Tandoori Chicken Kabobs

These EASY Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with creamy, refreshing Cilantro Yogurt Dip are AMAZING!  They are wonderfully simple, incomparably juicy, astronomically flavorful, delightfully smokey AND the best part is the marinade does all the work!  They are threaded with juicy, bursting tomatoes, crispy bell peppers and punchy red onions for a meal-in-one that might possibly be the most flavorful chicken kabobs you will ever eat.  ever.  

tandoori chicken kabobs


 

I hope you all had an awesome 4th of July!  I had every intention of posting these incredible Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with Cilantro Yogurt Dip plus the best Spice Rubbed Steak with Herb Butter (coming soon) all before the 4th and was giddy at the thought of you feasting on them with your family and friends but sometimes life doesn’t go as planned.   Instead, I have been in the hospital for over a week with pneumonia with almost constant fevers for over 6 days (finally turned the corner yesterday).  Or in other words, a smelly, nauseous, hot and cold, pathetic limp noodle.

Typically, when I’m hospitalized with pneumonia (due to being immuno-suppressed due to having a lung transplant because of cystic fibrosis), I feel better almost right away and can go home a couple days later to continue IV antibiotics myself.  But after almost 18 years of post-transplant pneumonias, my body isn’t responding as quickly to the now one IV antibiotic I still show sensitivities to.

I’m not going to lie. Its kind of scary.

With less than 50% of lung transplant patients surviving over 10 years, I have always known every single day is precious but this in-your-face wake up call has me rethinking everything.  I just don’t know how much time I have.  None of us really do.

So if you see fewer posts from me a month its because I’m taking more time to cuddle with my sweet husband, more time to snuggle my fur baby, more time saying yes to friends, more time to playing outdoors, more time traveling, simply more time truly living.  And of course, a huge part of living is food, and I love sharing that part with you, but I never want my work to be at the expense of memories.  Memories that will have to last a lifetime, or in my case, outlast my lifetime.  So here’s to making them count!

So for a non-smooth transition, let’s talk these Tandoori Chicken Kabobs!

Patrick isn’t often home when I finish a recipe because I shoot during the day, but he was home for these Tandoori Chicken Kabobs, and we both made the ravenous memory together of devouring these otherwordly Chicken Kabobs.

Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with onions and green peppers.

You have probably seen iconic Tandoori Chicken on the menu of every Indian restaurant – with good reason – when they are done right, they are phenomenal!  Traditional Tandoori Chicken originated from Pakistan (although commonly thought of as from Indian) and is a flavor packed yogurt and spice marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor which is a cylindircal clay oven.

To make Tandoori Chicken at home or for our purposes, these Tandoori  Chicken Kabobs, you thankfully don’t need a tandoor oven, just a traditional oven or grill and they are surprisingly simple – just sit back and let the marinade do all the work!  Tandoori Chicken Kabobs are also a meal-in-one with no need for extra sides but I like to serve with Lemon Rice and naan.

Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with dipping sauce.

The tenderizing, flavor exploding marinade of yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and spices just requires 2-4 hours to work its magic.  And magic it is.  I can’t emphasize enough how wonderfully flavorful this chicken is without being too spicy.

Showing how to make Tandoori Chicken Kabobs blending herbs in a blender.

After the marinade, all that’s left is to thread and cook your chicken with tomatoes, peppers and onions to create an incomparably juicy, meal-in-one kabob.

Showing how to put vegetables and chicken on a skewer.

Just one quick note on the coloring of these Tandoori Chicken Kabobs.  If you are looking for the fiery red hue often found at Indian restaurants, you won’t get it unless you use food coloring.  Its true Tandoori Chicken gleans some of its red color from fiery red chilies, but the characteristic color cannot be achieved (even admittedly by restaurants) without red food coloring.  I didn’t use any dye in mine, but feel free to add a couple drops of red coloring to the chicken marinade if you wish.

Tandoori Chicken Kabobs next to bread and dipping sauce.

