Chicken 65 is Indian fried chicken that is perfect as a crowd pleasing party appetizer or snack. Made with boneless breast meat, it consists of chicken cubes marinated in yogurt and spices, deep-fried to crispy perfection, then tossed in a spicy tempering. Air fryer instructions included.

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About Chicken 65
Chicken 65 is a very popular appetizer/starter in Indian cuisine. It can be dry or saucy, but today we are making a dry version that works as a spicy appetizer, the way it is supposed to be. It is a lot like chicken pakora, except chicken pakora is tame compared to chicken 65! This bad boy is lipsmackingly fiery and bold and a sure-fire hit with a crowd.
That being said, this is a pared-down, easy chicken 65 recipe as I have cut down on all the ingredients that are not strictly necessary. There are NO superfluous add-ons to an essentially simple recipe. So, no 65 spices (sorry!), no egg or cornflour or chilli sauce and what not. When done right, the chicken is made with a few ingredients only, but the result is fabulous. Think chicken that's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside and that smells pleasantly of curry leaves, green chillies, and spices. Yum!
The process is also straightforward. Chicken cubes are marinated in a spiced yogurt sauce, coated in rice flour, deep fried until crisp, and finally tossed in a tempering of green chillies, garlic, and curry leaves. And if you can't stand the thought of all that oil, you are welcome to try the air-fried version, which is every bit as delicious as the fried one.
Want more Indian appetizers/snacks with bold flavour? Try chilli paneer, instant pot tandoori chicken, and chicken frankie.
Ingredients Notes + Preparation
1. Cut the chicken breasts into small(ish) even-sized pieces for easy frying. The bigger the pieces are, the more time they will take to be cooked from the inside while deep frying them. Also, since this chicken 65 recipe is being made as an appetizer, it's nice to have bite-sized pieces that you can pop into your mouth with ease.
2. Toast and grind the cumin seeds to extract the maximum flavour out of them. It's very simple to do this step. Just put whole cumin seeds into a small and frypan crank up the heat to medium-hot. Stir them to and fro for about a minute and you will see the cumin turning darker and emitting a very distinctive aroma. Take it off the heat and grind to a powder when cool.
3. Make the rice flour. Again, a simple process. Add the rice to a spice grinder and whiz until you get a fine powder. The rice flour is added just before you are ready to fry the chicken and not before. It absorbs most of the extra marinade and makes the chicken crispy and textured, a highly preferred outcome for chicken 65.
4. Chop the curry leaves (kari patta) as finely as you can. You will be using curry leaves in the tempering too, but here, chopped curry leaves add to the taste of the chicken.
5. As a general rule, I avoid food colour whenever I can, but in this recipe, I add it simply because it adds so much to the presentation. Chicken 65 has to look dark orange and it simply can't do that without food colour. If you don't care for the colour of the dish, leave it out by all means.
6. Yogurt in Indian cooking is always plain (unflavoured) and unsweetened and full-fat.
This tempering of garlic, curry leaves and green chillies adds a second layer of flavour and taste to the fried chicken, and I always find the taste is SO much better after the tempering. Don't skip it.
1. Chop the garlic and cut the green chillies into 1" pieces (not cut in the picture).
2. If you want, you can also add half a teaspoon of black mustards seeds (not pictured). This is optional though. If you have them, go ahead; if not, there's no harm done.
Marination and Frying
I feel compelled to tell you right at the start that marinating the chicken is an important step that you should not miss. At least one hour of marination if not more really amps up the taste of the final dish. Here's how to do it:
1. Take all the marination ingredients (except the rice flour and oil) in a bowl and mix them well. Add the chicken and let the bowl sit for an hour or two.
2. Now, add the rice flour and mix it in well.
3. Heat the cooking oil in a deep wok or karahi and fry the chicken until golden-brown and crisp.
Tips for deep-frying the chicken
Make sure the chicken pieces are not too big. Small pieces get fried quickly and efficiently.
The oil should be medium hot when you slide in the chicken. If it is smoking hot, the chicken will get done on the outside quickly but remain undercooked inside. But if it is less hot, the chicken will absorb a lot of oil and turn soggy.
Tip: If you want to gauge if the oil is ready for frying, use the skewer test. Insert a wooden or metal skewer in the hot oil. If you see lots of bubbles rising up around it, the oil is ready.
Fry the chicken in batches. Don't crowd the wok with too many pieces as it will drop the temperature of the oil. Rather, add a few pieces at a time so the temperature remains constant.
