Chicken Tikka Recipe: How to Make Chicken Tikka

Step 1

Wash the boneless chicken and pat it dry. Next, slice the chicken into bite-sized chunks. To prepare the marinade, take a large bowl and mix yoghurt, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, salt, garam masala, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, kasoori methi powder and turmeric and stir until well-coated. Mix well and then add mustard oil. Then add, gram flour and chaat masala and mix once again. Once the marinade is done, taste a bit and adjust the seasonings.

Step 2

Add chicken pieces in it and marinate, covered, for overnight in the refrigerator. The longer you will marinate chicken, the more succulent and juicy it will be. Afterwards, wash the green and red bell pepper, and cut them into cubes in a small bowl. Then, peel the onion and cut into cubes as well in a separate bowl. Keep them aside until required.

Step 3

Take the marinated chicken out of the refrigerator and add the cubed veggies in it. Marinate them for 10-15 minutes and line a baking tray with a foil or baking sheet. Put a rack over this baking tray for grilling the chicken tikka. Take skewers and put the marinated chicken in it along with bell peppers and onion cubes. Place them alternately and put these skewers on the rack. Make sure there is space underneath the chicken to help distribute the heat more evenly. (Note: Preheat the oven at 250 degree Celsius for grilling the chicken tikka for a minimum of 15 minutes.)

Step 4

Add the baking tray into the heated oven and grill the tikka for about 20-30 minutes until they are tender. You can check after 15 minutes to check if the chicken is half done. Make sure that the chicken pieces are not that big, else it will take more time to cook and the veggies will be burnt by that time. After 20-25 minutes, rotate the skewers so as to cook from all the ends. Once done, serve with green chutney.

Step 5

Whenever you want to make Chicken Tikka, try to use boneless chicken thighs as they are juicier than the chicken breasts with high-fat content in them. For a rich taste in your chicken tikka, make sure that the spices you are using aren’t old. It’s best if you dry roast and grind the spices for marination purposes. For making restaurant-style Chicken Tikka, it is a must to marinate the chicken twice. First, marinate the chicken with ginger-garlic paste and salt for 20-24 hours. Then, you can marinate this chicken with hung curd and all the other herbs and spices for about 8-10 hours. For that perfect colour in your tikka, try not to use any colours. You can use degi mirch or Kashmiri red chilli powder. It will give your tikka an amazing flavour as well.