This is tandoori roast chicken made easy!
Over the years, this tandoori roast chicken has been one of my family’s favourite Sunday night dinners. It is so easy to make and tastes amazing. The recipe calls for tandoori paste or tandoori masala. In my first cookbook, ‘The Curry Guy’, I featured my recipe, and have included that recipe below but a good quality commercially available brand will work just fine. You will find them at all good Asian grocers, online and also in many supermarkets.
This tandoori roast chicken recipe is from my cookbook ‘The Curry Guy Easy’ and it’s exactly that… EASY!
About this recipe
Tandoori roast chicken recipes are many and some are quite difficult and lengthy. So you will find the tandoori roast chicken quite simple. You know that if a recipe is featured in ‘The Curry Guy Easy’ cookbook, then it is easy.
Simple as it may be, you will still find the tandoori roast chicken to be really delicious. You just don’t need to do a lot of preparation to make tandoori roast chicken spectacular.
Working ahead
As with all of my tandoori roast chicken recipes, this tandoori chicken will benefit from a long cooking time.
So you can prepare the marinade a few days before cooking. If you do that, you might as well get that chicken prepared and in the marinade. You can do this up to 48 hours before cooking.
Then all you need to do is place the chicken in the oven and wait about an hour for some of the best tandoori roast chicken around.
What do you serve with tandoori roast chicken?
If you’d like to make your tandoori roast chicken into a feast, you’ve come to the right place. You could just go for a side of Basmati rice or mushroom fried rice.
If you’d like to make naans, why not try one of these? Instant naans, Peshwari naans, stove top naans, keema naans, garlic naans, tandoor naans (if you have a tandoor oven), or if you’re cooking outdoors, karahi naans. Oh, and really easy but just as delicious are homemade chapatis.
You might also like to serve this tandoori roast chicken with a good and easy tarka dal or slowly simmered dal makhani.
Want to start your feast meal off right? How about fried shop bought poppadoms or if you’re feeling ambitious, make your own poppadoms from scratch and serve them with coriander chutney, red onion chutney, and/or tamarind chutney.
Can this tandoori roast chicken be cooked on the barbecue?
You bet! This is one you will want to cook over indirect heat. Aim for the same cooking temperature as written in the recipe for the oven.
Doing this, you will get an amazing smoky flavour that is difficult to beat.
What is tandoori masala and tandoori masala paste?
You can purchase both of these at Asian shops and most are quite good though the quality does vary.
If you would like to make your own tandoori masala, you will get even better results with this recipe. Slowly roasting and then grinding the spices really brings out their amazing flavours.
Click here to make your own tandoori masala. If you want to make a paste, you will find a recipe for that here.
Don’t waste the leftovers!
Once you have removed and served all the meat from the tandoori roast chicken, you can use the bones to make a delicious stock.
Boil the carcass when you are finished with some onions, carrot and your favourite spices for a very tasty chicken stock that can be made into soups or added to your chicken curries. It is simply too good to waste.
If you are interested in making some Indian restaurant classics, you could add the cooking stock to my base curry sauce recipe instead of water. Doing this will ensure your chicken curries better than you will find at most takeaways and restaurants.
All marinated and ready for the oven.
Is tandoori roast chicken good for you?
It sure is! As with most tandoori chicken recipes, all of the skin is removed before marinating.
So it is much lighter than most roast chicken recipes but still just as delicious.
Dig in. This one is perfect for that next curry feast!
Can the tandoori roast chicken marinade be used in other ways?
If you enjoy this recipe, you might like to try the same marinade with different cuts of chicken or other meats. It is great used to make tandoori chicken tikka.
It is really good with lamb and beef.
Tandoori Roast Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 2.5kg (5lb 8oz) free-range chicken, skinned
- Melted butter, for basting Juice of 1–2 limes
- Salt
- FOR THE MARINADE
- 4 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 heaped tbsp tandoori paste or tandoori masala (more or less to taste)
Instructions
- Make the marinade by mixing together all of the marinade ingredients. Rub about a quarter of the marinade inside the chicken.
- Make shallow incisions into the chicken breasts, legs and thighs and truss it tightly. (If you aren’t familiar with how to truss a chicken, no worries. Just tie the the legs together tightly with a piece of string. It won’t win you any awards for presentation but it will help the chicken cook evenly.)
- Rub the remaining marinade all over the chicken, ensuring that all of the incisions are covered in marinade. Allow to marinate for 3–48 hours. The longer the better.
- When ready to cook, pre-heat your oven to its highest setting. Once the oven is hot, place the chicken in a roasting pan and roast for 40 minutes to 1 hour, basting regularly with the melted butter and cooking juices.
- Your chicken is ready when the juices run clear when you prick the thigh with a knife. If using a meat thermometer, aim for 75oC/165oF.
- Squeeze over the lime juice and season with salt to serve.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 204Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 1058mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 4g
jim Peterson
Saturday 8th of September 2018
Can a roast chicken recipe, be converted to be cooked in a tandoori? Should veggies , potatoes, carrots, etc., be cooked in the tandoori, along with meat or chicken? Should/could you line the tandoori with metal foil?
Thanks, Dan. I really appreciate any help, jim
Dan Toombs
Wednesday 19th of September 2018
Hi Jim
I often cook this recipe in my tandoor. You can cook almost everything in a tandoor from meat to veg to breads. No need to line with foil.
Thanks, Dan
Ewa
Sunday 21st of January 2018
I'm making it tomorrow !!!! Will be done on Monday. Can't wait. Btw. Are you British? As I read it was British who first created curry and then it went to India and so one. If you are , then this well cooking must be in your blood
Dan Toombs
Monday 22nd of January 2018
Hi Ewa
Thanks for getting in touch. Hope you enjoy the recipe. I'm originally from the US but have lived in the UK for 25 years. I'm now British. :-) The curries we get here in the UK at curry houses were developed here. Curries, however did come from Indian.
Dan
ian henderson
Saturday 7th of October 2017
Hi Dan I was one of the first to pre order your book and have enjoyed the recipes. But I find in some of your recipes that you use pre cooked lamb or chicken. I feel that I am making the same curry twice and have no room in my freezer for base sauce or pre cooked meat. I am making your tandoori chicken again tonight it's fantastic
Dan Toombs
Tuesday 17th of October 2017
Hi Ian
Thank you very much for purchasing my book. The recipes you are referring to are the classic curry house recipes. It is done for speed but you could definitely adjust the recipes to taste. You can even add raw meat and let it cook longer. Hope this helps.
Thanks, Dan
pavitra
Tuesday 5th of September 2017
Amazing, I love roasted chicken. I tried it. Its delicious. Your recipes are superb. Thanks for sharing.
Dan Toombs
Thursday 7th of September 2017
Thank you very much Pavitra. :-)
dlora
Saturday 4th of March 2017
Hi this looks delicious! I just wondered what you would reccomend to put with this to make a full meal?
Dan Toombs
Sunday 5th of March 2017
Hi Dlora
Roast potatoes, salad, pretty much anything. Think of it as a Sunday dinner roast. You can use the veggie recipes from my site or just steam some up.
Thanks, Dan