Greek Chicken Marinade:
Bright lemon, rich olive oil, warm herbs…sun-soaked Mediterranean flavors work all year round. Whether you want to grill outside, lighten up with a salad, or roast chicken on a cold night, this easy and versatile Greek chicken marinade recipe will carry you away to a shady patio by the sea.
Greek cooks are resourceful. So when a flavor combination is truly great, they’re going to find lots of different ways to use it, right? Enter Greek chicken marinade. Sure, you can call it Greek chicken kabob marinade. Or Greek chicken salad marinade. Or Greek chicken marinade for gyros. Or be like a true Greek cook: just put the chicken and marinade in a bag in the morning and figure something when you get home. It’ll be great.
I am obsessed with this marinade, and greek chicken. And will be sharing so many ways to use it both as a marinade and a dressing over the next few months. It is so easy to whip up a batch, so versatile. And you can keep it on hand for those busy weeknights when you need something quick!
How do you make your own marinade?
One of these days I’m going to count how many bottled marinades I can find at neighborhood grocery store. It’s…a lot. Which is crazy, because making marinade is soooo easy, the flavor profiles are unlimited, and homemade marinade is free of chemicals and additives. How easy? Whisk-everything-in-a-bowl easy. Dump-everything-in-a-bag easy. That’s easy.
How long do you marinate chicken?
Chicken is really forgiving about sitting in marinade. If it’s cut up in smaller pieces, it can absorb a lot of flavor in as little as two hours. (Cutting it up is good for getting lots of flavor, period.) Or if your evening plans change, no worries—you can marinade chicken for as long as two days, according to the U.S.D.A.
How long can you marinate chicken in salad dressing?
Yup, salad dressing works great as a marinade as well! Vinaigrettes have essentially the same proportions of oil and acid that basic meat marinades do, so if you see a great bargain, or love a flavor combination and find that you have an extra bottle around, use it. Marinate the chicken just as you do with bottled or homemade marinade, anywhere between two hours (for small pieces) and two days.
Can you pan fry marinated chicken?
Yes! Follow these steps:
- Add a little peanut or canola oil to a heavy pan, on medium heat, and heat it until the oil starts to ripple.
- Use tongs to put the chicken in the pan (the marinade may spatter, so keep your distance).
- Cook the pieces on one side until golden brown, then turn and repeat on the other side.
Cooking time will vary depending on what size pieces you’re cooking. In general, a small chicken breast takes about 5-7 minutes per side. If the pieces are very thick, cook over lower heat, or lower the heat when you turn them if you can see that they’re darkening before they’ve cooked through.
How Much Marinade Does This Make?
This recipe makes enough marinade for 2-3 lbs of chicken. It makes about 1 cup of marinade. It can easily be doubled or tripled.
Sometimes I like to use it as a salad dressing, so in those cases I will double the recipe, and remove half and reserve for salad dressing, while the other half gets poured over the chicken to marinade it.
How can I use marinated Greek chicken?
The flavors in this Greek marinated chicken recipe make it a versatile anchor to lots of dishes.
- Thread strips onto skewers for souvlaki, or Greek Chicken Kabobs or Skewers then grill them outside or on a griddle. Serve them as appetizers, or lay out tzatziki, hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, tabbouleh, and warm pitas for diners to build their own pita wraps.
- You can use this marinade for this Instant Pot Greek Chicken Gyros.
- You can also saute the chicken and serve with this Easy Greek Pasta Salad.
- My favorite way to use this greek chicken marinade is in these Greek Chicken Meal Prep Bowls. I make a few up and eat them for lunch all week long. Yum!
No matter how you use this greek chicken marinade, enjoy!
See How it Is Made
Greek Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tbs minced garlic
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/2 tsp each: dried basil dried thyme, crushed rosemary, salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 ½ tsp dijon mustard
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the Greek Marinade ingredients
As a Marinade
- in a large freezer bag and add chicken.
- Marinate 4-8 hours..
- Remove chicken from marinade before grilling, baking, or cooking in a skillet.
As a dressing
- Pour over favorite salads, power bowls, rice bowls, etc.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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B says
You show ? cup of lemon juice, how much do you need?
Rachael says
Oh my goodness, for some reason my recipe card keeps glitching, and when I transfer my recipes from Google docs (where they are until I perfect them), it doesn’t recognize 1/3. It is 1/3 cup, and the recipe is now updated. Thank you for letting me know.
Bette says
How much does this make? And how much marinade should I use for one cut up chicken?
Rachael says
It makes about a cup of marinade. And is good for 2-3 lbs of chicken.
Duck life says
This Greek dish is very attractive, I am quite impressed with this dish.
Greek Chicken says
I used chicken tenders and put them on skewers. I got a nice char without sacrificing moisture. I adore this recipe! I did use less lemon though. My husband and I have issues with acid reflux. The flavor was still marvelous! I served it over salad.
Rachael says
Awesome. I am so glad you liked it!
Emma says
The recipe doesn’t call for plain greek yogurt but you add it in the video. How much greek yogurt should we add?
Rachael says
The recipe does not call for greek yogurt. I am not sure what video you are referring to. There is no Greek Yogurt needed. THanks
SJ says
This marinade is so good! It has great flavor and I’ve used it on both pork and chicken for great barbecue. Thank you.
Stephanie says
I have made this recipe alot!! This is my families absolute favorite meal. I like to make double the sauce and boil down the 2nd half to pour over the finished chicken. It is to die for!