A yogurt marinated chicken that’s beautifully tenderized and infused with terrific garlic and oregano flavours! If you’re new to the magical powers of yogurt marinades, this baked Greek Chicken is going to convert you for life! Brought to you in partnership with Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt.
Welcome to GREEK WEEK! Every now and then, I like to do themed menus where I share all the recipes for a feast, and this week it’s all about the bright fresh flavours of the Mediterranean. Think – lemons, oregano, yogurt, lemons and plenty of garlic!
Are you ready to see what I’ve got in store for you for Greek Week?? Here you go….
GREEK MENU
Greek Chicken – Garlicky lemony oregano flavours infused right through the chicken from a flavour loaded Greek chicken marinade;
Greek Salad – the juicy tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, that red wine vinegar dressing and the pops of feta!
Tzatziki – for dipping and dolloping (recipe in Notes of Greek chicken)
Coming Thursday;Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes – crispy, lemony potatoes. It’s your dream come true!
Coming Friday;orLemon Potato Salad (pictured in first photo)– terrific alternative to mayo based Potato Salads. Bonus: No need to peel the potatoes.
And for dessert….
Greek BUTTLOVER!!!!
Oops, I mean Baklava. Butt-lover / Baklava. Same thing. 😂 Coming your way on Friday…. (Psst It does take time to assemble but you’re going to be amazed how straightforward it is!!)
SECRET WEAPON: YOGURT GREEK CHICKEN MARINADE
I first introduced readers to the magical powers of yogurt marinades with Greek Chicken Gyros. I bleated* over and over again about how the yogurt marinade is so awesome, I use it even when I’m not making Gyros. (*Honestly, there is no other way to describe the way I harped on about it other than to say I was bleating.)
Yogurt is a brilliant marinade. The Greeks know it, Middle Easterners have embraced it, the Persians love it, the Indians live by it (Butter Chicken, Tikka Masala, Biryani!).
What’s so good about it? Well, it tenderises quickly and more evenly than liquids with harsher acidity like lemon juice and vinegar, and is also a fabulous flavour carrier, injecting herbs and spices into the flesh.
This is the yogurt I use, and have always used for as long as I can remember – Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt. It would be rare to find my fridge without a tub of this. More likely you’d see two: current in use + a restock.
There’s enough flavour in the Greek Chicken Marinade such that you don’t need to marinate for a full 24 hours to get the benefit of the tenderising and flavour injection. Overnight is definitely recommended but if you really need to rush it, even 3 hours is enough. Just do extra basting!
I’ve baked this chicken because I’ve used bone in, skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks here. I love how the skin goes crispy, and any cut of meat with the bone is extra juicy.
But this is one of those recipes that is truly terrific with any cut of chicken. Especially breast – because it adds juiciness and flavour. I’ve popped directions and cook times in the recipe notes.
Go forth and enjoy! Back Wednesday for the next instalment in this weeks’ Greek Feast – Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes! – Nagi x
MORE GREAT YOGURT MARINADES
– Greek Chicken Gyros
– Lamb Shawarma – flavour loaded fall apart lamb!
– Doner Kebab (homemade version of post-pub midnight kebab run…)
– Butter Chicken
– Tikka Masala
– Chicken Biryani
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Greek Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.25 kg / 2.5 lb drumsticks and chicken thighs , bone in skin on (Note 1)
Marinade:
- 6 garlic cloves , minced (~ 2 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar (or red wine or apple cider vinegar)
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml lemon juice
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt (I use Farmers Union)
- 1 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Serving (optional):
- Plain Greek yogurt or Tzatziki
- Fresh oregano leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Mix Marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add chicken and coat well. Marinade for 24 hours (3 hours minimum).
- Preheat oven to 180C.350F.
- Line a tray with foil (trust me), place rack on tray (optional).
- Place chicken on rack (reserve marinade), skin side up. Bake 30 minutes,
- Remove from oven. Brush with marinade – do not flip.
- Return to oven for 20 minutes or until golden and a bit crispy. Give it a spray of olive oil just before it’s done if you want an extra crispy, shiny coat.
- Rest for a few minutes before serving. Juicy and tasty enough to serve plain but extra great with tzatziki or even some plain yogurt.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Getting right in there to make sure it’s sparkling clean before I pop it into the recycling bin!
Today’s recipe is brought to you courtesy of Farmers Union. I’ve used their Greek style natural yoghurt for as long as I can remember. So it was a no brainer when they asked if I’d create a recipe for them!!
Hi, Nagi. I just made this recipe and doubled it, too. The flavor
was definitely amazing! I followed your recipe exactly but the chicken didn’t turn as crispy and brown as I’d like. I also had to cook it longer. What do you think happened and what can I do next time? Thanks!
