Spicy chicken roast Indian style with step-by-step photos: Spicy, full of flavor this chicken roast is one of the easiest and quickest chicken recipes to make. It is made with simple, basic ingredients and is totally addictive. A dry preparation that goes well as a side dish with rice as well as any Indian bread of choice.

The chicken roast is very common across India and is a must in the menus of restaurants. Indian chicken roast is typically served as side dish snacks. However, the recipe slightly varies depending on the region.
The recipe I am sharing is a family favorite. We also call it chicken fry. No tomato or yogurt has been used here. It can be prepared within 30 minutes. The same recipe can be adapted to make mutton, prawn, paneer/cottage cheese, or mushroom roast. However, the cooking time will vary.
The incredible flavor of the dish is from freshly dry roasted and ground spices. The chicken pieces are roasted with the spices then slowly cooked in their own juice without adding any additional water. The spice powder lends a very unique flavor to the dish. Hence always use freshly roasted spice powder for this recipe.
Some more chicken recipes
Ingredients You Will Need
- Chicken – Chicken on the bone gives the best taste. As they are more juicy and flavorful. But you can use boneless as well. I like to use small chicken pieces. You can use any size you prefer but again the cooking time will vary depending on the cut.
- Oil – sunflower oil or ghee/clarified butter
- Onion – finely chopped
- Ginger & garlic – 7-8 garlic cloves+1 inch ginger crushed
- Whole spices – Kashmiri dry red chilies or any other variety chilies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, & cloves
- Salt – sea salt
- Lemon juice – fresh
- Coriander leaves (optional)

Chicken Dry Roast Preparations Stepwise
Preparing the Spice Powder
- Dry roast Kashmiri red chilies, green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds together in a pan for a minute over low flame.
- Once done transfer to a plate and allow to cool down completely. Then grind to a smooth powder and set aside.

Preparing the Chicken Roast
- Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot enough add in chopped onions. Reduce flame to medium-low and saute the onions until they turn golden brown.
- Next, add in crushed ginger-garlic and saute until the raw smell goes.
- Add chicken pieces and saute over medium-high flame for 2 minutes.

- Add salt and stir to mix. Simmer the flame, cover, and cook until the chicken releases water.
- Add the ground spices and stir to combine. Again cover and cook until the chicken is cooked.
- Finally, add lime juice and freshly chopped coriander if adding, saute to mix, and turn off the flame.
- The spicy chicken roast is ready to serve. Enjoy!

Serving Suggestions
- You can prepare this chicken dry roast and serve it as a side dish snack with plain rice, any flavored rice, Indo Chinese rice recipes, roti, paratha, or South Indian dosa or appam.
- As it is a dry preparation it can be served as a starter or appetizer as well.
Notes
- Make sure the spices used are fresh, not very old.
- Adjust chilies as per your requirements. Kashmiri dry red chilies can be substituted with other chilies or chili powder. You can even discard the seeds & membrane if you like.
- Oil can be replaced with ghee/clarified butter to make chicken ghee roast.
- Use some curry leaves to get a South Indian flavor.
If you try this recipe, please leave a feedback and rating. You can also tag me @spoonofflavor on Instagram.
Spicy Chicken Roast Indian Style | Chicken Dry Roast
INGREDIENTS ( 1 CUP = 250 ML )
- 500 grams chicken bone-in cut into small pieces or 1.1 lbs
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 medium-size onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic (7-8 garlic cloves+1 inch ginger) crushed
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp lemon juice fresh
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves finely chopped (optional)
- Whole Spices
- 4 Kashmiri dry red chilies
- 2 green cardamoms
- 2 cloves
- 2 inches cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
Preparing the Spice Powder
- Dry roast Kashmiri red chilies, green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds together in a pan for a minute over low flame.
- Once done transfer to a plate and allow to cool down completely. Then grind to a smooth powder and set aside.
Preparing the Chicken Roast
- Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot enough add in chopped onions. Reduce flame to medium-low and saute the onions until they turn golden brown.
- Next, add in crushed ginger-garlic and saute until the raw smell goes.
- Add chicken pieces and saute over medium-high flame for 2 minutes.
- Add salt and stir to mix. Simmer the flame, cover, and cook until the chicken releases water.
- Add the ground spices and stir to combine. Again cover and cook until the chicken is cooked.
- Finally add lime juice and freshly chopped coriander if adding, saute to mix and turn off the flame.
- The chicken roast is ready to serve. Enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure the spices used are fresh, not very old.
- Adjust chilies as per your requirement. Kashmiri dry red chilies can be substituted with other chilies or chili powder. You can even discard the seeds & membrane if you like.
- Oil can be replaced with ghee/clarified butter to make chicken ghee roast.
- Use some curry leaves to get a South Indian flavor.
Maria
Whenever I come across this recipe of yours, I tell myself that I have to try it this weekend. This time honestly I’ve set a reminder for it. Just reading the title makes my heart sing!
Geetanjali
Thank you, Maria! Go ahead and try it… You’ll like it. 🙂