Classic Indian Chicken Tikka

The kebab scene in India is vibrant and colorful, and simply delicious. Popular spiced tandoor-cooked meats like tandoori chicken and chicken tikka, ground meat seekh kebab, and chunky boti kebab remain grilling classics, along with delicious vegetarian favorites like the cottage cheese paneer tikka and potato-based aloo tikki.

Chicken Tikka, made with boneless pieces of chicken grilled on an outdoor grill or indoor oven, is probably most synonymous with Indian food and quite simple to make, with most of the magic being in the process of marination! My time-tested recipe for tikka is worth having in your collection. And while tikka might work better in the summer months, I’d say, it’s a year-round special with many ways to serve it up.

Chicken tikka works well as a bite-sized starter served with chutney and naan bread, but its final destination can also be in curry-style preparations like the tomato-based chicken tikka lababdar or chicken tikka masala, and rice preparations like chicken tikka biryani.

“Tikka or Tikki” are words used to denote bite-size pieces of meat/vegetables cooked in a tandoor or on high heat, although they can all be oven-cooked or pan-sauteed. Adding lesser-known and more interesting flavor combinations to the tikka and kebab collection is common, like the melt-in-your-mouth finely minced lamb & lentil flour galouti kebab and the green haryali chicken, the more docile creamy malai chicken tikka.