Whole Chicken Tandoori Roast
This is the most delicious twist on a traditional British roast with a whole tandoori chicken as the star ingredient. Easy-peasy, one-pan recipe that's essentially foolproof.
Ingredients
Tandoori Chicken
- 1 1 whole chicken
Tandoori Marinade
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 5 cloves garlic about a tablespoon minced
- 2 inch fresh ginger about a tablespoon minced
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp garam masala substitution: curry powder
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- ½ tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp green cardamom powder
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
Basting Sauce
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder, Aleppo chili, or cayenne pepper2 tbsp
Instructions
Make the Tandoori Chicken Marinade
- If you’re using already minced ginger and garlic, go ahead and combine everything in a bowl.If you’re using garlic cloves and nubs of fresh ginger, blend the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and ginger in a blender or food processor. Then add the spices into it and stir to mix well. Set aside.
Make the Basting Glaze
- Melt 2 tablespoons of ghee and mix a teaspoon of Kashmiri chili powder, Aleppo chili, or cayenne pepper into it. Set aside until the chicken is halfway through roasting - this gives it time for the chili to infuse into the ghee.
Spatchcock the Chicken
- Use kitchen or poultry shears to cut along each side of the chicken spine. You want to cut as close to the spine so you don’t remove excess meat but if you don’t succeed, that’s okay, too. We’ll be saving this chicken backbone for delicious broth later so extra meat just adds to the flavor.Once you’ve removed the spine, open the chicken up. Use a sharp knife or shears to cut the cartilage above the breast bone. It'll now be laying pretty much completely flat.
Marinade the Tandoori Chicken
- Place the chicken in a large bowl and smother it on both sides with the marinade.Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for 3 hours.
Roast the Whole Chicken & Veggies
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Place the whole chicken on a large baking sheet lined pan. Pour any remaining marinade on top and place it in the oven. Let it bake for 25 minutes.
- While it bakes is the ideal time to prep any vegetables you’ll be roasting with the chicken. Here’s what I used:Baby potatoes: Get them washed and ready, chopped if you prefer.Carrots: Washed with both ends chopped off. I used rainbow Chantenay carrots so they didn’t need peeling.Onions: Peeled and sliced thinly.
- When the chicken is finished baking for 25 minutes, take the whole pan out of the oven. Add the potatoes, carrots, and onions to the pan. Coat the vegetables in the marinade and chicken juices that have dripped out.
- Then, baste the chicken with the chili pepper-infused ghee basting glaze. No need to do the underside - just be generous on the breast, wings, and thighs.
- Stick the whole pan in the oven again and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and a meat thermometer inserted into the deepest part reads 165°F (75°C).
Let it Rest
- Take the chicken out of the oven when it’s ready and let it rest for around 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Save that backbone. The backbone that you cut out of the chicken to spatchcock will make a lovely chicken stock. Combine it with all the leftover bones from the tandoori chicken, add onions, garlic, green onions and simmer for 2 to 3 hours and you'll end up with the most delicious stock.
Don't have ghee? If you don't have any ghee on hand to baste the chicken with, use butter or oil.