Wonderfully simple, incomparably juicy, astronomically flavorful, delightfully smokey Tandoori Chicken Kabobs.  Definitely a memory maker.  xo

Tandoori Chicken Kabobs over rice.

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Tandoori Chicken Kabobs being dipped in sauce.
REPLACE

Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with Cilantro Yogurt Dip

These EASY Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with creamy, refreshing Cilantro Yogurt Dip are AMAZING!  They are wonderfully simple, incomparably juicy, astronomically flavorful, delightfully smokey AND the best part is the marinade does all the work!  They are threaded with juicy, bursting tomatoes, crispy bell peppers and punchy red onions for a meal-in-one that might possibly be the most flavorful chicken kabobs you will ever eat.  ever.  
Servings: 10 -12 kabobs
Total Time: 1 hour
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients

Chicken Kabobs

  • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
  • 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
  • 2 green bell peppers cut into 1 1/2” chunks
  • 3/4 large red onion cut into 1 1/2” chunks
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil

Marinade

  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 6 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 inch ginger, peeled roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 1/2 tsp EACH ground cumin, chili pwdr, smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp EACH ground coriander, salt
  • 1/2 tsp EACH ground turmeric, cayenne pepper

Cilantro Yogurt Dip

  • 3/4 cup plain yogurt
  • 3 tablespoons Reserved marinade in directions
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Instructions

  • Cut chicken into 1 ½ inch cubes. Add to a large shallow dish or large freezer bag (whatever you are going to marinate in).
  • Add all of the marinade ingredients to your blender and process until smooth. Add 3 tablespoons marinade to a medium bowl followed by all the Cilantro Yogurt Dip ingredients. Mix to combine, cover and refrigerate.
  • Add all remaining Marinade to chicken and toss to coat. Marinate 2-4 hours (no longer).
  • NOTE: If using wooden skewers, soak for at least 30 minutes in water before grilling or broiling.
  • When ready to cook, add tomatoes, peppers and onions to a large bowl or 9×13 pan and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper and toss to coat.
  • Let excess marinade drip off chicken and thread chicken, peppers, tomatoes and onions onto skewers. Cook kabobs according to directions below.
  • Serve kabobs with Cilantro Yogurt Dip and naan and rice if desired. Serve with additional lemon and cilantro to taste.

TO GRILL

  • Grease grill and heat to medium-high heat. Grill chicken kabobs for approximately 8-10 minutes, rotating a few times until nicely browned and slightly charred on each side and chicken is cooked through (chicken registers 165 degrees F).

TO OVEN BROIL

  • Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Add the chicken kabobs in a single layer and broil, turning every 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through (chicken registers 165 degrees F), about 10- 15 minutes depending on thickness of chicken.

Serve

  • Serve kabobs with Cilantro Yogurt Dip and naan and rice if desired. Serve with additional lemon and cilantro to taste.

Video

Notes

I don’t consider this chicken overly spicy but just very flavorful.  It should be mostly kid friendly as is but you can leave out the cayenne pepper to make it extra safe for the kiddos if desired.

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28 Comments

  1. Sara J says

    Jen,

    I think the previous posters have expressed all the things I wanted to say pretty well, but just felt the need to say thank you. Thank you for the amazing recipes, your stories, and most importantly, thank you for sharing *you* with your readers. With that being said, please never apologize for needing to take a step away from the blog. Your health and family come first and everyone who follows your blog wants you to focus on those first.

    Good thoughts coming your way!

  2. Kelly says

    Please take care! You are right- every day is precious!!

    • Jen says

      Thank you so so much Kelly! xo

  3. Shauna burnes says

    I hope all is okay. I just love your recipes, thanks for sharing them with all of us 🙂

    • Jen says

      Doing well, thank you so much Shauna, you are very kind! I am so happy you are enjoying my recipes and hope you love these kabobs as much as us!

  4. Ashley says

    Ok these are delicious!! I made the yogurt sauce and then totally forgot to serve it ‍♀️, but they had so much flavor without it! I look forward to trying it with my leftovers today! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    • Jen says

      Thanks so much for the awesome review Ashley! I’m so pleased they were such a hit!

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