Hello Nagi – have just run into your recipes!! Going to use your mushroom rice with this chicken recipe. Have you tried barbecuing the marinated chicken?
Sure have – It’s amazing Kathy!!
I’ve just made this recipe for tonight’s dinner, and the chicken was moist and the flavour absolutely awesome! We had it with your tzatziki recipe, beautiful!!
Thank you Nagi!!
Wahoo, thanks for letting me know what you think!
Made this last night and it was amazing. I’m a Greek myself and this was the best Greek chicken I’ve ever made.
I was wondering if you could skis vide the chicken with its marinade and then finish it off on the grill or broiler. What do you think?
Thanks again for the awesome recipe.
Hi Kostas, what a great compliment, thanks so much! I haven’t tried this recipe by sous-vide, but I’m sure it would work fantastically!
The marinade is awesome. I use it for chicken kebabs with grilled lemon. I have shared the recipe with a bunch of other dads so they can get their kids to eat something healthy, everyone loves it
That’s awesome to hear Nicholas!
This is an incredible recipe! The chicken was delicious! This is going to be a go to marinade in future. Thank you so much!
Wahoo! Great stuff Suzanne ❤️
Made this the other night with the lemon garlic roasted potatoes, greek salad and Tzatziki. Beautiful. My other half loved it and took left overs to work for lunch. What a garlic hit. Unlike other websites back stories are always engaging and method is very comprehensive. So nice to be able to relate to Australian products and stories for a change. Take a bow. Thank you.
Thanks so much for all the awesome feedback Risky!
The Greek Chicken ‘recipe, can I use % fat yoghurt instead of full fat. I’m trying to loose weight. Luv luv luv your recipes & Dozer xxx
Hi Margaret, yes you definitely can – I hope you love it!
Oh, Nagi, this recipe for Greek Chicken stole my heart. The only complaint is the smell while it was cooking was so phenomenal it drove me crazy. The taste was incredible too.
THANK YOU!!!!
AWESOME!!!
I made the Greek chicken and was big hit … thanks again for another wonderful recipe
I’m so happy to hear it Sima ❤️
This recipe sounds amazing. Would it be terrible if I used regular plain yogourt. Apologies if this question insults your culinary standards.☺️
Plain yogurt will be fine Cat ☺️
Hello. Great recipe. Ive tried before but today only have boneless thighs and wanted to confirm the total cooking time. I see the notes. It says 20 minutes. Is that total time? And thank you for your amazing recipes. I keep going back to this site for all things delicious!!!!!
I loved the Greek yogurt marinated chicken, and all the variations for skinless. I listened to you and did the full 24 hours. Perfect!
Great website & have taken a few days to go over the recipes again (even though I know some off by heart now)!
Thanks so much Chris!
The new website looks good more colorful. Love your recipes., and your pictures of Dozer.
Thanks so much for the feedback Deb!
Love your website and recipes! It’s my go to for classic dishes and for some new food adventures. I love the new colour scheme of the website and it’s overall look. I just wish the header remained fixed so I don’t have to scroll all the way back up or all the way down in order to go back to the home page or select another category quickly.
Thanks so much for the feedback Krystal – I really appreciate it!
I can’t even remember how I found your site, around six months ago. But how deliciously simple your recipes are and never short on taste.
Thank you Nagi!
I’m so glad you found me Nola!!
Another foolproof recipe, im gonna share this amongs my friends for sure!! It just easy and taste amazing
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Steph!
I like the new inviting look of your website! Easy to view… and everything looks great!
Thanks so much for the feedback Miyon!
Beautiful layout and easy to navigate, thank you for bring Christmas early! 🙂 I love the photography and the featured photo is a great mix up close ups and whole. You are so talented and how you manage to make brown food look so mouth watering is amazing!
Some glitches – I went to “By Category” and clicked on “Only Quick & Easy” and it came up “No results found” with the spinning loop. It works if I click a specific category (All Categories -> Soups -> Only Quick and Easy) and on other categories like “All Recipes” but the pages won’t advance if I click on the specific page number or “next page”.
No matter for now as I have ALL my favorite recipes from you pinned and printed 😀
Thank you for all your hardwork! I love that you feature recipes from all backgrounds and consider your readers all over the globe (substitutions, measurements, etc.) and your recipes are truly enjoyed here in Los Angeles by my family and myself.
Hi Anita, thanks so much for the feedback!! I’ll look into that glitch! I’m so glad you’re enjoying all my recipes, I truly enjoy hearing what people think of them ❤️