I love tzatziki sauce! GOOD tzatziki sauce, that is. I had some very disappointing tzatziki when out for lunch the other day (it was way too sweet–were they using vanilla flavored yogurt???) and had to go home and make it myself to restore my positive memories. And they are restored! This sauce is so good. It tastes amazing with the Greek chicken, on fresh green beans, on a piece of whole grain bread or pita, or just straight out of the bowl. Kidding about that last one. Although I may have considered it.
But enough about the sauce, this marinated Greek chicken recipe is delicious on its own; moist, flavorful, and low effort with a simple lemon, garlic and herb marinade. I made it as shish kabobs, but it would also work with whole pieces of chicken if you prefer. The chicken goes nicely with a Greek salad or some simple rice and fresh steamed green beans. Cover the whole plate with tzatziki!
Time for both dishes: 35 minutes active time, 3+ hours start to dinner (with marinade time)
Serves: 4
Greek Chicken Shish Kabobs
1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
Cut chicken into shish kabob sized pieces (Roughly 1″ cubes. My chicken thighs were thin so I cut them in larger strips and then folded them in half as I threaded them on the skewer.) and place in a shallow glass pan that just fits the chicken. Whisk together all remaining ingredients and pour the marinade over the chicken, making sure all pieces are coated on all sides. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.
Thread chicken pieces onto skewers and grill over medium-high heat until cooked through (roughly 10 minutes), turning once.
Tzatziki Sauce
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp salt
Cut the peeled cucumber in half lengthwise, use a regular metal teaspoon to scrape out the seeds, then finely chop. Combine cucumber with the remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and chill for at least one hour to allow flavors to blend.
Savorra Tips
-Save time by preparing the lemon juice and garlic for both recipes at once. Who wants to wash a cutting board and knife more than you have to?
-Greek yogurt is much thicker than traditional yogurt and makes a nice thick tzatziki. If you can’t find it, regular plain yogurt will taste the same, but your sauce will be more liquidy. Still better than no tzatziki!
Your recipes are fairly authentic–the yogurt should be drained of even more water with a cheese cloth, and the cucumbers should be salted and left to drain of water as well (and a large to med size grater works great for the size of pieces one would want), then you are pretty much on the money. Two hours of both those draining of water should do it, but I have seen some places in Greece that let the yogurt drain for a loooonnng time.
But this adds more time to prepare things; using the greek yogurt would at least work ok, but if you use normal plain yogurt you should certainly drain it.