Crispy Chicken Tikka Bowls with Mint Sauce

 

Crispy Chicken Tikka Bowls with Mint Sauce

Bringing you these addicting Chicken Tikka Bowls! Crispy bits of chicken tenders, crispy cucumbers, and briny pickled onions, all on a bed of fluffy quinoa with a swoop of cool mint sauce on top. You absolutely cannot go wrong with these bowls.

 

JUMP TO RECIPE

Crispy chicken, cucumbers, quinoa, and pickled red onions in a bowl with mint sauce and a fork

THIS RECIPE

Please make way in your tums and hearts for this terribly addicting, incredibly delicious chicken tikka bowl. Crispy chicken tenders brushed with your favorite tikka masala sauce and roasted to a perfect crisp, fresh cucumber crunch alongside a creamy slaw and some quick pickled onions, all piled on a bed of light, nutty quinoa with a fresh-made drinkable mint sauce that might make you CRY REAL HUMAN TEARS.

 This isn’t chicken tikka in the traditional Indian cuisine sense where pieces of marinated chicken are grilled or baked on skewers in a tandoor oven. And it isn’t even full chicken tikka masala, which is a curried version where that chicken tikka then gets simmered in a creamy spiced tomato sauce and served over rice. Instead, we’re borrowing that delicious deeply spiced flavor using our favorite jarred version of masala sauce and giving some easy crispy chicken tenders a little brush and bake. It’s definitely a bit outside the norm, but we are absolutely here for it.

 

Ingredients You’ll Need To Make These Bowls Happen

The ingredient list is plentiful here, but it’s all bits to add to the flavor parade! And though we’re definitely mixing up that drool-worthy mint sauce from scratch, we’re relying on a lot of pre-made and store-bought for the rest and whoo-boy, you can too!

 

For the bowl-build:

 crispy breaded chicken (store-bought)

tikka masala sauce (also store-bought)

cooked quinoa

sliced or diced cucumbers

pickled red onion

slaw (hi, you guessed it…store-bought mix!)

For the mint sauce:

 fresh mint & cilantro

mayo or plain Greek yogurt

salt

juice of a lime

garlic

jalapeño

 

 Crispy Chicken. Cook according to package directions and then brush with the tikka masala sauce and return to oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Mint Sauce. Throw all the sauce ingredients in the blender/food processor and zip until smooth-ish.

Bowl Assembly. Layer your quinoa, crispy chicken, slaw, cucumbers, pickled red onions, and then don’t be shy with that mint sauce over the top!

It’s all going to be so beautiful and colorful when you get it together that for just a teeny tiny second you might want to just admire it for a bit but please, we urge you, do not waste any time staring. GET. AT. IT.

 

Just Can’t Stop Swooning Over These

Like we said, these bowls are super flexible, so if you don’t want to get on the crispy chicken tender train, that’s totally fine! But we can’t be friends. (Just kidding! Maybe.) Regular skillet-seared chicken breasts totally work, too! We’ve also made it with tofu and sweet potato which were also delicious, so you can swap what you love best. Those crispy little frozen chicken fingies tho…cannot recommend enough.