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This Tandoori Chicken Garlic Bread is made with crispy, buttery, garlicky bread, a smoky, spicy tandoori chicken topping and lots of cheese. Yes, it is as delicious as it sounds, and no, it is not difficult to make at all! It is one of the best appetizers / sides to make for all hosting needs (if you can actually manage to share; my husband and I ate it up by ourselves in just one day).
Read the full blog post below for detailed notes, tips, tricks, photos and videos.
WHAT IS TANDOORI CHICKEN GARLIC BREAD MADE OF?
This recipe is a combination of two incredibly popular and well-loved recipes on my blog: Tandoori Chicken Naan Buns and Best Cheesy Garlic Bread. And, in my opinion, it is better than them both!
There are 4 main components in this Tandoori Chicken Garlic Bread:
- The Bread. I like using King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls to make this garlic bread, as I love the slight sweetness they add to it. But you can use any kind of bread you prefer, such as a French baguette. The bread is assembled as a whole and then cut into slices after baking
- Roasted Garlic Custard. This is my favorite way to make garlic! Instead of just spreading a garlic butter on top, I make a custard with roasted garlic, egg, milk, melted butter and seasoning. Then I soak the bread in that custard on both sides and par-bake it. This method is very easy and gets the garlic butter custard all the way into the bread!
- Tandoori Chicken. The tandoori chicken is unbelievably delicious: smoky, spicy, tender and full of flavor. It is also very easy to make: marinate the chicken, cook it, and smoke it (more on that below). The chicken is added on top of the par-baked bread along with cheese for the final bake
- Cheese. A must needed topping for any good garlic bread, in my opinion! I use Mozzarella, and highly recommend shredding a block of Mozzarella cheese for best results (but pre-shredded works too)
HOW TO SMOKE CHICKEN WITH WOODEN SMOKING CHIPS
Tandoori Chicken is a traditional chicken dish from Pakistan (and broader Indian Subcontinent) made with yogurt and spices and baked in a “tandoor” (clay oven) on skewers. Baking in a tandoor adds a char and smoky flavor to the chicken which makes it extra delicious.
Of course, we don’t have tandoors at home, but we can easily achieve the smoky flavor and aroma with smoking chips! I use these Weber wooden chips from Amazon. Smoking chicken using these chips is very easy. This is what I do:
- Heat a handful of chips. You can either do this in a small pan on a burner, or ideally in aluminum foil. Make a pocket with the foil that can hold the chips and has a little opening on the top, and use tongs to hold it over the flame of a burner for a couple minutes (I recommend low flame to be safe). This will heat up the chips and they will start to smoke
- Transfer the smoking chips to the pan with the cooked chicken. As soon as you see smoke escaping from the foil, use the same tongs to transfer the foil pocket into the pan that has the cooked chicken (flame off). The chips will remain inside the foil but the smoke escapes from the opening in it
- Remove the chips from the chicken after 5-10 minutes. Cover the pan with a lid and wait 5-10 minutes. The smoke will penetrate the chicken and add flavor to it. Then use the same tongs to remove the foil pocket with the chips from the pan and discard it
See? Simple enough! Just make sure to be careful not to add too much heat, and keep your exhaust on.
PROCESS WITH PHOTOS
The detailed recipe is provided in the recipe card at the bottom of this post, but let’s go over the steps with photos to help you visualize everything.
Mix the boneless cubed chicken with yogurt, ginger and garlic paste, lemon juice and all the spices. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes:
Cook the chicken in a pan with oil on high heat until it is cooked through and slightly charred. Then add smoke using the wooden smoking chips:
Next, make the garlic butter custard by mixing together all the ingredients:
Cut the Hawaiian Rolls into 2 halves, and dip them in the custard on both sides:
Bake the bread until golden. Then top it off with the chicken, shredded cheese and parsley:
Bake again until the cheese is melted. And it’s time to enjoy!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes, smoking the chicken is optional, but highly recommended to get the proper tandoori chicken effect.
Yes, if you are short on time, you don’t have to roast the garlic and can use raw garlic in the garlic butter custard instead.
If you don’t have access to King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls where you live, you can use any other kind of plain white bread you use for garlic bread, such as a French baguette / bread.
This tandoori chicken garlic bread is best served and eaten fresh. However, you can keep it in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days, and reheat in the oven or a toaster oven until it crisps up again.
