Air Fryer Paneer Tikka (Gluten-Free, Vegetarian)

Paneer tikka is what vegetarian North India put on the grill while everyone else was charring chicken. Paneer is a fresh, non-melting curd cheese — milk set with a little lemon or vinegar and pressed — and that refusal to melt is exactly why it works here: cut into cubes, marinated in spiced yogurt, and pushed into a tandoor, it holds its shape and takes on char while staying soft inside. It's a fixture of restaurant menus and home feasts alike, the dish that proves a vegetarian starter can carry a table.

The tandoor gives the original its live-fire smoke, and a countertop basket can't fully replace that — that's the honest tradeoff. What the air fryer is genuinely good at is the other half of the job: a fierce dry heat that sets the yogurt marinade into a blistered, slightly bitter-charred coat without drying the cheese to rubber. A spoon of toasted chickpea flour in the marinade helps it grip and crisp, and it keeps the whole thing gluten-free — there's no wheat in real paneer tikka.

The one allergen that matters here is dairy, and it's central twice over, in the paneer and the yogurt, so this is not one to attempt around a milk allergy. For everyone else, it's a fast, satisfying vegetarian dinner with real backbone.

Cook it in a basket with enough room to spread the pieces out; crowded paneer steams pale instead of charring.