Tandoori Chicken Bowls (Dairy Free & Gluten Free)

Dairy-free Tandoori Chicken Bowls with Mint Yogurt! An Indian restaurant favorite turned into a bowl recipe that is loaded with bold, savory Indian flavor and lean protein. Perfect for meal prep!

Are you ready to meet your new favorite dinner? Ok, here it comes! Tandoori Chicken Bowls!  Yes, as you guys really loved my dairy-free Butter Chicken, here's another Indian restaurant classic turned dairy-free, healthy, and meal prep-able.

If you are unfamiliar with tandoori chicken, it’s a super popular Indian dish that is basically chicken in a spiced yogurt marinade cooked in a very hot clay oven called a tandoor.

Get the perfect charr on your tandoori skewers!

Since I don’t have a tandoor oven in my backyard, I’ve adapted the recipe so that we can cook the chicken skewers in our oven! However as we're heading towards summer and I really love the char that comes from a grill, I also added instructions for outdoor grilling!

Grilling these in a hot oven adds such a nice smokiness to the chicken. And I know the recipe requires a ton of spices, so if you are missing a few, I recommend hitting up the bulk spices section! There,  you can just buy as much or as little as you need for the recipe. That way you don't have to buy the whole container.

I served these with a dairy-free mint dip made with coconut yogurt! If you're not a fan of coconut yogurt, use my cashew cream ! So good! Obviously, you could use regular yogurt as well if you're not sensitive to dairy!

How to make Tandoori Chicken Bowls:

Step 1 - Cut chicken into chunks for shish kebabs: first cut in thick “slices” then cut each slices in half. Make them equal in size.

Step 2 - Mix Marinade ingredients in a large bowl.

Step 3 -Add chicken to the bowl and cover to marinate 12 hours in the fridge. You can transfer everything to a large freezer bag in order to take up less room in the fridge.

Step 4 - Remove chicken from the marinade, shaking off excess (reserve the leftover marinade) Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers (roughly 4 per skewers) and place on a baking sheet.

Step 5 - Preheat oven to 400C/200C, with the oven rack set to the highest position. We’ll be cooking these with the broiler once the oven is up to temperature. Place the skewers, evenly spread on a baking sheet. Switch to oven to broil, and cook for 3-5 minutes per side. Brush with more marinade when you flip them. They’re done when the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F/74°C. Serve on a bed of rice (or cauliflower rice, to keep strictly paleo).

Step 6 - To make the minted yogurt: Combine ingredients in a food processor and blitz until mint is very finely chopped.

That's it! Just like that, you made tandoori chicken bowls and, if you are not planning to eat them all at once, meal prepped your lunches for the next 3 days. Either way, you are winning at life. Because eating all of these is also really easy.

Can I make these on a bbq?

YES! Start by letting your grill preheat with the lid down is key. You want the thermometer on your grill to read at a minimum of 250C, the hotter the better. A real tandoor oven is able to reach 500C, which is how they’re able to produce chicken that has so much lovely char on the outside while retaining a tender and juicy interior.

Letting your grill preheat also gets the rack as hot as possible, which will give us those delicious (and eye-catching!) grill marks. Once you place your skewers, drop the lid back down and avoid moving them around as they will stick to the grill rack until that side is cooked, at which point the meat will release easily.

Cooking times vary wildly from grill to grill but give the first side a minute-and-a-half to two minutes before you open the lid to check. You will flip your skewers once you can see that the meat is cooked past the halfway point from bottom to top. quickly brush on some leftover marinade before you flip them. Now, immediately brush the new tops as well before dropping the lid again. At this point, I would check them every 30-45 seconds until they are finished.

Tips:

• Don’t be a hero! Remove the baking sheet completely from the oven to flip and baste the skewers! This is where even the pros burn themselves - badly and often. Even the chefs in “Ratatouille” were drawn with forearm burn scars.
• To make the minted yogurt, don’t be tempted to chop the mint quickly by hand and throw it in, the food processor (or a blender) will ensure that the mint flavor is stronger and much more evenly distributed in your yogurt.
• If using wooden skewers, it helps to soak them in water for a minute or two before you skewer the chicken. This keeps the skewers from burning in the oven. This is usually more of a problem for barbecuing, but the broiler at the end can mess them up in this recipe as well.

