If you are not running for your life through the cow dung-filled streets of Kammanahalli, Bangalore, while an Indian bassu (City bus) chases you down, well then, you probably have not built your appetite to enjoy these authentic Empire-Style Air Fryer Chicken Kabobs! Is it hard to run from a bassu while wearing a traditional Indian style ladies’ kurti as you sprint over the broken sidewalks of Bangalore? Well, there are no crosswalks anywhere in India and if there were, it’s not like the old school Royal Enfield bikes, Yamaha Scootys, and green rickshaws would stop anyway!
Of course, the last time I scurried through the streets of that concrete jungle in southern India, desperate to get to the Empire Chicken chain across Kammanahalli Main Road, was five years ago. My forty-six-year-old ankles and knees were a lot younger back then. I don’t think my bad ankle would put up with a quick 5K through the streets of this Garden City here in 2026. Even if I was really craving some of the best Indian Style Fried Chicken in the world. Forget about KFC. The Colonel has nothing on Empire Style Chicken Kabobs.
Lucky for you (And me with my decrepit 46-year-old ankles), you don’t have to fly 9,000 miles across the world to taste the best Chicken Kabobs this side of Karnataka. This easy air fryer recipe is doable in any American home kitchen. I mean, as long as you are not terrified of red food coloring (And I, for one, will not judge you if you are)
Warning: this recipe does call for red food coloring. Yes, I do realize that RFK JR will not be featuring my delicious concoction on The Real Food Show but I don’t blog and orate just because I am aiming to air on next season’s episodes of So You Want To Be America’s Next Anglo Indian Food Blogger Extraordinaire.
Empire Style Chicken Kabobs: Yes, apparently Authenticity Comes in Technicolor
Yes, for my Empire Style Chicken Kabobs, I use a little red food coloring. Shhh. Nobody tell Gordon Ramsay. Although that foul-mouthed Englishman loves a good curry house, so perhaps he would climb down from his FOX Studios soapbox long enough to understand what we are trying to accomplish here.
Because if you have ever ordered chicken kabobs at an Indian restaurant and they arrived looking pale beige, you would immediately wonder what happened. Did somebody forget the spices? Is this Indian food or KFC with turmeric?
That bright red restaurant-style color is part of the whole experience. Does it magically make the chicken taste better? No. Does my brain look at fluorescent red chicken and immediately think, YES, THIS IS GOING TO BE DELICIOUS? Absolutely.
The Recipe Said Red Food Coloring. My Health Anxiety Said, “What would RFK JR do?”
Now, before the wellness aunties come for me, I know. Synthetic food coloring is not exactly kale. The FDA revoked authorization for FD&C Red No. 3 in foods in 2025, with food manufacturers given until January 2027 to reformulate. Interestingly, the FDA also says the available scientific information does not show the same cancer mechanism seen in male rats occurring in humans; the legal action was required under the Delaney Clause. So this subject is considerably more complicated than “One red kabob and you immediately grow a third nipple.”
And yes, American regulators are currently pushing food manufacturers away from petroleum-based synthetic dyes altogether. Somewhere RFK Jr. just sensed that I opened a bottle of red food coloring and doesn’t know why.
Relax, sir. It’s three drops.
What makes the whole thing even funnier is that Karnataka—the southern Indian state where Bangalore is located—actually banned artificial colors in vegetarian, chicken and fish kebabs in 2024 after officials tested kebab samples and found problematic artificial colors, including sunset yellow and carmoisine. Apparently, even India looked at some of these glowing-red kababs and said, Okay, guys. Maybe chicken does not actually need to be visible from space.
That is what fascinates me about India. This is the country that gave us Ayurveda, an ancient Indian system of health and medicine with a massive emphasis on diet, lifestyle and the body as a whole. Then you walk fifty feet down the road and somebody hands you a piece of chicken the approximate color of a traffic flare. India is a beautiful land of contradictions. And I can’t get enough of it.
You can start the morning contemplating holistic wellness and finish the afternoon eating something red enough to direct aircraft onto the runway.
Still, I just cannot picture my Indian family getting excited when I announce that I’ve decided to replace the traditional restaurant-style food coloring in my Empire Style Chicken Kabobs with beetroot juice.
“Look, Auntie! Natural coloring!” No. I already know the look I would receive. The same looks I received the first Christmas I set in Bangalore: I went to every street-side market I could find to locate the one sweet potato available in all of Kamanhalli to make Sweet Potato Pakoras and you wouldn’t believe the stares of horror my appetizer received.
You know the Indian-family look. Nobody even has to insult you verbally. One eyebrow moves approximately three millimeters and suddenly you are reconsidering every life decision you’ve made since kindergarten.
Beetroot? In the kabob? Why? What was wrong with you? I would be canceled by the family faster than The Office India.
Well, it turns out that turmeric is good for more than just turning Butter Chicken into one of the greatest reasons to own stretchy pants. Turmeric contains curcumin, the compound responsible for much of its anti-inflammatory reputation, and it has also made its way into plenty of skincare products. So if your face is feeling especially greasy and trail-dusty after a long summertime hike, you might want to try a turmeric clay mask. Clay can help absorb excess oil, while turmeric gives your skincare routine a little Indian-kitchen crossover moment. Just patch-test it first because your face may not be as enthusiastic about turmeric as Auntie is.
Honestly, turmeric is one of those ingredients that seems determined to be useful everywhere. Put it in your curry. Stir it into marinades. Find it in skincare. Apparently, the only place turmeric does not belong is on a white shirt, because that stain will remain with your family for approximately four generations. And yes, this is why the Indian home chef in me is constantly purchasing gently used white shirts at my local thrift store. So yes, Auntie was right again: turmeric is good for far more than Butter Chicken. Just don’t take that statement literally and start rubbing your masala dabba directly onto your forehead.