Don't lower the heat or allow the chicken to remain in the oil for longer than necessary. Fry the first batch in hot oil, take tit out on a platter, then immediately drop the second batch and so on. It will take approximately 2-3 minutes to fry each batch.
Tempering
1. Heat the oil (1 tbsp) in a pan and add black mustard seeds (if using). Let them crackle, then add the chopped garlic and when it turns golden brown, add the green chillies and curry leaves. Sauté for a few seconds.
2. Now add the fried chicken and toss well. And that's it! Serve chicken 65 hot with a few lemon wedges for garnish if you want to.
Air Fryer Chicken 65
1. Follow all the preparation and marination steps, then preheat your air fryer and spray the inside with oil. Arrange the chicken pieces so they're not touching each other (don't overcrowd), spray some oil on them lightly, and air fry on 400 Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Flip midway at the 5-minute mark.
2. Now prepare the tempering in a pan (see 'tempering') and add the air-fried chicken to it. Toss well and serve hot.
Storage and Reheating
Chicken 65 is best had fresh when it is still hot and crispy. It is not really a make-ahead dish. Of course, you can keep the leftover chicken in the fridge for a couple of days, but know that it won't be crispy any more when you want to take it out again.
I personally don't dislike the lack of crunch (the flavours and taste remain intact), but if you want to regain the crispiness, reheat the chicken in an air fryer (380 F, two minutes) rather than a microwave.
📖 Recipe
Chicken 65
Equipment
- Spice grinder for making the cumin and rice powders
- medium sized bowl for marinating
- deep wok or karahi for deep frying
- medium-sized pan for tempering
Ingredients
Marination Ingredients
- 1 lbs boneless chicken breast 2 medium-sized chicken breasts approximately, cut into small cubes
- ½ cup yogurt plain
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste heaped
- 1 tsp cumin roasted and ground
- 1 tsp red chilli powder Kashmiri chilli for less heat
- ¾ tbsp black pepper powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp orange food colour
- 1 tbsp curry leaves chopped finely
- 1 ½ tablespoon rice flour
- cooking oil as needed for deep frying, approximately 3 cups
Tempering Ingredients
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds optional
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 3 green chillies
- 10 curry leaves
Instructions
Preparation
- Cut the chicken breasts into small, even-sized cubes.
- Roast the cumin seeds: Put the seeds in a small frypan on medium heat and stir to and fro until they turn slightly dark and fragrant. Allow them to cool down, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder.
- Chop the curry leaves finely.
- Put the rice in the spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Your rice flour is ready.
- Chop the green chilli and garlic under 'tempering ingredients.'
Marination and Frying
- Put the yogurt in a bowl and whisk lightly.
- Add all the ingredients from ginger-garlic paste to curry leaves EXCEPT the rice flour and oil. Mix them in well with a spoon. Cover with cling foil and leave to marinate for one hour.
- Add the rice flour just before you are ready to deep-fry the chicken and mix it in well.
- Put the oil in a wok or karahi and heat on medium heat. The oil is ready for frying when you insert a skewer in the oil and the oil around it starts forming tiny bubbles that rise up.
- Fry the marinated chicken in batches until crisp and golden brown. Don't overcrowd the wok or lower the temperature. Take out the fried chicken on a platter.
Tempering
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to a pan and add allow it to become hot. Add the mustard seeds (if using) and allow them to splutter in the oil.
- Add the chopped garlic and sauté until it turns golden-brown.
- Add the green chillies and curry leaves. Sauté for a few seconds.
- Add the fried chicken to the tempering and toss for 1-2 minutes only. Serve hot.
Air Fryer Instructions
- The preparation and marination instructions remain the same.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 Fahrenheit. Set the timer for 10 minutes.
- Spray the inside with oil and arrange the chicken pieces in a way that they don't touch each other. You may have to cook the chicken in 2 or even 3 batches. Don't overcrowd the fryer.
- At the 5 minute mark, flip the pieces and resume air frying.
- Once all the chicken is cooked, follow the tempering steps as outlined above under 'Tempering.'
Notes
- Do marinate the chicken for 1 hour at the minimum to allow the spices to seep into the pieces.
- The rice flour makes the chicken crispy, so don't omit it.
- Fry the chicken in medium-hot oil and don't allow the temperature to fall. If the oil is not hot enough, the chicken will become soggy and oily. Fry in small batches for this reason.
- Don't fry the chicken for very long either or it will become too dry. Take it out as soon as it turns golden brown. If the pieces are not too big, they will be cooked from inside as well in the hot oil.
Thanks for coming! Let me know what you think: