Love both my Whole30- and keto-friendly Super Easy Tandoori Chicken and Tandoori Whole Roasted Cauliflower recipes, but don’t want the hassle of cooking two separate dishes? I’ve got a quick and easy weeknight dinner solution for you: Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken!
As the self-proclaimed queen of shortcuts to deliciousness, I love the idea of a sheet pan chicken dinner in which the protein and veggies are seasoned perfectly and they all finish cooking at the same time. But mere ideas without execution mean JACK FROGGIN SQUAT, my friends. Sure—many sheet pan chicken recipes look promising, but they often underdeliver—and you end up with dry and powdery poultry served alongside vegetables that are either mushy or still raw. When you force yourself to choke down that sad supper, you’ll also be swallowing your salty river of tears.
To which I say: NO MORE!
After testing and testing and testing and even more testing, I came up with a perfect sheet pan supper. This Indian-inspired family-friendly recipe calls for minimal effort: just toss the ingredients with a creamy, spice-infused Whole30 marinade and plop the tray in the oven. This Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken is a winner—my kids actually cheer when they smell the comforting spices wafting through the house at dinner time! (Well, they said “YAY!” unironically—that counts as a cheer, right?)
Tips for a terrific Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken dinner
The key to a fantastic and low-stress sheet pan chicken dinner is to use ingredients that can tolerate a roaring hot oven and still have some wiggle-room when it comes to doneness. That’s why this recipe features:
- A paleo-friendly, dairy-free tandoori marinade: this creamy, mildly spicy, Indian-inspired sauce coats the chicken and veggies and keeps them from drying out. If you have a bottle of Nom Nom Paleo Tandoori, use one cup of it in place of making your own marinade!
- Boneless, skinless chicken thighs: this thrifty poultry cut is readily available and will taste good even if the oven timer went off 5 minutes ago and you completely forget to take your chicken out. And yes, I SAID THIGHS. Back away from those boneless skinless chicken breasts—unless you’re willing to monitor them vigilantly while they’re cooking or you’re okay with sawdust for meat.
- Hearty cruciferous vegetables: Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli all work well in this recipe. Just cut them so they’re the same shape and will finish cooking in about 30 minutes. Don’t cut them up too small or your veggie pieces’ll shrivel up and burn before the chicken is finished cooking!
Time to make Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken!
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Tandoori marinade*
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk or plain coconut milk yogurt
- 2 tablespoons tandoori spice mix (no salt added)
- 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (use half the amount if you are using Morton’s brand or a fine grain salt)
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
*If you have a bottle of Nom Nom Paleo Tandoori, just shake it up and pour out 1 cup of it for the marinade—no need to make it from scratch!
Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or fat of choice
- 1 small cauliflower (2 pounds or less), cut into florets
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1½ pounds chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)
Equipment:
- All of my favorite cooking tools are listed here.
Method:
Heat oven to 450°F or 425°F convection with the rack in the middle.
Whisk together the coconut milk, tandoori spice, salt, and lemon juice in a 2-cup measuring cup. (Got a bottle of Nom Nom Paleo Tandoori? Just measure out 1 cup of it in place of making your own marinade!)
Use a pastry brush to evenly spread the avocado oil over the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet. (You can skip this part and line your pan with parchment paper or foil—your resulting dinner won’t brown as much, but clean-up will be a breeze.)
Place the cauliflower and onions in a large bowl and pour in half of the tandoori marinade. Toss well to coat.
Shake off the excess marinade and arrange the cauliflower and onions on the greased baking sheet.
Add the chicken thighs to the bowl and pour in the remaining marinade. Toss well to coat evenly.
Arrange the thighs in a single layer on the sheet pan with the cauliflower.
Pop the sheet pan dinner in the oven and roast for 25 to 35 minutes, flipping the cauliflower and rotating the tray 180° at the halfway point.
The sheet pan dinner is done when the cauliflower is tender and browned and the chicken is cooked through (a meat thermometer should read 165°F in the thickest part of the thigh or 150°F if you ignored what I told you earlier and decided to use chicken breasts).
Garnish with the minced cilantro and serve with lemon wedges. Dig in!
Leftovers can be saved in the fridge for up to four days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Craving other Whole30 Sheet Pan Dinners? Try these Nomster favorites!
- Sheet Pan Sweet and Spicy Pork
- Sheet Pan Chicken and Mushrooms
- Sheet Pan Meatballs and Broccolini
- Sheet Pan Pork Chop Supper
- Sheet Pan Salmon Supper
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas + Avocado Crema
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
Tandoori Marinade
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk or plain coconut yogurt
- 2 tablespoons tandoori spice mix (no salt added)
- 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1½ teaspoons fine grain salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or fat of choice
- 1 small cauliflower 2 pounds or less, cut into florets
- 1 small red onion cut into thin wedges
- 1½ pounds chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro optional
- 1 lemon cut into wedges (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450 F or 425 F convection with the rack in the middle.
- Whisk together the coconut milk, tandoori spice, salt, and lemon juice in a 2-cup measuring cup. (Got a bottle of Nom Nom Paleo Tandoori? Just measure out 1 cup of it in place of making your own marinade!)