Empire Restaurant: My Favorite Bangalore Bad Influence
The easiest way I can explain Empire Restaurant to an American is that Empire is basically the Chipotle of Bangalore: casual, fast, delicious and exactly the kind of place where you tell yourself you are just getting a little chicken and somehow emerge with enough food to feed six cousins. However, this is possibly the worst week in history for me to make the Chipotle comparison.
As of August 2026, U.S. health officials are investigating a Salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated jalapeños that had been supplied to Chipotle and QDOBA restaurants. Chipotle changed the affected jalapeño supplier beginning July 20, and officials have said there is no current ongoing risk from the affected product at Chipotle restaurants.
So apparently Chipotle heard me joking about the Curry Bum Cleanse and said, “Hold my guacamole.”
My first trip to southern India was about ten years ago, and Empire Restaurant quickly became one of my favorite places to eat. I became completely addicted to their Butter Chicken, because apparently I needed to travel halfway around the world to discover yet another method of combining chicken, butter and cream and pretending this was culturally educational.
The chicken used for Butter Chicken is traditionally cooked first—often tandoori-style—before being simmered in that glorious buttery tomato gravy. That is part of what inspired these Empire Style Chicken Kabobs. But instead of firing up a tandoor in my Big Bear backyard and alarming the neighbors, I make my version in the air fryer.
My BPA-free air fryer gives these Empire Style Chicken Kabobs gorgeous browned edges while keeping the chicken tender inside. I only use a small amount of flour in the recipe, so they stay relatively low-carb while still feeling like actual food. Because there is nothing sadder than a “healthy” dinner that leaves you standing in front of the refrigerator forty minutes later eating cheese directly from the package.
I absolutely adore these Empire Style Chicken Kabobs for an easy Indian dinner with my homemade Mango Mint Chutney. That sweet, spicy, herby chutney against the smoky chicken is ridiculous. And always make extra.
I deliberately cook more Empire Style Chicken Kabobs than we need for dinner because the leftovers are fantastic tossed back into the air fryer for a few minutes the next day. I slice them over one of my favorite summertime salads, especially my Curried Chicken Salad, and suddenly yesterday’s Indian dinner has become today’s high-protein hiking lunch.
Look at me. Meal prepping. Using turmeric. Even on my face and not my shirt. Eating protein. Basically Ayurveda Auntie of the Year. Just don’t look too closely at that tiny bottle of red food coloring hiding behind the cumin.
The Air Fryer: For People Who Want Tandoori Flavor Without Constructing a Clay Oven
Spoiler alert: hey, you over there in the USA wearing the MAGA T-shirt—you do not need a clay tandoor oven in the backyard to make fantastic Empire Style Chicken Kabobs. You just need a BPA-Free
Air Fryer and the confidence to pretend your kitchen is somewhere in Bangalore. Yes, chicken kabobs at home really are this easy. No clay oven, no complicated setup, no calling somebody’s Indian auntie for emergency technical support.
Now, when the recipe says, “Add a few drops of red food coloring,” my healthy dose of food-related anxiety immediately says, Absolutely not. Have we learned nothing? We eat pretty darn healthy at home most of the time, so pouring suspiciously fluorescent red liquid into my chicken feels a little like undoing an entire week’s worth of salads in three drops. But I also know these kabobs just would not look quite the same if I suddenly went rogue and substituted beetroot juice. My Indian family would take one look at those naturally pink kabobs and ask what kind of California nonsense I had brought into the house.
So I sucked it up, added the red coloring, said a small prayer, reminded my body that my usual 36-hour Monday fast was coming, and then proceeded to shove that hot, crispy chicken directly into my face. What would RFK Jr. do? He would probably inspect the ingredient bottle, give me a forty-minute lecture, ask who manufactured it… and then quietly reach for a second kabob.
What Goes with Empire Chicken Kabobs? Basically Everything Except Ketchup
And really, what can’t you do with Empire Style Chicken Kabobs? They are fantastic chopped up as the protein in my Best Curried Chicken Salad, or served simply with chopped red onions, fresh cilantro and lemon wedges. Dip them into Mango Mint Chutney, pile them over a bed of my Pomegranate Raita Coleslaw, or just stand over the air fryer eating them one at a time while telling everyone else dinner will be ready shortly.
I even serve these alongside my favorite Keto Buffalo Chicken Salad with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing when I want something a little less traditionally Indian and a little more “California woman with seventeen different condiments in the refrigerator.” And honestly, these homemade air fryer kabobs are considerably more low-carb than most of the frozen breaded Buffalo chicken options I find at California grocery stores. More protein, less breading, tons of flavor—and absolutely no sad frozen chicken nuggets pretending they went to culinary school.
Empire-Style Chicken: Because Bangalore Does Not Do Bland
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon of garam masala
3 drops of red food coloring
1 teaspoon fresh grated garlic
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
3 teaspoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1-2 serranos, chopped fine
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon of white flour
1 tablespoon of rice powder
1 tablespoon of potato starch
2 pounds of chicken thighs with bones and skin
Mix all the ingredients, sans the chicken pieces, until well mixed. Slice your chicken pieces into thirds. Set this aside to marinate for at least six hours or overnight. When you are ready to cook the kabobs, set your air fryer to 420, cook for about 22-25 minutes, shaking the basket once or twice in between.
Yes, this batter will be thick. Don’t worry about it being too thick; your chicken meat will always have water in it, enough to get the spice rub to stick to the meat. Let your chicken kabobs marinate for at least three hours or overnight. When you are ready to cook them, place the kabobs in the air fryer at 425 for 21-45 minutes, shaking once midway through.