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Ingredients
Tandoori Chicken:
- 400g chicken tenders (about 4-5), cubed
- ½ cup plain, full fat yogurt
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp chili flakes (reduce as needed)
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- Optional: 1-2 tablespoon Shan tandoori masala
- 2 tbsp oil, butter or ghee for cooking
- Handful of wooden smoking chips for smoking
Garlic Butter Custard:
- 6–8 garlic cloves mixed with 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (113g)
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk (60g)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Assembly:
- 12 King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sheet Rolls, kept in the full sheet form (or replace with a French baguette of similar size)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Chopped fresh parsley for serving
Instructions
Tandoori Chicken:
- Mix all the ingredients except the oil and smoking chips in a large bowl. Mix until combined, and let marinate for at least 30 minutes
- Heat oil in a wok or pan on high heat. Add the chicken along with the marinade and cook for ~5-8 minutes or until the chicken is tender and most of the water has evaporated. Taste and adjust spices if needed
- Place the wooden smoking chips into a sheet of aluminum foil and fold it up so only a small opening remains on the top. Place onto a burner on low heat until you see smoke escaping from the opening. Use a tong to transfer to the wok, open the foil more, cover with a lid and let smoke for 5-10 minutes. Be careful and keep the exhaust on during this step
Garlic Butter Custard:
- First, roast the garlic (you can do this while the chicken is marinating). Pre-heat oven to 400F. Mix the peeled garlic cloves in the olive oil. Transfer to a mini oven safe pot with a lid (or cover with foil) and bake for ~20 minutes until they are soft and golden. Mash with a fork and set aside
- Add the mashed roasted garlic, melted butter, egg, milk, salt, paprika and parsley to a bowl
- Thoroughly whisk to combine
Assembly:
- Change the oven temperature to 350F after roasting the garlic
- Use a sharp knife to divide the sheet of bread rolls into 2 halves (as seen in pictures above)
- Transfer the garlic butter custard to a larger pan. Carefully dip the bread sheets / loaves into the garlic butter custard, getting them well coated on all sides
- Place the bread on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for ~15-18 minutes until golden
- Cover the bread with the tandoori chicken and shredded mozzarella cheese. I usually do this in 2 layers (chicken, cheese, chicken, cheese)
- Change the oven setting to broil / grill and broil for ~5-8 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden
- Garnish with fresh parsley. Slice up, serve and enjoy!
Video Tutorial
If you like this recipe, also check out the following!
Comments
Sadia
Made this tonight with leftover butter chicken. I thought it would be similar to open face cheesy chicken sliders, but the soaking the bread in the garlic/butter/egg mixture took it to the next level!! Will definitely be making this again and again! Thanks for the incredible recipe
Zoha Malik
It’s my pleasure! Thank you for your kind review 🙂
Samiyah
I’ve made this a couple of times now and it’s a total hit! Everyone in my family absolutely loved it! I was short on time so I didn’t even smoke the chicken but it was still amazing, everyone devoured it!! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing recipes, Zoha!
Zoha
You are way too kind – thank you :’)
Noor
Thank you for the recipe.
I have made this many times & it came out perfect every time. Hubs loves it a lot… For those of u who haven’t tried. please try. U won’t regret it.
Zoha
yes everybody, listen to noor! and thank you! 🙂
Myra
I made the recipe as written, and it was good. For me, it was a little on the sweet side because of the Hawaiian rolls, but my husband liked the sweetness. Next time I will use French baguette as Zoha recommends as an alternative.
Zoha
Thank you for trying the recipe, Myra! 🙂
Mina Babar
I made this for guest who came for tea. It was such a big hit that they took some home in a box!
Zoha
How sweet is that!
Zikra
Hi,
I tried this recipe the other day and here i am again to make this for the second time. I loved the garlic bread and so did my siblings. And your recipes are very simple and easy to make. thank you for the great efforts you put into making them. Loads of love to you and great heath
Zoha
Thank you so very much, Zikra! Made me so happy 🙂
Fatima Uddin
I tried this recipe on the weekend and the whole family loved it. The bread was crispy on the edges, gooey cheese, and the chicken was so flavourful especially because of the smoke, it gave it a bbq flare. Next weekend, I am going to try it on my homemade focaccia bread and add some jalapeño slices. Delicious, highly recommend the recipe! Thanks Zoha
Zoha
Thank you so very much, Fatima! 🙂
Asma
good recipe, loved it
Zoha
Thank you!
Vana
I made the whole thing with your instructions, without watching the video.. and then saw that you rolled over the bread to thin it out! Please write it out in the instructions too! Love all your recipes btw and so happy for your praise on next level baker 🙌
Zoha
Hi Vana! Thank you for the feedback – I go back and update my written recipes but don’t get the chance to update videos. The written recipe is always the most accurate 🙂
shahzeb
too good, i ate the entire batch!