These tandoori seafood recipes cover five different ways to bring live-fire char to fish, prawns, and squid — from the two full recipes already on this site to three shorter ideas you can put together the same afternoon you read this. Every one of them uses the same core principle: seafood cooks fast, so the marinade does most of the flavour work and the fire only needs a few minutes to finish the job.
If you're looking for tandoori fish and shrimp specifically, the first two ideas below link out to full step-by-step recipes with complete technique breakdowns. The other three are shorter, clay oven seafood ideas meant to get you cooking quickly once you've got the basics down — cubed fish tikka, a quick chilli garlic shrimp skewer, and tandoori squid, which most people never think to put in a tandoor at all.
A shared pantry across all five ideas — fish, prawns, and squid all draw from the same yogurt-spice base.
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Oven and Accessories for These Tandoori Seafood Recipes
All five ideas below were developed on the oven and accessories listed here — a setup built around fast, high-heat charring rather than the longer, slower cooks meat and potato dishes need.
The oven used across this roundup. 36x37 inches, charcoal and wood fired, the largest of the outdoor charcoal line — enough wall surface to run several seafood skewers side by side.
Not needed for the CU06 itself, but relevant if you're pairing a charcoal seafood station with a gas tandoor running naan or kebabs alongside it at the same event.
Confirms wall temperature before any of these short, fast cooks begin — the narrow margin for error with seafood makes this more useful here than almost anywhere else.
An alternative to skewering for whole fillets or larger prawn bundles, used in a couple of the ideas below.
These are outdoor charcoal and wood-fired models, so gas certification doesn't apply — Tandoor Morni's indoor gas ovens carry CSA and NSF/ANSI 4 certification instead, and financing is available on any model.
1. Grilled Tandoori Fish
2. Tandoori Prawns
Tandoori Fish Tikka
Cubing the fish rather than leaving it as a whole fillet changes this into something closer to chicken or paneer tikka — smaller pieces cook faster and pick up char on more surface area, at the cost of being slightly more prone to drying out if you look away from the clock.
- 1 lb firm fish, cut into 1-inch cubes
- ½ cup thick yogurt
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tsp ajwain
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 bell pepper and 1 onion, cubed
- Cube the fish and pat dry.
- Marinate 20 minutes in the yogurt-spice mix.
- Skewer, alternating with pepper and onion.
- Grill 5 to 6 minutes at 650–700°F, turning once.
Chilli Garlic Tandoori Shrimp Skewers
A faster, punchier variation on tandoori prawns — garlic and chilli flakes stand in for the fuller spice blend, finished with a garlic butter baste rather than a yogurt-based marinade. Good for anyone who wants tandoori fish and shrimp on the table without a long ingredient list.
- 1 lb prawns, peeled and deveined
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander
- Toss prawns in garlic, chilli flakes, and lemon juice.
- Rest 10 minutes.
- Thread onto skewers.
- Grill 1 to 2 minutes per side, basting with garlic butter, and finish with coriander.
Tandoori Squid (Calamari)
Squid is the one most people never think to put in a tandoor, but it behaves a lot like prawns — very little marinating time needed, and an even narrower cook window before the texture turns rubbery. Scoring the tubes lightly before marinating helps the spice actually reach the flesh instead of sitting on the surface.
- 1 lb cleaned squid tubes and tentacles
- ⅓ cup thick yogurt
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tsp ajwain
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
- Lightly score the squid tubes in a crosshatch pattern.
- Marinate 15 minutes — no longer, or the texture starts to firm up before it even reaches the wall.
- Skewer, or lay flat on a grill rack.
- Char 90 seconds to 2 minutes per side, watching closely to avoid overcooking.
Why Tandoor Cooking Suits Seafood
Every one of these tandoori seafood recipes leans on the same two things a clay tandoor does well: very high, very direct heat, and a cooking chamber that finishes food fast. Seafood — whether it's fish, prawns, or squid — has short, delicate muscle fibres that firm up and dry out quickly once heat is applied, which is exactly the opposite of what a low, slow cook needs. A tandoor's 650 to 900 Degree F range chars the surface in a couple of minutes while the interior finishes gently, which is the same radiant-heat principle behind traditional tandoori cooking more broadly, just compressed into a much shorter window than tandoori chicken or lamb ever needs.
The common thread across all five clay oven seafood ideas above is restraint — shorter marinating times than meat, closer attention to the clock, and a lighter hand at every stage from coating to skewering. Get those three things right and a tandoor turns out seafood that a conventional oven or stovetop pan genuinely can't match for char and smoke in the same amount of time.
Frequently Asked Questions — Tandoori Seafood Recipes
Which of these tandoori seafood recipes is easiest for a first attempt?
Can I use the same marinade across different seafood types?
Why do prawns and squid need such short marinating and cooking times compared to fish?
Do I need a charcoal tandoor specifically for these recipes, or does gas work too?
What's the best way to keep delicate fish or squid from falling apart on a skewer?
Can I make a mixed seafood platter using several of these ideas at once?
How do I know my tandoor wall is hot enough before delicate seafood goes in?
Which Tandoor Morni oven is best suited to cooking a full seafood spread for a table or event?
Outdoor Charcoal Tandoor Ovens for Tandoori Seafood Recipes
All five ideas above were developed for outdoor charcoal cooking — the main difference between the ovens below is wall surface for running multiple seafood skewers at once, not bake quality.
36x37 inches. The oven used across this roundup — the largest and most wall surface of the outdoor charcoal line.
32x37 inches. The most compact and affordable model in the outdoor charcoal line.
34x37 inches. A wider mouth opening than the CU02, useful for slightly higher volume seafood service.