Name: Sheet Pan Chicken Tikka with Vegetables
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1kg (2 ½ lbs) chicken breasts or thighs, but into bite sized tikka; Vegetables of choice such as bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion etc.; Juice of two lemons; Salt to taste; 2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste; 1 tbsp mustard oil or rapeseed (canola) oil, I use mustard oil; 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder (more or less to taste); 1 tbsp ground cumin; 2 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp garam masala; 2 generous tbsp thick full fat yoghurt; 8 chapattis; 2 tbsp melted ghee or butter; Lime wedges to serve

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This sheet pan chicken tikka with vegetables and chapattis is a complete dinner all in one pan!

I am often asked if you have to cook chicken tikka outdoors on a barbecue or in a tandoor oven. The answer is most definitely not. To prove you can get spectacular results in your oven, I decided to come up with this sheet pan chicken tikka recipe. Everything is cooked in one sheet pan and it’s really easy too.

I do love cooking outdoors but you can get excellent results indoors cooking chicken tikka.

How long do you need to marinate the chicken tikka?

This too is a question I get asked often. So many people don’t make chicken tikka because they want it immediately and then find that they have to marinate the meat for 24 hours or more.

That really isn’t the case. For best results, marinate the meat for 24 to 48 hours. If you just want to cook up this sheet pan chicken tikka on a whim, do it. The chicken tikka will still be really juicy and flavourful!

How is this sheet pan chicken tikka a complete meal?

Believe me, it is. With all those vegetables and of course the warmed chapattis, you will get enough to eat. This recipe serves 4 but we almost always have leftovers. To make this sheet pan chicken tikka even better, we serve it with two sauces, one green and one white. These recipes are below. These sauces are optional. You could just top the chicken tikka with hot sauce and it will still be delicious.

FOR THE GREEN SAUCE
Blend ½ bunch fresh mint leaves, ½ bunch fresh coriander (cilantro) and 10 – 15 green bird’s eye chillies with just enough water to make a paste. Then whisk the yoghurt until smooth and stir in the paste. Season with salt to taste and a good squeeze of lime juice.

FOR THE RAITA
Mix 210g (1 cup) Greek yoghurt, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 4 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped and the juice of 1 to 2 limes. Then season with salt to taste. Easy!

Are there other ways to serve this sheet pan chicken tikka?

You bet. The obvious answer is to add it to a famous curry house style curry such as chicken tikka masala or chicken Madras.

If you have purchased any of my cookbooks about curry house style cooking, you’ll know that all those delicious sauces need to have pre-cooked meat, paneer or vegetables added to them. At curry houses, the chefs do this not only to speed up the cooking process but also to add another layer of flavour.

This sheet pan chicken tikka will go nicely in any restaurant style curry.

You could also opt to serve the chicken tikka with hot homemade garlic naans or peshwari naans instead of the chapattis. You will, of course need another pan to do that though.

Can the chicken tikka and vegetables be frozen?

Yes. You can freeze the cooked chicken and vegetables for up to 6 months. Don’t freeze it if not cooked as the yoghurt marinade doesn’t freeze well.

Working ahead…

The great thing about preparing chicken tikka is that it does benefit from marinating for 24 to 48 hours. That does not mean you have to do that but if you would like to work a couple days ahead of serving, your sheet pan chicken tikka will be even better.

There isn’t a lot of yoghurt marinade in this recipe. Why is that?

I don’t use much or any yoghurt when cooking indoors. If cooking immediately, I don’t use any but if marinating overnight, you need the yoghurt or the lemon juice will cook the chicken.

Using less yoghurt in a marinade it a good idea when cooking indoors as you don’t get the intense heat of the tandoor or charcoal fire. If you use more indoors, it might cake a bit instead of becoming crispy on the chicken.

How to make sheet pan chicken tikka

The photos below will give you a good idea how this is done. Be sure to read the recipe card below for ingredients and measurements.

Step 1.

Place the chicken in a mixing bowl and add the lime juice, salt, garlic and ginger paste and the mustard oil. Mix well with your hands.

Step 2.

Then, while the chicken marinates in the first marinade, whisk the yoghurt with the remaining second marinade ingredients. There isn’t a lot of it.

Step 3.

Mix the second marinade into the chicken, ensuring that you rub it right into the flesh. It’s best to leave the chicken to marinate for 24 to 48 hours but you could really just get on with skewering and cooking at this point.

Once the chicken is nicely coated, add the vegetables to marinate too.

Step 4.

Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes or more. This can be done ahead of time so you don’t need to wait. Spray a sheet pan with cooking oil spray and place the skewers on top.

Step 5.

When ready to cook, preheat your oven to 240c/460f. Thread the chicken and vegetables onto the wooden skewers and place them on a lightly greased sheet pan. Place in the oven and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how charred you want the chicken and vegetables to be. Baste with the melted ghee a couple of times as the chicken cooks.

About 10 minutes before taking out of the oven, wrap the chapattis tightly in foil and place them in the oven with the tikka skewers.

Step 6.

Take out of the oven and serve hot with the warmed chapattis.

You can top the chicken with the veggies and your sauces of choice. The two in the photo work really well. You’ll find the recipe for those above and in the recipe card below.

If you would rather, you could just add a good hot sauce.

Yield: 6