5 from 5 votes

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Dairy-free Tandoori Chicken Bowls with Mint Yogurt!

Dairy-free Tandoori Chicken Bowls with Mint Yogurt! An Indian restaurant favorite turned into a bowl recipe that is loaded with bold, savory Indian flavor and lean protein. Perfect for meal prep!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword baked tandoori chicken, chicken dinner

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Marinating 12 hours

Total Time 12 hours 30 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 491 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup dairy-free coconut yogurt or full-fat coconut milk full-fat
• 2 tbsp coconut oil liquid
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp freshly ground ginger
• 5 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tbsp garam masala spice mix
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 ½ tsp coriander
• 1 tsp salt

Chicken

• 4 large chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs boneless, skinless

Mint Cucumber Yoghurt

• 1 cup coconut yogurt or cashew cream
• ½ cup mint leaves packed
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Mix Marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Cut chicken into chunks for shish kebabs: first cut in thick “slices” then cut each slices in half (see the blog post above for pictures).
3. Add chicken to the bowl and cover to marinate 12 hours in the fridge (you can transfer everything to a large freezer bag in order to take up less room in the fridge)
4. Remove chicken from the marinade, shaking off excess (reserve the leftover marinade) Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers (roughly 4 per skewers) and place on a baking sheet.
5. Preheat oven to 400C/200C, with the oven rack set to the highest position. We’ll be cooking these with the broiler once the oven is up to temperature
6. Place the skewers, evenly spread on a baking sheet. Switch to oven to broil, and cook for 3-5 minutes per side. Brush with more marinade when you flip them. They’re done when the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F/74°C.
7. Serve on a bed of rice (or cauliflower rice, to keep strictly paleo).
8. To make the minted yoghurt: Combine ingredients in a food processor and blitz until mint is very finely chopped.

For the barbecue:

1. Start by letting your grill preheat with the lid down is key. You want the thermometer on your grill to read at a minimum of 250C, the hotter the better. A real tandoor oven is able to reach 500C, which is how they’re able to produce chicken that has so much lovely char on the outside while retaining a tender and juicy interior. Letting your grill preheat also gets the rack as hot as possible, which will give us those delicious (and eye-catching!) grill marks. Once you place your skewers, drop the lid back down and avoid moving them around as they will stick to the grill rack until that side is cooked, at which point the meat will release easily. Cooking times vary wildly from grill to grill but give the first side  a minute-and-a-half to two minutes before you open the lid to check. You will flip your skewers once you can see that the meat is cooked past the halfway point from bottom to top. quickly brush on some leftover marinade before you flip them, then immediately brush the new tops as well before dropping the lid again. At this point I would check them every 30-45 seconds until they are finished.

Recipe Notes

• Don’t be a hero! Remove the baking sheet completely from the oven to flip and baste the skewers!
• This is where even the pros burn themselves - badly and often. Even the chefs in “Ratatouille” were drawn with forearm burn scars.
• To make the minted yogurt, don’t be tempted to chop the mint quickly by hand and throw it in, the food processor (or a blender) will ensure that the mint flavor is stronger and much more evenly distributed in your yogurt.
• If using wooden skewers, it helps to soak them in water for a minute or two before you skewer the chicken. This keeps the skewers from burning in the oven. This is usually more of a problem for barbecuing, but the broiler at the end can mess them up in this recipe as well.

Nutrition Facts

Dairy-free Tandoori Chicken Bowls with Mint Yogurt!

Amount Per Serving

Calories 491 Calories from Fat 243

% Daily Value*

Fat 27g42%

Saturated Fat 19g119%

Trans Fat 1g

Cholesterol 153mg51%

Sodium 897mg39%

Potassium 1219mg35%

Carbohydrates 10g3%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 3g3%

Protein 52g104%

Vitamin A 1465IU29%

Vitamin C 12mg15%

Calcium 138mg14%

Iron 5mg28%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

If you tried these tandoori chicken bowls , don’t forget to rate the recipe below and let me know how it went in the comments – I love hearing from you! You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook for more deliciousness and behind-the-scenes!

More healthy sheet pan chicken dinners you will love:

• Sheet Pan Za’atar Chicken Dinner
• One Pan BBQ Chicken Dinner
• Easy Baked Chicken Thighs
• Sheet Pan Mustard Chicken Thighs
• Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas