boneless tandoori chicken on a stick. The pieces are smaller, of course. That’s good. More surface equals more seasoning. These are little tandoori flavour bombs.
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 is key. You are working with small pieces of chicken – it’s easy to overcook them.
Start with indirect heat. Finish over direct heat. You want a bit of char. You don’t want dry chicken. Watch it closely.
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.
- 12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- tandoori marinade
- Combine tandoori marinade with chicken. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.
- Soak skewers in water for 30 minutes.
- 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. Cut each thigh into 4 pieces. Cut each breast, if using, into 8 pieces.
- Skewer the chicken.
- Grill over indirect heat until almost done - around 10-15 minutes.
- 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.
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.