Amazing sheet pan chicken tikka
on Aug 23, 2018, Updated Jan 27, 2020
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This sheet pan chicken tikka with cauliflower and potatoes is not only one of the most delicious meals we regularly make in our house, it’s one of the easiest. And the best part is that you need just 5 (or 6) ingredients to make it!
My favourite meals to post here are the ones that become our midweek go-tos. This amazingly delicious Greek chicken and potatoes appears on our dinner table regularly for very good reason, for instance. As does this baked chicken and chorizo with tons of cherry tomatoes and basil.
I know that if WE like it so much, then there’s a pretty good chance many of you will like to have it in your regular meal rotation too!
I can’t claim much credit for this sheet pan chicken tikka, though. I first saw a very similar recipe in Jamie Oliver’s fabulous book 5 Ingredients (affiliate link – I highly recommend this book for people who like ridiculously easy and delicious recipes).
Jamie makes it with a whole chicken. Although I know that’s often the more economical way to buy chicken, I generally find cooking with chicken thighs easier.
Anyone else not a huge fan of carving whole chickens?
So I decided to adapt Jamie’s chicken tikka recipe into a tray bake (or sheet pan if you’re in the USA) dinner.
It doesn’t really matter what you want to call it. This sheet pan chicken tikka with cauliflower and potatoes is off-the-charts delicious, and you only need FIVE essential ingredients:
- chicken thighs
- cauliflower
- potatoes
- chicken tikka paste (with so many yummy spices in it!)
- Greek yoghurt (to dollop on the side!)
So how do you make sheet pan chicken tikka?
If I saw this recipe title for the first time, I’d assume it was tricky to make. But of course since you found it here, it isn’t!
All you do to make it is chop up potatoes into small cubes and give them a 20 minute head start in the oven. Then you add chopped cauliflower, and chicken smeared all over with tikka paste to the tray. Bake for 45 minutes and you’re done.
Two of your essential ingredients – small cubed potatoes and tikka paste
Add the caulifilower to the partly-roasted potatoes, then tuck in the marinated chicken.
Really, that’s it. And the result is breathtakingly delicious. The tikka paste drips off the chicken and onto some of the cauliflower and potatoes, and mingles with the chicken juices to make a heavenly juice.
The potatoes and cauliflower end up half crispy and half soft and sauce-y. The chicken is wonderfully covered all over in punchy but not too spicy Indian flavours.
Crispy, slightly charred, drenched in delicious pan juices. This sheet pan chicken tikka is truly delicious![/caption]
But what’s chicken tikka, anyway?
Just in case you’re interested, chicken tikka originally comes from the Punjab region of India.
Traditionally, it’s bits (which is what the word tikka means) of chicken baked on skewers after being marinated in spices and yoghurt.
A tikka paste typically includes:
- ginger
- garlic
- chili
- garam masala
- cinnamon
- saffron
- salt
So there’s quite a bit of flavour packed in there!
My version of chicken tikka is baked after marinating bits of chicken too – just in a slightly different way.
How do you serve this sheet pan chicken tikka?
Jamie Oliver adds another ingredient to this meal instead of yoghurt – coriander (cilantro). I also occasionally sprinkle a bit of this over my meal. Mr. Scrummy isn’t a big fan of coriander though so sometimes I don’t bother buying it just for myself.
As long as you have the delicious sauce-y Greek yoghurt to serve on the side, this Indian chicken feels complete to me. If I was serving it to guests though (and this meal would be a perfect choice for easy entertaining), I would definitely include the coriander – just for prettifying the finished dish!
I also sometimes serve some kind of toasted bread on the side – usually a brioche bun so that I can pile some of the yummy chicken, potatoes and cauliflower into it to make a burger.
I add a spoonful of Greek yoghurt and a few sprigs of coriander if I have them, and then I have myself a very fancy chicken tikka burger.
I actually didn’t manage to capture in the video how moist and juicy this easy chicken tikka recipe is. Rest assured there was plenty of tasty juice hiding at the bottom of the pan!
Note that I smeared over the tikka paste after I’d added the chicken to the pan. You can do it this way too, it’s just a bit more awkward than marinating the chicken first!
What pan should I use for this sheet pan chicken tikka recipe?
I like to use a really big baking pan like this one for this recipe. This way you have plenty of room for the cauliflower and potatoes to ‘breathe’, which makes sure you get plenty of crispy bits!
One more teeny observation about this delicious Indian chicken. It’s a skinny dinner with just 472 calories per serving, if you don’t count the optional sides.
But trust me, this may be a fairly light meal, but it’s just as delicious as all the favourite comforting dinners you can think of.
More sheet pan dinners
- Sheet pan lemon butter salmon with potatoes and asparagus
- ‘Everything’ sheet pan frittata (great if you have leftover veggies in the fridge)
- Chicken and brussel sprouts (with amazing honey balsamic sauce!)
- Or see all my one pan easy meals
Amazing sheet pan chicken tikka
Ingredients
- 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 4 tablespoons tikka paste
- 1.75 pounds potatoes, peeled & cut into roughly 2cm cubes (you can peel them or leave the skins on)
- 1 cauliflower, chopped into small pieces
- a few tablespoons of oil for cooking
to serve
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt, this is an estimated amount
- fresh coriander, optional
- toasted bread with olive oil and salt, optional (I like to use brioche buns!)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 355F / 200C.
- Rub the chicken thighs all over with the tikka paste, then put into the fridge to marinate while you prepare the rest of the dish (or longer if you wish!)
- Tip the potatoes into a large roasting pan, drizzle with a little oil and roast for 20 minutes.
- Add the cauliflower to the pan and tuck the chicken in among the cauliflower and potatoes. Drizzle 2 or 3 more tablespoons of oil over the dish, then roast for another 45 minutes.
- Serve with the Greek yoghurt and toasted bread on the side and sprinkled with the coriander (if using).
Simple and tasty, especially when using a homemade tikka masala paste. Yum! Will definitely make this again 😊
This is a favorite of mine, too, Helen! I bet your homemade paste made it over-the-top delicious, though! 🙂
This was excellent! It sits so light in my stomach all while making me feel filled and being completely delicious!
Thank you, Nellie! That’s a good way to describe it!
This sounds incredibe! I love the flavours of chicken tikka
Thanks Richa! I hope you try it some time!
On the list for next week. A tad concerned that u list it as a dessert?? I know that u poms are a bit out there with food but this goes a bit too far for my tastes…….lol
Oh, did I? Whoops!! I’ll correct that – thanks for letting me know, Ann!
I really hope you enjoy this one. Do let me know what you think!