The Perfect, Juicy Cuts You Need For Chef-Approved Tandoori Chicken

You might be accustomed to ordering tandoori chicken at your neighborhood Indian eatery, but it's delicious to make at home, too. As flavorful as the Indian dish is, it's actually not incredibly difficult to whip up at home. Still, the key is to use the proper techniques and ingredients, especially the poultry. To find out the best cuts of chicken to use for tandoori, we turned to Varun Inamdar, the chef and owner behind restaurants New Light, Anokhi, and 27° West.

"Bone-in thighs and legs are the best cuts for tandoori chicken," he says. "These cuts retain moisture well and can withstand high temperatures, giving you the ideal combination of char, smokiness, and succulence. At 27° West in Singapore, we focus on precision — well-marinated, slow-roasted tandoori that is juicy inside and perfectly charred outside."

Another perk of using bone-in thighs and legs is the fat factor, as the cuts have more fat compared to breastsand will pass on that flavor to the dish. Both the bone marrow and cartilage will also provide layers of flavor in the tandoori chicken.

There's another tip when it comes to picking the thighs and legs at the butcher or grocery store to make tandoori chicken. "Skin-off chicken is preferred because the marinade penetrates better," chef Inamdar says. "Traditional tandoori cooking uses high-heat roasting, which can cause the skin to burn rather than crisp." Request the butcher to remove the skin, or carefully pull it away yourself. You can keep the skin and crisp it up for a crunchy salad topping to replace croutons.

"Removing the skin also ensures the spice flavors infuse deeply," Inamdar explains. "I render the chicken skin with some whole garam masala and dried red chillies and use the rendered fat to baste my tandoori chicken and chicken tikka." Try the tips with this tandoori chicken recipe that seasons the poultry with spices like the garam masala Inamdar suggests. Or upgrade our tandoori-style boneless chicken thighs recipe with even more flavor from bone-in thighs or legs. Marinate the bone-in, skinless chicken so that it has plenty of flavor from those spices before you cook. Let it marinate for at least two hours —but you can't go wrong with a little more time. When it's time to cook, cook the chicken to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of what juicy cut you use.