Tandoori Chicken : Airfryer Recipe Series

The essence of Tandoori Chicken lies in the Tandoori smokiness and the closest method to achieve this without a tandoor is using an air fryer. 

This is my first recipe in the air fryer series. I will be uploading various vegetarian options soon.

This is my ‘no-cheat’ method of Tandoori chicken. The marination is inspired from an interview of a famous restaurateur , which I had seen few months back . The key to Succulent Tandoori chicken lies in the duration of marinade and the basting of chicken with oil while cooking besides the secret marinade itself .

This recipe includes two marinades and a total marination time of 24 hours.Well, epic meals require epic preparations.

Marination time : 24 hours for 1 st marinade and 4-6 hours for 2nd marinade

Cooking time : 25 minutes

Tandoori Chicken 

Ingredients: 

• Chicken (with bone) : 1 whole chicken 
•  Primary marination :

1. Hung curd : 1 cup
2. Ginger garlic paste : 1 tbsp
3. Vinegar : 1 tbsp
4. Kashmiri Lal Mirch powder : 1tbsp
5. Chicken masala / Tandoori masala : 1 1/2 tbsp
6. Salt : to taste
7. Turmeric : 1/2 tsp

• Secondary marination

1. Mustard oil : 3 tbsp
2. Garam masala : 1 tbsp
3. Ginger garlic paste : 1 tbsp
4. Cumin powder : 1 tbsp
5. Coriander powder : 1 tbsp
6. Turmeric : a pinch
7. Kashmiri Lal Mirch powder: 1 tbsp
8. Kasoori Methi : 1 tbsp (optional , to add flavour ) 

• Tandoori Mint Chutney : click here for recipe 
• For garnish : 

1. Pickled Onions : 1 onion,cut in rings and soaked in vinegar and salt
2. Lemon juice : as per taste

Method

1. Thoroughly wash chicken pieces .
2. Marinade the chicken with a mix of primary marination and massage well. Keep the marinated chicken overnight in fridge . (24 hours prior to cooking)
3. Around 4-6 hours before cooking , marinade the chicken again with a mix of secondary marinade . Keep in fridge for 4-6 hours . 
4. Preheat the airfryer for 5 min at 180 degrees C .
5. Put the chicken pieces in the airfryer, drizzle few drops of olive oil.Cook in airfryer for 10 min. 
6. Check the chicken pieces and turn the sides of chicken . Baste the chicken with a mix of oil and red chilli powder. 
7. Cook again for 10 more minutes at 180 degrees C . 
8. Serve hot with Tandoori Mint Chutney , pickled onions and lemon juice.

Oven Baked Tandoori Chicken:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius. Put a foil lined tray in the oven (middle part) .

2. Take a wired rack . Shake off excess marinade from the chicken pieces and Arrange marinated chicken on it .

3. Place the wired rack above the foil lined tray .

4. Bake for 20 min at 180 degrees Celsius .

5. Apply more marinade on all sides of chicken and bake for 10 more minutes.

6. Apply more marinade on top of chicken. Bake again for 10 minutes .

7. Apply some more marinade and baste with oil. Bake for 10 minutes or more , this time at 220 degree Celsius . The chicken should have an internal temperature of 80 degree Celsius if you check.

8. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

9. Serve with mint Chutney , onions and lemon.

• Do not have 24 hours for marination?  Recently I tried the same recipe with a combined marination of all ingredients for just 2 hours and cooked the chicken in my oven . The results were still amazing . So don’t panic , just go for the recipe ! Make sure to baste the chicken midway with basting oil compromising of oil and red chilli powder. Here it is how it looked ! 

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