AIP Tandoori Chicken

When you go AIP it can be really hard to re-create dishes from your own culture or others that you love. This AIP Tandoori Chicken is crafted by NTP and AIP Certified Coach, Indira Pulliadath. Passionate about cooking, especially the southern Indian (Kerala) cuisine that she grew up eating, she offers a deliciously authentic take on Tandoori Chicken.

Table of Contents

Why This Recipe Works

While there are many amazing and creative recipe developers out there, there is something about the authenticity and appreciation of someone sharing their take on modifying their own cultural recipes (I myself have aimed to create several AIP Cuban dishes!). This AIP Tandoori Chicken is a perfect example of how amazing it is! You’re going to love it.

While this flavorful chicken marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic and other spices is traditionally grilled in a special clay oven called a Tandoor, this recipe aims to recreate the same flavors using a regular oven by using both the bake and broil settings. I am so thankful that Indira has shared this AIP Tandoori Chicken with us and her many amazing recipes in her new book AIP Indian Fusion!

AIP Tandoori Ingredients

• 1.5 lb. chicken thighs (boneless), cut into approximately 1 inch by 2 inch long pieces

For the marinade:

• 2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoon coconut yogurt or 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon AIP Garam Masala
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• Extra avocado oil for baking
• lemon wedges and red onion slices for serving

Ginger garlic paste:

• 2 whole garlic heads – peeled and cloves separated
• 2 inch by 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

AIP Garam Masala:

• 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Step-by-Step AIP Tandoori Chicken

• Making the Ginger Paste: Blend all the ingredients in a small food processor jar until you get a smooth paste. Transfer to an air tight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks

• Making the Garam Masala: Mix all the ingredients in a dry mixing bowl and transfer them to an airtight spice jar. Makes about 3 tbsps.

• Making the Tandoori Chicken:

• Dab dry the chicken pieces using paper towels and keep aside.
• Add all the marinade ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix well. Then drop the chicken thighs into the bowl.
• Using your hands, coat the thighs well with the mixture. Keep aside for anywhere between 30 minutes to 8 hours or overnight. If keeping longer than 30 mins, place in the refrigerator.
• Pre-heat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Brush it lightly with Avocado oil. Then place the marinated thighs on the tray and bake at 450 F for 15 minutes.
• After 15 mins, take the tray out and flip the pieces and bake again for about 10 minutes more.
• Take the tray out and change the oven setting to Broil.
• Now place the tray back into the oven placing it on the top most rack about 6-8 inches away from the flame. Broil for 1-2 minutes or so until you see a couple char marks on the meat. Turn the oven off and take the tray out of the oven.
• Cover the chicken with aluminum foil and keep covered until it’s time to serve. Cut the thighs into 1/4 inch thick pieces and serve with sliced red onions and a salad on the side.

About the Author

Indira Pulliadath is a nutritional therapy practitioner (NTP) and an AIP Certified Coach. Before working as a Nutritionist, she worked as a researcher in the health care industry for 15 years in the field of pharmacoeconomics and in data science.

Indira started looking into healing diets six years ago to control her severe and debilitating Rheumatoid Arthritis when medications alone were not enough, she was severely disabled and for a period of two years was in a lot of pain. Indira tried several alternate diets and therapies. Finally, AIP helped her tremendously to reduce her pain and inflammation which in turn motivated her to switch careers and become a nutritional therapist. You can read more of her story here.

Although she has been living in the US for the last 22 years, a piece of her heart still resides in India. She has always been passionate about cooking, especially the southern Indian (Kerala) cuisine that she grew up eating. You can find her Indian Inspired Paleo and AIP recipes on her website at www.cook2nourish. com. Indira also recently published her first cookbook ‘AIP Indian Fusion’ which has 114 AIP compliant recipes that are inspired by Indian cuisine. You can get more information about the book here.

What Indira has to say about her new cookbook, ‘AIP Indian Fusion’

In AIP, since many spices need to be eliminated, I took it as a challenge to still combine the allowed spices in different ways so that I could still create different curry options for myself. And that is something you will see in the recipes in this book a lot – me playing with the flavors!

AIP has helped me tremendously in improving my quality of life and so I really want to recommend this incredibly healing diet to all those who are suffering from an autoimmune disease. One of my goals in creating this book was to make AIP more appealing so that more and more folks feel encouraged to try this diet!

There are many people who hear about AIP but feel challenged to do the diet because they are afraid of feeling deprived. That is one thing I really want to help change. When I first finished writing this entire book, I felt really satisfied and joyful. And I could not believe how many ‘Indian inspired AIP’ recipes I had been creating these past few years! I am really hopeful that many folks would feel tempted to not only try AIP but also stick to it owing to the delicious recipes in this book!

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