For The Best Chicken Tikka at Home, Use an Air Fryer

Tikka is a type of kebab

and what makes it tikka tikka is it's cooked in a tandoor,

which is a traditional clay oven

which goes up to thousands of degrees.

I think the air fryer is a great substitute for a tandoor.

It replicates the similar cooking style

because it's fast, hot, dry heat,

and it sort of gives you the same result

that a tandoor does.

I developed this recipe because I think with the air fryer,

you can make restaurant-quality chicken tikka at home.

[upbeat percussive music]

To start, we're gonna make the marinade

for the chicken tikka.

I'm going to add a little bit of ginger,

and this is finely grated on a Microplane.

And then garlic, quite a bit of garlic.

Followed by yogurt.

The yogurt is an essential part of this marinade.

It acts as a tenderizer.

It's thick enough so it clings to the chicken

and it will hold onto all of the spices

and coat the chicken well as it cooks.

Some lemon juice.

The lemon juice, also in some ways,

acts as a tenderizer because it's an acidic ingredient.

Then a little bit of neutral oil.

And I like adding oil to the marinade

'cause it helps everything brown a little bit,

and it prevents the marinade from drying out

as it cooks in the air fryer.

And now for all of the dry ingredients in the spice mixture,

the first one is gonna be very controversial,

but I use curry powder.

I admit, it's very unconventional.

There is nothing like curry powder in India,

but for accessibility reasons,

I think it's a great shortcut

to getting a lot of different flavors into this marinade.

And the brand that I actually like

is a Japanese curry powder called S&B.

I'm going to add paprika.

A lot of recipes for chicken tikka

you will see had red food coloring,

but I like to use sweet paprika

because I think it gives you that same sort

of deep red hue in a natural way,

and also, it adds a nice fruitiness from the pepper.

I also have some ground cayenne,

which adds a little bit of spice.

Cardamom.

This wakes everything up,

sort of like a punctuation in the marinade.

And then my final dry ingredient is going to be salt.

And I'm going to just stir the marinade together

to make sure all of the spices

are dissolved and well combined.

Like all grilled meats,

I think the chicken tikka benefits from being marinated.

I like to say a minimum of 15 minutes,

but ideally, it would be marinated overnight.

And the longer rest gives the yogurt

and the spices a chance to act on the meat.

The yogurt tenderizes the meat,

the spices absorb and flavor the meat.

I'm using boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

I think this is a superior cut when being grilled

or in, like, a high heat application, such as the air fryer.

Chicken thighs are naturally fatty

and they can hold up to being cooked

for a while without turning dry.

I know it might be tempting

to use a boneless skinless chicken breast,

but if you want the ideal amount of char on the outside

while retaining juicy meat on the inside,

I highly recommend chicken thighs.

I am just stirring everything around,

making sure the thighs are well coated in the marinade.

My chicken is ready.

I'm going to rest it for about 15 minutes,

and then we'll be ready for the air fryer.

[upbeat percussive music]

So, I have my air fryer preheating.

It's at 400 degrees.

And my chicken has been marinating for 30 minutes,

and I'm ready to cook.

The first cook is about 10 minutes,

so I set the timer for 15

just to give it five minutes of preheating time.

I think it helps cook the food a bit more evenly

and cooks it faster.

I'm going to lightly grease the bottom of the air fryer.

Most air fryers do have a non-stick coating.

They don't tend to stick,

but yogurt is sometimes susceptible

to being a little stubborn,

so a little bit of oil on the bottom is an extra insurance.

I'm placing the chicken,

trying to get them all in a single layer.

If the chicken overlaps instead of lying in a single layer,

it'll steam rather than char.

[upbeat percussive music]

The chicken is in, and the air fryer at 400,

and I've set the timer for 10 minutes for the first cook.

What's happening inside is all of the elements

have heated up and they're emitting heat,

but there's a fan on top

of the air fryer which is circulating,

and in doing so, it's pushing this hot air

across the air fryer basket,

and it's ensuring that more hot air

reaches this chicken more evenly,

which translates into a deeper color and a faster cook.

While it does work much like a convection oven,

because of it's size and shape,

it is just so much more effective at cooking

and doing the things a convection oven could do.

There are a few different kinds

of air fryer styles out there.

The basket style, which is the one I'm using here,

and toaster oven-style air fryers,

which are very much like a toaster oven.

Basket-style air fryers are typically much smaller

and the cooking chamber is able

to retain heat much more effectively

than in a toaster-style air fryer.

Even though the temperature might be the same

and they still have a fan,

the air doesn't quite hit the food at the same rate

as a basket-style air fryer.

Because of its size and shape,

I find that the basket-style air fryer

chars and cooks food much more effectively

than a toaster oven.

This cooking technique of employing the air fryer

isn't just relevant to chicken tikka.

It's also great for other smaller cuts of meat

that are great on the grill.

I'm thinking of sausages for instance,

or Korean-style short ribs, any kind of kebabs.

These are all great in the air fryer.

These are about ready to flip.

Oh, very nice.

So, I'm really happy with the color that I have.

You can see, like, bits of char.

The yogurt marinade has sort

of crusted over in the nicest way.

The dry air sort of removed most of the moisture

from that yogurt marinade,

and it's formed, like, a nice film on top.

But mostly, I'm very excited about all of those little bits

of char because that's flavor.

Now, I'm going to flip these,

and the cook on the second side is very brief,

mostly just to cook the chicken through

and not really for color.

I'm gonna put this back in, again at 400,

for maybe five to seven minutes.

Okay, the chicken is done cooking.

See how well-charred that is?

That's flavor, and that is as close as you're ever going

to get to making turn tandoor-style food at home

in your air fryer.

[upbeat percussive music]

Yeah.

Crispy, charry bits.

I think the chicken tikka looks really good.

Lots of pockets of char.

The marinade is dried out in the most pleasing manner,

but the chicken is still extremely juicy,

and that's thanks to using chicken thighs

instead of chicken breast.

To serve this chicken tikka, I do a very simple side salad,

just cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, and wedges of lemon.

I actually like to go ahead and squeeze the lemon on top

because I think it really sort of freshens everything up

and wakes up all of those flavors.

Okay, I cut these cucumbers in a very specific way.

I think cucumbers are best enjoyed

when they cut in very elongated spears.

Okay, perfect.

A little wedge of lemon, and we're done.

I like to serve it with either naan or pita bread,

and today, I have pita bread.

Looks great, really nice amount of char.

The chickens looks very juicy.

I like the cucumber and onion on the side.

I'm going to cut in and have a bite.

The chicken is still very juicy, not at all overcooked.

You can see that it's juicy.

You can see how the marinade is clinging to the meat

and all of those little pockets

where it's charred a bit more,

so I'm excited to try this.

I love that the spices feel really balanced.

It looks like it would be very spicy,

and there is a hint of spice,

but it's not overwhelming in any way.

And there's a nice bit of tartness

from the combination of yogurt and lemon,

and the chicken is still quite juicy.

This is proof that an air fryer

is for more than just reheating frozen snacks.

The fact that you can make restaurant-quality chicken tikka

at home in the air fryer never ceases to amaze me.

[bright tune]