Have You Ever Tried Making Chicken Tikka In Oven Toaster Grill?
Image Credit: Chicken Tikka | Image Credit: Freepik

Chicken Tikka, also known as Murg Tikka, is a gastronomical delight from North India, which is evenly roasted chicken pieces marinated in yogurt and aromatic Indian spices. The marination process makes this all-time favorite entrée soft and succulent, and the flavours ooze out as soon as it touches your palate. 

So, What is Chicken Tikka? 

Tikka is a Chagatai – Eastern Turkish word that came to India with the Mughals and since has been a part of Hindi-Urdu vocabulary; it means tikku, piece, or a chunk. Chicken Tikka traditionally consists of tender chicken pieces marinated in spices and yogurt skewered on a metal skewer and cooked in big tandoor ovens in restaurants. Tandoor is a clay oven heated up by burning live wood or charcoal. Since we don’t have tandoor ovens at home, we can cook it on a grill. During its cooking, the food juices and chicken fat melts and flows on the hot grills, thus creating a lot of smoke which gives the dish a smoky flavour. The final product's aroma is so mouth-watering that any carnivorous human would instantly fall in love with the starter. 

How To Make Chicken Tikka In Oven Toaster Grills?

Chicken Tikka is usually cooked in three stages – Marination, Resting and Cooking. The critical point is to give it good resting time so that the meat can soak the juices, and the resulting taste is simply out of the world. It is a common fact that Chicken Tikka from restaurants is tasty and healthy. Still, contrary to the belief, the food outlets add heaps of oil and colour during the time to marination to provide the taste, but they don’t realise they are making it unhealthy. If you can master this recipe at home, you are in full control of your health as you can manage what goes in the dish. 

Ingredients

  • 1 kg Chicken pieces
  • 2 cups diced bell peppers
  • 1 medium/large onion chopped and layers separated. 
  • 1 cup hung or thick curd
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp garam masala
  • ½ tsp coriander powder
  • 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 tsp desi ghee
  • ½ tsp kasoori methi
  • 2-3 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp mustard oil
  • 2 tsp butter 
  • Salt to taste

For Serving

  • 1-2 Onion Rings
  • Chopped Coriander leaves
  • Lemon wedges

Marination

  • Take 1 kg of chicken and chop it into small pieces. Each piece should be 1 to 1 ½ inches in size and make deep slits on them. This would help the marinated juices to seep in. It is important to ensure there is no excess water in the chicken. You might want to consider using a kitchen towel to pat dry the meat. 
  • Add chili powder, turmeric masala, coriander powder, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, kasoori methi, and salt in the bowl and mix it properly. 
  • Once you have mixed it properly, add 1 cup of hung or thick curd and mix it again. You must ensure that the curd and masalas are evenly coated on the chicken pieces. 
  • Cover your bowl with a cling wrap and allow the marinated mixture to rest for 7-8 hours. Keep it in the refrigerator.

Preparation

ASIN ID - B07P1BR7L8 

  • Remove the bowl from the fridge; by this time, the pieces will have absorbed the flavours, and they are ready to be cooked. 
  • Add 2 cups of finely chopped bell peppers and 1 medium onion piece in the bowl and mix it well so that the pieces can be coated in the marination sauce. 
  • Thread the pieces onto the metal skewer in an alternate pattern – one bell pepper, one onion, and one chicken piece and place the skewers in a tray. Brush the pieces with some butter
  • Preheat the oven to 240C or 460F for around 9-10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200C and place the tray in OTG. Grill it for 15-20 minutes and remove the tray. 
  • Flip over the skewers, brush them again with some butter, and place the tray back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Make sure you continue to check the tikka while it's in the oven till you see some char or black spots in the chicken. 
  • Remove the tray and serve while it's still hot. 

Serving Suggestion


  • Sprinkle some chat masala on the freshly grilled chicken tikka. 
  • Add some onion rings and freshly chopped coriander to your plate. 
  • Serve with green chutney or mint cilantro chutney.

Tips for making chicken tikka in the oven toaster grills

  • While making chicken tikka, use chicken breast pieces instead of thigh pieces, as they remain juicy even after marinating and cooking for a long. However, if you do not have breast pieces, you can still use thighs. 
  • If you do not have enough time, you can marinate the pieces and let them rest for at least 30 minutes. The critical point is to allow the chicken as much time as possible to rest so that the meat can absorb the flavours. If you are using thigh pieces, you do not need to leave them for that long as they are usually ready in 1 hour, but they do not taste as good as breast pieces. 
  • Do not add food colour as it’s not quite healthy. The Kashmiri Chilli you have used is enough to give the red colour to the starter. 
  • If you want, you can leave bell peppers and onion while grilling the chicken, but they do add to the flavours in the grilling process and are a healthy option. 
  • If you do not have metal skewers, you can use bamboo skewers, but please make sure you soak them in water for at least 30 minutes so that they don’t burn while in the oven. 
  • DO NOT touch the hot tray with bare hands; always use gloves while handling the tray. 
  • If you are a vegetarian, do not worry; you can still enjoy this entrée; all you need to do is take paneer instead of chicken. 

We hope you enjoy your chicken tikka, and if you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! Happy eating!!