The Best Tandoori Prawns
on Jun 16, 2015, Updated Oct 17, 2020
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This is the best tandoori prawns recipe for your next dinner party! These cook in minutes, and the magic marinade we make adds so much flavour to the whole dish! These tandoori prawns are spicy, smoky, juicy and all things good, so get ready to fight over the last piece!
I just can’t seem to get enough of these prawns, and these are easily the best damn tandoori prawns I’ve ever had. Spicy, smoky, crunchy outside, juicy inside and that masala has enough pizzazz to make you fight over the last piece! Plus I never thought tandoori masala would be so easy to make. All it takes is 10 minutes to marinade and less than 10 to cook. Because prawns = quick cooking.
Quick Walk Through: Tandoori Prawns
Ingredients To Make Tandoori Prawns
For the marinade:
- Hung curd: Gives the prawns a nice creamy flavor and helps the masalas stick to it more easily.
- Ginger garlic paste: Freshly ground ginger garlic paste for flavor and aroma
- Masalas: I have used red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, and garam masala for this recipe.
- Lemon juice: Adds a nice zing to the whole dish.
- Salt: For flavor and seasoning.
For the prawns:
- Prawns: I prefer to use tiger prawns for this recipe as they’re bigger in size and are perfect for these kind of recipes.
- Butter: Melted, and used to cook the prawns as well as to brush cooked prawns before serving.
- Chaat Masala: Adds a nice tang to the whole dish.
- Coriander: Freshly cut to add a hint of earthiness and freshness to the whole dish.
Top Tips To Make The Best Tandoori Prawns
- It’s important to use hung curd for this recipe, as a normal curd marinade won’t stick very well. If you don’t have hung curd, you can replace it with Greek yogurt for similar results.
- Prawns cook very quickly and can go from cooked to overcooked and chewy in seconds. So make sure to follow the cooking time and instructions carefully.
- The way you defrost prawns plays a huge role in the resulting texture, flavor and safety of the dish. If you’re a beginner with cooking prawns, I would highly recommend you read this article – how to defrost prawns safely – before you start.
FAQs
This recipe works perfectly well with both fresh as well as frozen prawns. I prefer to use frozen prawns as they’re more easily available to me, and are a lot safer to consume. If you want to read more about why I prefer frozen prawns, then check out this article here – Everything You Need To Know About Fresh Vs. Frozen Prawns
To make soft and tender prawns, it is important to defrost them correctly. Additionally when cooking, try to stick to the mentioned cook time as much as possible. That’s because prawns cook very fast, and overcooked prawns end up developing a hard and chewy texture.
Absolutely! Even though these tandoori prawns taste best fresh, you can easily reheat them in the oven or on the stovetop until they’re heated through. Avoid using the microwave to reheat your prawns though, as the uneven distribution of heat can dry out the prawns leaving them rubbery.
I love serving this with my mango chutney (you can find the recipe in the recipe card below), but these tandoori prawns taste delicious even when served with a simple coriander chutney. I usually make this appetizer when we’re hosting friends, and it ends up becoming a total hit every time! So be sure to make extras; you’ve been warned!
The Best Tandoori Prawns
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- ¼ cup Hung Curd
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Ginger Garlic Paste, heaping
- 1 teaspoon Red Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder, heaping
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 Lemon, Juice of
- Salt to taste
For the Prawns
- 12 Prawns, deveined and cleaned (I used Medium sized)
- 2 tablespoons Butter, Melted
- 1 Mango, ripe ,peeled and chopped for the Mango Chutney
- 1 Lemon, Juice of
- A pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons Coriander, chopped
- ½ teaspoon Chili Flakes, optional
- Chat Masala and chopped Coriander for Garnish
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients listed under marinade to a bowl, and combine.
- Add prawns to the marinade and set aside. I recommend marinating these for at least half an hour and up to two hours for better flavor.
- In the meanwhile, to make the mango chutney, blend mangoes, lemon juice and salt in a blender till pureed. Add the chopped coriander and pulse for 5 seconds till you see bright green specks. Sprinkle with chili flakes if using.
- Oven Method
- Once the prawns have finished marinating, pre-heat oven to 220 degree celcius.
- Skewer the prawns using the equipment provided with your oven, brush them with melted butter and grill for 10-12 minutes. Brush once more at 5 minutes and then right before serving.
- Stovetop Method
- Alternatively, if you don’t have an oven, heat a grill pan on the stove. Add some butter to the pan.
- Once hot, arrange prawns on the pan so that they don’t overlap and sear on high heat for a minute on either side.
- After one minute, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes. Prawns cook pretty quickly so be careful about the cooking time. Brush once more with butter right before serving.
- To Serve
- Sprinkle with chat masala and chopped coriander and serve with the mango chutney.
Notes
- The cooking time may change by a minute or two depending on the size of prawns.
- If you don’t have a grill pan for the stove top method, use a regular pan but there won’t be any grill marks.
- Tandoori Chicken or Prawns are usually red in color due to added food coloring. None of that stuff has been used in this recipe.
I don’t feel the same as you with my younger brother. We don’t have a bond bec he lived in boarding school. Thanks for sharing a wonderful tandoori prawn recipe!
Glad you liked it Harry, and I guess all sibling relations are different
Hey sounds super simple!
Few questions: for hung curd can we use Greek Yogurt? Also what if we use regular tandoori masala? 🙂
Sure greek yogurt works! And yes, you can swap out the spices for tandoori masala.
Hi Guys.. Superb Blog..
I am really fond of these yummy prawns. Always order when we visit a restaurant. It would better if you write few line about how to cook it using an Ovalclay Tandoor?
nice yammmm
Goood
Hahaha thanks Laura. That mango chutney is absolutely divine and we end up licking the bowl clean 🙂
What incredible prawns. I’d love to make a whole mess of these for dinner and eat them all by myself. OK, maybe I’d share a few, but not many. I make mango chutney, but my recipe is so much more complicated than yours. Must try this one for weeknights – and if it’s as good, I’ll eagerly switch 🙂
It is. I’m so going to miss her!
Awwwww! This is one is for Pragya more than for the recipe.