- Use a pastry brush to evenly spread the avocado oil over the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet. (You can skip this part and line your pan with parchment paper or foil—your resulting dinner won’t brown as much, but clean-up will be a breeze.)
- Place the cauliflower and onions in a large bowl and pour in half of the tandoori marinade. Toss well to coat.
- Shake off the excess marinade and arrange the cauliflower and onions on the greased baking sheet.
- Add the chicken thighs to the bowl and pour in the remaining marinade. Toss well to coat evenly with the tandoori marinade.
- Arrange the thighs in a single layer on the sheet pan with the cauliflower.
- Pop the sheet pan dinner in the oven and roast for 25 to 35 minutes, flipping the cauliflower and rotating the tray 180° at the halfway point.
- The sheet pan dinner is done when the cauliflower is tender and browned and the chicken is cooked through (a meat thermometer should read 165°F in the thickest part of the thigh or 150°F if using chicken breasts).
- Sprinkle on the minced cilantro and serve with lemon wedges. Dig in!
Video
Notes
- If you’re using bottled Nom Nom Paleo Tandoori, just substitute 1 cup of it for the marinade! The Tandoori marinade can solidify in the fridge, just take it out for 30 minutes before you use it to loosen it up!
- You can store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- You can experiment with different vegetable combinations. I love using Brussels sprouts and broccoli in this dish!
Theresa Huber Jackson says
What brand tandoori spice do you use?
nomnompaleo says
I use different brands! Penzeys has a great one and I linked to one I buy on Amazon in the recipe post.
Juliet Chan says
How can I double the recipe & cook two sheet pans at once?
Tania says
I have wings and
skin on drumsticks, how can I adapt this recipe?
nomnompaleo says
The vegetables will cook faster than the drumsticks. You can start the drumsticks in the oven for 10 minutes first and then add the veggies. Total cooking time for drumsticks is probably closer to 35 to 45 min.
Choirgirl21 says
Eating this right now and OMG it’s so good, especially for how simple it is. I added some chunks of green pepper as well because, CSA, and chose to go with the coconut yogurt rather than milk since I figured it would be thicker and “stick” better. This is going into the regular rotation for sure.
Rocky Mountain Elle says
My family including adult and kiddo tastebuds rated this simply delicious! I cooked the chicken on separate trays from the veggies in case the veggies cooked quicker and this was a good choice for this particular sheet pan combo. We also doubled the recipe to have lunch leftovers. Yum!
LG says
Wow this was so delicious!! I am definitely adding this to the dinner rotation. Yum!! Going back for seconds!
Angela says
Hi Michelle! Do you have a tandoori spice blend recipe that you can recommend? Thanks!
Kasey says
This is on a constant rotation in our house. The flavor is so delicious and it’s easy to swap out veggies. I added brussel sprouts and placed the pan on my grill since it’s too hot for the oven and it was incredible. Even my kids ate the sprouts!
Pam Rein says
I prefer dark meat but unfortunately, the rest of my family likes white meat. Can I cook boneless breasts using this recipe?
Michelle Tam says
Yes, but make sure you don’t overcook them!
Kris says
Anyone tried a substitute with a coconut allergy? Vegenaise or soy yogurt? Thanks!
Michelle Tam says
I haven’t tried those options, but regular dairy full fat yogurt works.
Nancy says
My sheet pan dinners always come out very liquidy. But other than that, this was so good. Even the picky teen liked it. Also because of the picky teen, I used chicken breast. Came out moist and tender.
Aileen says
If I have bone in thighs do I need to increase cooking time?
Lisa says
This was DELICIOUS, and so easy. I didn’t have Tandoori spice mix, so instead I used 1 TBS curry powder and 1 TBS Garam Masala, super yummy!! I also tossed in a couple chopped carrots and broccoli (made a bit more marinade to accomodate extra veg). Mmmmm, will definitely make again and again!
ALP says
My whole family really liked this recipe. It was easy to make and made a nice amount of food for two adults and two teenagers; there were barely any leftovers. I used a can of coconut milk for the recipe. After I made the marinade with the 1 cup of coconut milk I had about 1/2 cup leftover. I made more of the marinade with the leftover coconut milk and used it as a sauce to top the dish once it came out of the oven. We all liked it with the extra sauce. I also made this with basmati rice because my family is not paleo, and I ate mine with some cauliflower rice. I highly recommend this meal and we will be putting it into our regular rotation. I love that you provided a link for the spice blend that you used; I bought some online and it was good! Thanks for a great recipe.
Andryea says
If i can’t get my hands on a bottle of your tandoori sauce… why don’t you list the ingredients of the spice mix so I can make my own sauce? Just sayin’. I’ve got a lot of spices in my house and could probably make one but I need some direction. Thanks.
Michelle Tam says
When I make my own sauce, I just buy a Tandoori spice blend at the store.
Megan says
They could also google Tandoori spice mix like I did to get those so called directions they are looking for! 🙂 Great recipe!