Chicken Tandoori Kabobs in the Air Fryer

Empire Restaurant in Bangalore is basically the Chipotle of Tamil Nadu, India. Cheap delicious food, that may or may not have you crying on the toilet later. Foodie adventures in a developing country- you just never know what you might find! But if you are traveling through southern India, Tandoori Chicken Kabobs are an easy, delightful street food find. Here in a United States kitchen, they are harder to find than Kamala Harris at an AA meeting.

I mean, who in the U.S. has a Tandoori oven in their home? But here in the good ‘ol US of A, every home cook seems to own an air fryer these days.

It’s actually so much easier than you may think to create authentic chicken kabobs like you might find from Empire Restaurant in Bangalore but without the mess of deep frying and all those extra calories that come from deep frying.

In Bangalore, India, chicken kabobs are the streetside snack of choice. You can find them at any street-side food cart, piping hot and dripping with flavor.

Believe it or not, creating these spicy kabobs at home in your air fryer is so much easier than you would think. These zesty Air Fryer kabobs taste amazing in my Curried Chicken Salad too. I’ve been making this salad for about 15 years now, and it’s a family favorite. In the summertime, I literally make this almost every week.

If it’s summer, you can usually find me out and about in Big Bear Lake trekking the most scenic hiking trails either with my clients as Big Bear Lake’s most popular hiking guide or perhaps on my days off with my adventure dog. If I do manage to get any kind of day off in July, I love to try to get away for a long hike with my pup either to Geronimo, the highest ski run in Big Bear Lake. Or, if I’m fortunate, sometimes we’ll get out of town and go for a 22-mile round-trip hike up San Gorgonio.

When my exhausted pup and I come back from a 22-mile day hike, you better believe we’re doing something easy for dinner. This simple tandoori chicken dinner is so easy to marinate the chicken the night before and basically just toss it in the air fryer for 20 minutes when you get back home, starving and needing a delicious Anglo Indian meal. Trust me, you will never go back to Costco rotisserie chicken after you have tried this tangy and spicy tandoori chicken.

When you think Tandoori Chicken, okay, yes, you may think of a Tandoori oven, but you can actually create these  Tandoori Chicken Kabobs in the air fryer! And I swear they turn out zesty, spicy and grilled to perfection each and every time.

Tandoori Chicken Kabobs in the Air Fryer

1 package chicken thighs, remove the bone, skin on, slice each into thirds

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon grated garlic

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

3 teaspoons of water

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon tandoori seasoning

1 teaspoon Greek yogurt

1 lime

Fresh mint to garnish

In a saucepan, add the sesame oil with the garlic and ginger. Heat the sesame oil and scoop the curry powder on top of the garlic, ginger so it does not splatter. Store just a bit as the garlic paste cooks, adding a quarter cup of water as it dries down. Cook this masala down for just five minutes until the spices are no longer raw and the garlic is cooked. Set aside for five minutes.

After five minutes, mix in the soy sauce. Squeeze in lime juice, the tandoori seasoning and the yogurt. Add this marinade to your chicken thighs. Let this marinate at least two hours to overnight.

When you are ready to fry the Tandoori Chicken Kabobs, add them to your air fryer in a single layer at 400°F for 25 minutes. Check them for doneness. Depending on the size, they could need another 5-7 minutes.

When ready to serve, squeeze some lime over the top of your Tandoori Chicken Kabobs. Sprinkle on fresh mint. These are great served with my Mint Chutney.

Or try them with the aforementioned Curried Chicken Salad.