🇬🇷🍋🍗 Greek Yogurt Chicken Skewers are packed with bright Mediterranean flavor from lemon, garlic, and oregano. The Greek yogurt marinade is the secret 🤫 to incredibly moist and juicy chicken every time! Both outdoor grilling and indoor grill pan instructions provided for this EASY chicken recipe!
Easy Greek Yogurt Chicken Skewers Recipe
- A Greek yogurt marinade does the heavy lifting. Greek yogurt tenderizes the chicken and keeps it moist while cooking. This recipe is very similar to my Greek Chicken Kabobs but I switched up the seasoning elements in the marinade a bit.
- Simple pantry ingredients. Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, paprika, cumin, and onion powder build big flavor with almost no effort.
- Grill it or pan it. An outdoor grill gives you smoky char marks, but an indoor grill pan works just as well any time of year.
- Great for meal prep. I always make a bigger batch of chicken that we’ll eat for that meal so that for the next few days I’ve got leftover chicken to stay on top of my high protein goals!
Ingredients in Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken Skewers
Greek Chicken Marinade with Yogurt: Plain Greek yogurt is the star. It tenderizes the chicken like I use in Tandoori Chicken and you just can’t beat the creamy texture to create moist and juicy results. Make sure to select plain, unflavored yogurt. I strongly prefer Greek yogurt for this recipe although regular (non-Greek) yogurt may be used in a pinch if you’re familiar with a brand that’s still fairly thick. Tip – One single serving container of Fage Greek Yogurt in the 5.3-ounce size is perfect here. You can use 0% fat, 2%, or 5% fat. I go with 2% for a happy medium.
Olive oil: Adds moisture and helps the chicken not stick when cooking.
Fresh Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed brightens the whole Greek yogurt chicken marinade and balances the spices.
Spices: Dried oregano, garlic powder or fresh garlic, paprika, kosher salt, cumin, onion powder and pepper lend classic Greek-inspired flavor with warm, earthy depth.
Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts is the cut of chicken I use, but boneless skinless chicken thighs work great too and tend to be even more forgiving on an outdoor grill, since there’s more fat.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Greek Chicken Skewers
- Make the Marinade: Whisk together all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, except the chicken.
- Marinate: Add bite-sized pieces of chicken, toss to coat in the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours, or up to 24 hours. Ideally, you begin marinating in the morning or around lunchtime and by dinnertime, it’s had 4-8 hours.
- Preheat and Thread: Preheat your outdoor grill and then thread the marinated cicken onto skewers. Discard the marindade.
- Grill: If you’re grilling on an outdoor gas grill, cook over medium-high heat for about 6-8 minutes; or on an indoor grill pan, cook over medium-high heat on your stove’s burner for about 8-10 minutes.
- Rest, Garnish, and Serve: Allow the chicken to rest momentarily while you optionally mince fresh herbs like basil, dill, or parsley to sprinkle. Lemon wedges are always a good idea!
- Serving Tips: This Greek Chicken Gyro Salad + Homemade Tzatziki Sauce recipe that is another way to enjoy these Greek chicken skewers. Just remove the grilled chicken from the skewers and serve it salad-style, as shown, in a bowl with all the other tasty fixings! This is also a great salad for using leftovers. My Greek Lemon Chicken and Orzo Salad, Lemon Basil Greek Orzo Salad, or a simple fresh tomato and cucumber salad, are also fantastic. Making wraps using pita bread is also a great way to serve this dish.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Greek Yogurt Chicken Skewers
Ingredients
Marinade
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt, 0% fat, 2% fat or 5% fat; I use most of a 5.3-ounce container of 2% Fage Greek Yogurt which is a bit more than 1/2 cup but I use 2 lbs chicken
- ÂĽ cup lemon juice, (freshly squeezed is preferred)
- 3-4 cloves garlic cloves, finely minced (or use about 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Chicken
- 1 1/2-2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1-inch pieces (boneless skinless chicken thighs may be substituted)
Garnishing, optional
- finely minced fresh herbs, as desired, (basil, mint, dill, parsley, etc.)
- lemon wedges
Instructions
- Marinade: To a large bowl, add all ingredients, and whisk to combine to create the chicken marinade. Tips – Make any desired flavor adjustments such as more garlic, salt, more of a certain seasoning, etc. This is a very flexible recipe. If you're using closer to 2 pounds of chicken rather than 1.5, go heavier handed or add a bit more of everything.
- Chicken: Add the diced chicken pieces to the bowl, toss well, cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap, and place bowl in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 60 minutes, up to 8 hours. Marinating Tips – I aim for 2-4 hours. The longer you marinate, the juicier and more flavorful your chicken will be. If you're using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes while the chicken marinates. Wooden skewers, especially on an outdoor grill, add an extra layer of smoky flavor.
- Preheat: Preheat your outdoor grill to medium or medium-high heat and preheat your indoor grill pan over high heat on your stove's burner.
- Threading: After marinating, thread the chicken on approximately 5 to 8 skewers, depending on how much chicken you're using and the exact length of your skewers. Discard the marinade.Tips – Don't compress or overly compact/squish the chicken onto a skewer. If you're running out of space, start a new skewer. Otherwise the chicken steams, rather than sears.
- Grilling (outdoors) – Grill for approximately 3-4 minutes with the lid closed, open the lid, flip the chicken using tongs, and cook for another 2-4 minutes, or until the chicken is done. Grilling Tips – Because most grills are at least 500-600F and these pieces of chicken are small, it's going to cook very quickly. Use common sense and lower the heat if it's burning, flip and turn as much as necessary, and if it's not done after 8 minutes total, keep grilling until it's done. If it sticks when you are trying to flip it, let it cook for another minute before trying to flip it.
- Grill Pan (indoors on stove burner) – Place the skewers on the grill pan, and cook for approximately 5 minutes, flip the chicken using tongs, and cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until the chicken is done. Cooking Tips – It'll likely take a bit longer indoors than on an outdoor grill, but it varies and is also dependent on the size of your pieces of chicken. In general small pieces of chicken cook very quickly but all grill pans vary in their thickness, composition, the size of the chicken pieces varies, etc. so use common sense and keep cooking until it's done. If it sticks when you are trying to flip it, let it cook for another minute before trying to flip it.
- Garnishing: Optionally garnish with fresh herbs as desired.
- Serving: Serve the chicken right on the skewers with tzatziki sauce, or with pita bread, flat bread, black olives, etc. Remove the chicken from the skewers and serve over a salad such as my Greek Gyro Salad, this Greek Lemon Chicken and Orzo Salad, Lemon Basil Orzo Salad, or a simple fresh tomato and cucumber salad, are also fantastic.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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