Our Greek marinade chicken and yogurt ensures juicy, tender, and flavorful chicken! Use this easy recipe for a Mediterranean-inspired marinade for chicken breasts or chicken thighs!
I have used this Greek marinade many times lately. Usually chicken, but it works with other proteins, too! It calls for ingredients that I usually have on hand and makes an amazingly flavorful chicken. Like our lemon chicken marinade, we use fresh lemon juice, but we also add other ingredients like Greek yogurt, balsamic vinegar, dill, and oregano to really explode the Mediterranean flavor. I love this chicken Caesar salad or by adding my favorite Greek salad.
This marinade was originally designed for chicken (breasts or thighs), but it’s perfect for marinating pork, tofu, shrimp, and fish (shrimp and fish need a lot less time, though). For more marinade recipes, check out our sesame ginger shrimp marinade or this amazing steak marinade.
Key Ingredients
- Yogurt: I love using plain Greek yogurt in this chicken marinade! It thickens the marinade and helps it adhere to the chicken, tenderizes the meat, and keeps it incredibly juicy. Low-fat or whole-milk yogurt works best. If you have some left over, make my tzatziki sauce easy!
- Lemon Juice and Balsamic Vinegar: I love fresh lemon juice mixed with balsamic vinegar. They make our chicken taste great and help tenderize it. We don’t use too much, as too much can make our chicken tough, but just enough to make sure our chicken tastes good.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic is a must! I use two minced cloves, but you can also grind them finely.
- Dill and Oregano: I love the combination of fresh dill (dried works, too!) and dried oregano in this marinade. They create an amazing Mediterranean flavor. If you have a Greek spice blend on hand, feel free to use that instead.
- Honey: A touch of honey balances the acidity of the lemon and vinegar and helps the chicken brown nicely when cooked. I like to start my chicken in the frying pan to get those brown grill marks, then finish it in the oven. Even if you’re just baking chicken, honey will give it a lovely shine.
How to Make our own Greek Chicken Marinade
This Greek chicken marinade is very easy to make. You will put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined. Then, add your chicken (chicken breasts or chicken thighs) and move it around the marinade until combined.
When the marinade is ready, add your chicken and toss to coat. You can marinate the chicken for up to 8 hours, but even one hour will make a noticeable difference in juiciness and tenderness.
When you’re ready to cook, don’t throw away that marinade! When cooking, baste the chicken with additional marinade as you flip it. If baking, pour the marinade over the chicken before removing it from the oven. (You can watch me do this in the video!) One thing to remember is that the honey in the marinade will brown the chicken quickly, so watch your heat. I like to cook the chicken in a frying pan over medium heat to add some color and then finish it in the oven at 375°F (190°C) for a well-cooked, juicy chicken.
Easy Greek Chicken Marinade
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PREP
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Plain Greek yogurt is the secret to this Greek chicken marinade recipe! The yogurt helps the marinade coat the chicken and make it tender and juicy. I used this marinade after just one hour and I was really happy, but if you wait a few hours, the flavors deepen even more. (I even left the chicken marinating the night before, and it was still delicious!) If you go past 8 hours, the lemon juice and vinegar may start to harden the outside of the chicken a bit (it’s still delicious, though).
Makes enough for up to 2 pounds of chicken
You will need it
1 teaspoon of olive oil
2 spoons of honey
1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon of lemon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
½ teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ pounds (680g) chicken breast or thighs
Directions
- Marinate the Chicken
1Combine olive oil, honey, balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, dill, oregano, yogurt, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl large enough to hold the chicken.
2Add the chicken, turning them in the marinade to coat well. Marinate covered in the refrigerator for 1 to 8 hours.
- Cook the Chicken
1Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and set aside a baking sheet lined with parchment.
2Heat a grill pan over medium heat. A little oil, and put the chicken in the pan. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until grills appear, but do not cook until cooked through. Watch your heat not too high during this step as the honey can burn.
3Transfer the chicken to the prepared baking sheet and spoon over any marinade left in the dish.
4Bake until an internal thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°F, about 15 to 25 minutes, depending on how thick your chicken is. Rest for 5 minutes, slice, and serve.
Tips from Adam and Joanne
- Other ways to cook chicken: You can grill, bake, or cook the chicken in a skillet or grill pan. My favorite option is to broil the outside for color and finish in the oven. Since the honey is in the marinade, it will darken a bit so watch the heat when searing your chicken. You can skip the grill pan and go straight to the oven. You will still get a little color. If you’re using an outdoor grill, use our grilled chicken recipe for tips.
- The nutrition facts given below are estimates. We took chicken breasts.
Food Per Serving
Serving Size
1/4 of the recipe (6 ounces chicken)
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Calories
246
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Perfect Oils
6.3g
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Saturated Fats
1.5g
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Cholesterol
125.9mg
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Sodium
665.1 mg
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Carbohydrate
5.3g
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Dietary fiber
0.3g
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Total Sugar
3.9g
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Proteins
39.8g
