Skip to main content

Recipe

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Tandoori chicken tray bake

Prep time: 
15
Cook time: 
60
Skill level: 
Low
Serves: 
4
A golden-baked tandoori chicken tray bake with turmeric rice, topped with dollops of creamy yoghurt and fresh coriander,.

This one-tray chicken tandoori bake delivers on flavour and saves on time and dishes. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Alice Zaslavsky is the host of A Bite To Eat with Alice, weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV and anytime on ABC iview. Alice is the resident culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, a food literacy advocate, bestselling cookbook author, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of veg into the curriculum.

Jump to Recipe

Alice Zaslavsky welcomes Ruva Ngwenya into the kitchen with a flavour-packed tandoori chicken tray bake with turmeric rice.

Raw chicken thighs with yoghurt, tandoori paste, rice, and coriander on a wooden surface.

These simple, everyday ingredients come together for a flavour-packed tray bake. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Knowing Ruva loves a hearty, satisfying meal, Alice creates a dish that's simple to prepare but big on bold, warming spices. The marinated chicken roasts on a bed of golden, aromatic rice, soaking up all the rich tandoori goodness. 

A baking dish filled with uncooked turmeric-infused rice, warm chicken stock, and aromatic spices.

Allowing the rice to soak up all the aromatic juices and spices makes this dish even tastier. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

With minimal prep and everything cooked in one dish, this is the ultimate fuss-free meal — perfect for a family dinner, or an impressive yet easy meal for guests.

A baking dish filled with marinated tandoori chicken thighs nestled in spiced turmeric rice and aromatic broth,.

This all-in-one tray bake saves on time and dishes — juicy tandoori chicken and fragrant turmeric rice cook together for a fuss-free, flavour-packed meal. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Tips

  • Biryani-style rice: The rice in this dish has a rich, spiced depth, similar to a dirty rice or biryani — perfect for soaking up all the tandoori flavours.
  • Bold is best: Don't hold back on spices and herbs! The more flavour, the better.
  • Ghee alternatives: If you don't have ghee, swap it for any neutral oil or a mix of butter and oil.
  • Slow-sweated onions: Starting with onions in a cold oven helps them sweat and develop a deeper, sweeter flavour.
  • Fresh cardamom for the win: If possible, use freshly shelled and crushed cardamom for a more aromatic and vibrant flavour.

Here’s the full list of recipes from Season 2 of A Bite To Eat With Alice.

This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show on ABC iview and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV.

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Tandoori chicken tray bake

Prep time: 
15
Cook time: 
60
Skill level: 
Low
Serves: 
4

Ingredients

Tandoori chicken

  • ½ cup (140g) Greek style yoghurt, plus extra for serving 
  • ⅓ cup (100g) tandoori paste (or whatever Indian curry paste you have in the fridge) 
  • 6 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in 
  • 1 brown onion, finely chopped 
  • 1 clove garlic, minced 
  • 40g ghee (or use 1 tablespoon oil and 30g butter) 
  • 300g (1½ cups) long grain rice, rinsed and drained  
  • 3 cardamom pods, crushed and seeds removed (use a mortar and pestle) 
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt 
  • ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric 
  • 625ml (2½ cups) chicken stock (or water), warmed 
  • Coriander sprigs, to garnish 

Method

  1. Stir the yoghurt and tandoori paste in a large bowl to combine. On each thigh, cut two 3cm incisions across the skin into the flesh. Then, add the thighs to the tandoori mixture, pushing into the incisions to help get as much flavour as possible into the meat. Cover and place in the fridge for at least an hour (or overnight), to marinate.  
  2. Place the onion, garlic and ghee into a large 20cm x 30cm deep-sided baking dish and stir to combine. Spread out over the base. Place the dish into the oven, then crank the temperature to 200°C conventional (180°C fan-forced). Cook for 15 minutes, open the oven and give the onions a stir to ensure not sticking. Cook for 10 minutes, or until onions are softened. Remove the baking dish from the oven.
  3. Tip the rice into the dish and spread out evenly. Sprinkle over the cardamom seeds and salt. Stir the turmeric into the hot stock (or water) to dissolve, and pour over the rice to give it a bit of colour. Arrange the marinated chicken pieces, skin-side up over the top. Cover the baking dish with a large piece of foil, sealing around the edges. Return the baking dish to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and take off the foil, being careful of the escaping steam. Place back in the oven for a further 15 minutes uncovered, to allow the chicken to brown.
  4. Transfer the hot baking dish to a cooling rack. The surface rice will have a light crust and be fluffy underneath, and the chicken slightly burnished around edges. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving. 
  5. Serve scattered with fresh coriander sprigs and blobs of yoghurt. 
Back to top