Baked “Tandoori” Chicken

I started off this pandemic era with increased energy for cooking and especially baking (see: Berry Pavlova with Chocolate Drizzle and Banana Chip Muffins), but recently I’ve swung to the opposite end of the spectrum. I think it’s a little bit of COVID-depression… It’s hard to get excited about cooking dinner, when your life consists of going to work and staying at home. For us, work is essentially back to normal (with more precautions), so we’re busy and tired at the end of the day. But I finally got it together and made a blog-worthy dinner tonight! The hands-on time for this chicken was minimal (seriously, like maybe ten minutes), but the result was delicious. A perfect weeknight meal. The only thing you have to really do is remember to marinate it the day before.

And yes, I know that tandoori refers to a clay oven and not technically a specific flavor profile, but that’s how the cookbook referred to their dish, and I can’t make my brain think of a better name now that that’s in my head. The quotation marks make it better 🙄🙄 And you get the idea of the flavor profile.

Baked “Tandoori” Chicken

(Adapted from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson)

Ingredients: 

• 8 chicken drumsticks
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup “Greek” style yogurt
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 2 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Stir together all of the ingredients except for the chicken until well combined.
3. Coat the chicken in the yogurt sauce in a glass dish or large ziplock bag. Refrigerate overnight to marinate.
4. Place drumsticks on a foil-lined baking sheet. Scrape of any excess yogurt if needed. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (recommended minimum internal temp of chicken is 165 degrees).

Serves 4