Tandoori Fish Tikka

Make restaurant quality Tandoori Fish Tikka at home with my easy & fast recipe. You can make this tender, flaky & slightly char grilled tikkas on a griddle or in the oven or air fryer. It’s bursting with Indian flavors, tastes delicious and is sure to win any seafood lovers heart. Fish Tikka served with Mint Chutney or Cilantro Chutney makes a great party appetizer. For a hearty meal, serve it with steamed rice, Turmeric Rice, Lemon rice, rice pilaf, Kachumber & Raita. On occasions it also goes into our wraps and sandwiches.

Fish Tikka is a popular tandoor grilled seafood item from the Indian restaurant menus. Tikka means piece of grilled meat, here boneless fish pieces are coated with a thick tandoori marinade & grilled in a tandoor, a clay oven. A traditional tandoor is capable of heating up to 480 C or 900 F. While grilling, the fats from the meat drip on the hot wood coal and produces smoke which imparts a smoky flavor to the foods.

Since we are not equipped with tandoor at home, Fish Tikka is made on a griddle or in an oven or air fryer. To mimic the same restaurant smoky flavors you can optionally smoke the tikkas following my instructions below.

With this same recipe you can also make a Tandoori Fish instead of tikka, without having to cut the fillets to cubes. This reduces the work and is even faster. You can also use the same recipe to make tandoori pomfret. Clean and make slits on the whole pomfret before marinating.

This recipe is updated with higher spice levels for more robust flavors. To make it kids’ friendly simply remove the excess marinade from the fish and veggies before you thread them on to skewers.

Ingredients & Substitutes

Here are the ingredients you will need for this recipe:

Fish: If making tikkas, use only boneless fish like salmon, tilapia, cod, Mahi-mahi, swordfish & sole. If you are not accessible to those, then you may use any firm fish and use the fillet as is without cutting them to pieces. This way it is easier to debone the fish after cooking/grilling. I use salmon here and make it often with Spanish Mackerel (batang) too.

Yogurt: For any tandoori recipes, hung curd also known as strained yogurt is used. The equivalent is Greek yogurt. Regular yogurt with whey simply oozes out plenty of moisture while grilling & all your marinade comes over to the pan. So make sure you use Greek yogurt or make your own following this Hung Curd Recipe.

Ground spices: Garam masala, red chilli powder, black pepper and turmeric are used. Optionally you may use ground cumin and coriander too if you want.

Herbs: Kasuri methi is dried fenugreek leaves and they impart an unbeatable flavor to the tandoori grilled foods. If you do not have it, simply use fresh coriander leaves or any favorite herb of yours.

Ginger garlic paste is used for flavor. I usually stock up the ginger garlic paste in the refrigerator or simply grate from fresh & crush in a mortar pestle. You can also use ground dried garlic and dried ginger. Start with smaller quantities.

More seafood recipes
Tandoori Salmon
Lemon Pepper Fish
Andhra Fish Fry
Baked Fish
Amritsari Tawa Fish
Fish Tikka Masala

Photo Guide

How to make Fish Tikka (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 30 mins or simply use metal skewers. To a large mixing bowl add the following ingredients to prepare the marinade:

• 1 to 1½ teaspoons Kashmiri red chili powder (or smoked paprika)
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric (optional)
• 1 to 1½ teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder (optional, use for more flavor)
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder (optional)
• 1½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste ( or ½ tsp garlic powder + ¼ tsp ginger powder)
• 4 tablespoons hung curd (Greek Yogurt, read notes)
• 1½ tablespoon Lemon juice
• ½ to 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (crushed kasuri methi, optional)
• ⅓ to ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)

2. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil & mix all the ingredients. Taste test and adjust the salt, lemon juice and spice levels.

3. You may skip the veggies but if using them, dice 1 bell pepper and 1 large onion to 1½ inch pieces. Separate the layers from the onions. I use half green bell pepper and half red bell pepper. You can also use deseeded firm tomatoes or cherry tomatoes in place of red bell peppers. Keep these aside.

4. If possible, get the skin peeled by the fishmonger else you can do it yourself. Start pulling out the skin from one end using a knife. Hold it with your fingers and pull off to remove it completely. But if you are a beginner, don’t struggle, just leave it. It can be removed after cooking.

5. Dice them to 1½ inch pieces, the same size as the veggies.

6. Pat dry the fish with kitchen tissues/paper.

Marination

7. Coat each piece with the marinade generously and rest for a minimum of 15 mins to a maximum of 1 hour. Leaving it for too long in the acidic marinade can make your fish mushy.

8. Position your oven rack in the middle/Centre of the oven & preheat the oven to 375 F or 190 C for at least 15 mins. To air fry follow the instructions in the recipe card below.

When you are ready to bake the tikkas, place the fish pieces to one side of the bowl. Add the diced veggies and coat them with the rest of the marinade. Avoid resting the veggies in the marinade as they release juices and ruin the consistency of the marinade. So add them only when you are ready to cook.

Bake the Fish

9. Thread onion, bell pepper & fish/salmon onto the skewer spacing ¼ inch apart. Repeat the same order again on each skewer. I could thread on to 5 skewers. Place the Fish tikka skewers on the prepared tray. If you are making this for kids/ simply remove the excess marinade from the fish and veggies and thread them.

10. Bake them for 8 to 9 minutes. Later using tongs turn them to the other side. Bake for another 4 to 5 minutes or until cooked through. If you want to slightly char the tikkas, move the tray to the top rack and broil for 2 mins. Adjust the timings depending on your oven as each is different.

Serve Tandoori Fish Tikka with Mint Chutney or Cilantro Chutney. They also go well with Turmeric rice or lemon rice, Raita and kachumber.

Pan-fry Fish without Oven

I have always felt cooking the entire fillet is easier (rather than the cubed pieces) while cooking on a pan / griddle. So you will marinate the fish and cook it directly.

For this heat a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon oil on a medium heat. Spread the oil all over the pan. Place the fish fillet directly over the pan and let cook for 3 to 4 mins on each side, depending on the thickness. Make sure your pan is really hot enough but not smoking hot else the marinade gets stuck.

Halfway, turn it to the other side and cook completely, until the fish flakes easily when poked with a fork. Remember cooking longer, dries up the fish from inside.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

This recipe was first published in January 2013. Updated in April 2024.