Need something easy and flavorful to throw on the grill this weekend? This Greek Marinated Chicken is it.
The marinade for this chicken (similar to what I used for this Chicken Shawarma ) takes just a few minutes to stir together and creates an absolute explosion of flavor. It’s incredible. I only marinated my chicken in this magical mix for 30 minutes, but the flavor was still loud and clear. Once marinated, you can grill the chicken outdoors over a gas or charcoal flame, or (if you don’t have a grill) you can bake it in the oven. Either way, you’ll get a super flavorful and moist end product.
I served this Greek Marinated Chicken with my Lemony Cucumber and Couscous Salad, which was the perfect cold summer side, and incorporated both starches and vegetables into the meal. Two birds with one stone!
Greek Marinated Chicken
Greek Marinated Chicken
Servings 8 piecesIngredients
- 1 cup plain yogurt ($0.63)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced ($0.32)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano ($0.08)
- 1 medium lemon ($0.49)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley ($0.20)
- 3 1/2 to 4 lbs chicken pieces ($6.86)
Instructions
- To make the marinade, combine the yogurt, olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper in a bowl. Use a fine holed cheese grater or a zester to scrape the thin layer of yellow zest from the lemon skin into the bowl. Also add the juice from half of the lemon (about 1-2 Tbsp). Stir until the ingredients are well combined. Roughly chop a big handful, or about 1/4 bunch, of parsley and stir it into the marinade.
- Add the chicken pieces and marinade to a gallon sized zip top bag. Remove as much air as possible, close the bag tightly, and massage the bag to mix the contents and make sure the chicken is well coated. Refrigerate the bag for 30 minutes.
- After marinating for 30 minutes, either cook the chicken on a grill OR preheat the oven to 375 degrees in preparation to bake the chicken.
- To bake the chicken, place the chicken pieces in a large casserole dish (9×13). Bake the chicken in the preheated 375 degree oven for 45-60 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos for Greek Marinated Chicken
First prepare the marinade. Combine the yogurt, olive oil, oregano, minced garlic, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper in a bowl. Add the zest from one lemon and the juice from about half of it (1-2 Tbsp). Stir these ingredients until well combined.
Add a handful, or about 1/4 bunch, of roughly chopped parsley. This is your finished marinade (or a REALLY awesome dip!).
I used about 3.75 pounds of chicken pieces (drumsticks and thighs). You could easily half this Greek Marinated Chicken recipe, if needed.
Add the chicken pieces and the marinade to a large, gallon-sized zip top bag and mix it around to make sure the chicken is well coated. Refrigerate the bag for 30 minutes.
After marinating, you can either grill the chicken or bake it. I don’t have an outdoor grill, so I decided to bake it. Place the chicken pieces in a large casserole dish. I ended up pouring the extra marinade over top, but later realized that this just made it take longer to brown, so I don’t suggest doing so. There is plenty of flavor in the marinade that you won’t need to add the extra.
Bake the chicken in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45-60 minutes, or until it is golden brown. It will smell SO good! Now eat!
I served this Greek Marinated Chicken with my Lemony Cucumber and Couscous salad and it was PERFECT! :D
I am not sure what I did wrong here. The marinade looked very flavorful and smelled great, but the roasted chicken had very little of the flavor. I used drumsticks so the marinade seemed to get on the skin and probably slid right off. It was disappointing :(
Yummy! This was easy to make and tasted delicious-even my 2 year old loved it! I will definitely make this again and again!!
Made this Friday night. The house smelled amazing! Used the leftovers to make chicken salad for lunch today. Awesome!
great recipe! just made this tonight for dinner and it was very tasty (not to mention healthy!). I made the lemon cucumber couscous that went with it and that was really good as well.
Thank you Beth for making this website, posting these wonderful easy to make recipes!
I’m making this and notice I’m out of oregano. Should I go to the store, or could I use Italian seasoning??
I think I’d go to the store. Italian seasoning has a few other spices in it that might clash with the theme.
Holy moly, this is so good! Just tried it today and it’s really flavorful and easy to make. Thank you! :)
Absolutely fantastic, loved it and had to share it on my website as well. Thanks for the great work
Hey, my fiance found your recipe above via Pinterest. We had never marinated anything with yogurt before, FANTASTIC recipe, it was delicious. We did a minor variation of your recipe, have a read http://ifigottagetup.com/recipe/greek-marinated-chicken-potato-couscous/
This one wasn’t all the way there, flavor-wise. It tasted GOOD, because it was baked chicken drumsticks, so of course it did! The chicken was very juicy and I broiled it at the end so we enjoyed the crisp skin. But by Beth’s disclaimer about how strong the garlic was, I was expecting a VERY flavorful outcome, and didn’t get it. Every few bites I’d get a little burst of lemon and that was nice, but overall it just tasted like yummy baked chicken, and I didn’t get much of the marinade flavor at all.
I wonder if I can (a) marinate overnight, (b) skip the parsley and (c) cover/uncover (and when)?
I wouldn’t suggest marinating over night because the acidic marinade can break down the meat with extended exposure (or so I’ve read). You can skip the parsley. I wouldn’t cover it because it will hold in too much moisture and make the skin soggy. :)
Anyone try this with plain GREEKS yogurt. I have some I need to use up because I’m not a fan of it. Was wondering if cooking with it would help.
I used Fage greek yogurt and my chicken was very very moist. word of caution, greek yogurt has a natural tang so use more lemon juice and garlic to over power its tanginess.
I’m glad I read this suggestion before cooking since I’m using Greek yogurt as well. Good looking out!
I followed the recipe exactly and marinated for about 5 hours. I covered the pan for the first 30 mins to lock in moisture and then removed it for the last 20 or so. I also broiled for about 5 to crisp up the skin. Overall, I felt the flavor wasn’t really there, especially in the breasts. Plus, the skin didn’t really get crispy enough and so the texture was weird when eating it. I think brining is probably the way to go next time.
This recipe was really delicious. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and baked for 40 minutes. It turned out well. I might try this with chicken breast next time (and reduce cooking time) and see how it turns out. I served it with the lemony couscous. I’m definitely adding this to my regular recipe rotation! Thanks for posting the recipe!
I made this dish last night for dinner. It was Fabulous ! Followed directions without any modifications. Plus I made the Lemon Couscous that is with this recipe also. Loved it! Perfect pairing!
After reviewing what everyone said, I brined chicken breasts in saltwater for thirty minutes. My chicken breasts were already a bit flat. I marinated the chicken for 24 hours. Then I baked it with all the sauce still on it at 375 degrees for an hour. However, the last ten minutes, I took out the breasts out of the sauce mixture, and placed the chicken breasts on a new cooking tray and finished baking it. It didn’t really brown much though (Maybe because of all the sauce still on it). However, the chicken was juicy and full of amazing flavors! This is going to go in my dinner rotation. Thanks Beth for a great flavorful recipe! :)