If you love simple Mediterranean recipes with bright flavor, you are going to love my Greek chicken souvlaki. The word souvlaki justmeans meat on a skewer, and this traditional Greek dish is perfect for summertime grilling. The lemon garlic marinadesoaks all into the chicken, and it's even better with a drizzle of my homemade tzatziki sauce on top. You guys know that I loverecipes that are easy, healthy, and delicious, and thisis certainly one of those. So, let's dive right in.
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| GREEK CHICKEN SOUVLAKI | The Best Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Skewers blogsrabbi |
Chicken kabob marinade) GREEK CHICKEN SOUVLAKI
To get started, you'll need four boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cut those into one-and-a-halfinch or so cubes. And to do that, I'llslice the chicken breasts across into strips, thenslice each of those strips into cubes. The important part hereisn't so much the size.
You can make the pieces biggeror smaller to your liking, but more so that all of thepieces are uniform in size so that they cook evenlywhen they're on the grill. The Greek marinade forthe chicken is super easy and it starts with juicing one lemon, which should give you aboutthree tablespoons of juice, and you'll divide thatbetween both the marinade and the tzatziki saucethat we'll get to here in just a second.
If you guys have made myGreek sheet pan chicken or Greek salad recipe, oreven my avgolemono soup, you know that I am a big fanof the lemony garlicky flavor that's ubiquitous and Greek cuisine. And good news for you, you getto enjoy it again here today on this chicken souvlaki. Add the cube chicken to a mixing bowl and then drizzle one thirdcup of olive oil on top.
Add two tablespoons of lemon juice, making sure to reserve what remains, and mince three garliccloves into the bowl. For herbs, you just need twoteaspoons of dried oregano, one teaspoon of dried parsley,one teaspoon of kosher salt, and half a teaspoon ofground black pepper.
Chicken skewers recipe
Mix that altogether. And you guys know I'm justgoing to dig in with my hands because it is so much easier. And yes, I do wash my hands awhole bunch when I'm cooking.
And then, let that marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let those flavors permeate the chicken. So, while the chicken is marinating, you can whip up the tzatziki sauce.
And I have to say that I am literally obsessed with this sauce. Homemade is a million timesbetter than store-bought. So yes, while you can buy it in a pinch, I really do recommendthat you make it at home. Grate a medium cucumber, and if you're using a garden cucumber, make sure to peel it asthe skin is really thick. But if you use an English cucumber, I don't think peeling is necessary.
Chicken shish kebab
My English cucumber isalso quite large today, so I'm not gonna grate this whole thing, just about half of it. Cucumber has a lot of water in it, so to prevent a watery tzatziki, you'll need to drain the cucumber either by pressing down onit over a fine mesh sieve or using a nut milk bag tosqueeze out all of the water like I'm doing today. You'll also need two tablespoonsof freshly chopped dill, so go ahead and chop that up.
To a mixing bowl, addone-and-a-half cups of Greek yogurt, the drained cucumber, the twotablespoons of fresh dill, two minced garlic cloves,two tablespoons of olive oil, and one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, which you should still have remaining from your juiced lemon.
See, these recipes werejust made to go together. And lastly, add half ateaspoon of kosher salt. Give that a stir tocombine all of the flavors, and then let this rest in the fridge while you proceed onwith cooking the chicken.
And for a little time-saving tip, you can also make the tzatzikia few hours in advance. In fact, I think it'sbetter made in advance so that the flavors canproperly meld together. Alright, let's skewer this chicken. I have eight-inch metal skewers today, so I should get about fourto five pieces of chicken on each skewer.
Chicken kabobs on grill) The Best Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Skewers
But if you have larger 12-inch skewers, you could get about eightto nine pieces of chicken on each one. I also recommend flat metal skewers as the flat side helpsto prevent your chicken from rotating aroundwhen you go to flip them, at least more so than round skewers.
And I prefer metal skewersto wood skewers because one, they're reusable, and two, I don't have to remember to soak them. So, I'll link the skewers I'm using in the video description below.
And once I've threadedall of that chicken on, which only takes a few minutes, I'll go wash my hands yet again before taking it over to the stove. Now, if you have an outdoorgrill, by all means, go ahead and use that.
I am such a fan of outdoor grilling. But as I don't have oneyet in my new condo, I'm using a grill pan, and that's totally fine to use as well. Heat your grill or grillpan to medium high heat, and then cook the skewersfor three to four minutes on each side.
bbq chicken kabobs grill) blogsrabbi
And see, just after I told you that flat metal skewers help to prevent yourchicken from rotating, I've got a few pieces here that decided to go rogue on me.
- But really, they do help because if these were round skewers, they'd almost certain Lyall be flipping around. Continue cooking the skewers until they've got a nice char on them, and the chicken is cooked through, then transfer them to a plate.
- This is such a great recipe for serving a crowd, and my family always requests it during the summer when we often grill overate my brother's house.
- But it's also a great weeknight recipe for yourself or a small family because leftovers are pretty much the best thing ever.
- (bright downbeat music) To serve it up today, I'll just transfer some of the tzatziki into a small serving bowl, and I whipped up a quick tomato and cucumber side salad with what I had in my fridge.
But if you wanna go full on, feel free to whip ump Greek salad recipe, which of course is aperfect accompaniment. Add a couple of skewers to a plate, serve up a portion of salad, and dill up some tzatziki onto for one, incredibly easy, ultra flavorful light and healthy Mediterranean dinner recipe. And boy, oh boy, am Iready to dig into this? You really can't beat asimple recipe like this.
Grilled chicken skewers) The Best Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Skewers blogsrabbi
This is such a goodsummertime recipe as well. And to be honest, I would not usually drizzle the tzatziki on top. I would get the chicken off the skewers and probably just put adill above it on my plate, and then dip the chicken in it. I also got the chicken piecesjust a little big today, so.
I'm gonna cut them into smaller pieces so I can pop a piece into my mouth. All right, here we go. (soft downbeat music) So good.
The lemony garlic flavor from the chicken really shines through, it'sso good and just fresh. And then you've got thecooling cucumber yogurt sauce on top, they just gotogether so beautifully.
That's why it is a classic. (soft downbeat music continues) Now, if you're serving thisup for an outdoor party or barbecue, I guaranteethat this entire plate of chicken souvlaki willdisappear very quickly.
Best chicken kebab marinade) Grilled Chicken Skewers
But if you do happen to have leftovers, the chicken itself will keepfor about four to five days in the fridge, in asealed storage container. Or up to three months in the freezer. I always think a smart moveis to do a big batch of this towards the end of summer.
And then when you want that flavor to carry you through intosay, September and October, you've got some in the freezer that you can then thawin the fridge overnight and enjoy that bright summery flavor even when it's not summer anymore. I hope you guys add this toyour list as a must-make recipe now that the weather is warming up and it's nice and sunny outside. And I will try to get yousome new grilling recipes in the future.
I hope you guys enjoyed today's video, and if you did, make sureto give it a thumbs up, share it with your family and friends who love Mediterraneandishes and Greek food, and just recipes in generalwith a bright burst of flavor that are also easy to make. And I will see youagain in the next video. (soft downbeat music)
