Greek Seasoned Chicken

Greek seasoned chicken ingredients

Many of the ingredients are things in your spice rack or pantry so you can have them on hand at all times. Add some chicken and, preferably fresh, garlic and you’re on your way to one amazing dinner.

Detailed quantities and directions in the recipe card below.

• Chicken: I most often use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this Greek chicken recipe, simply because I love it and we always have it. However, it’s also really delicious chicken thighs. If you want to use skin-on chicken, I’d swap the lemon juice for zest to allow the skin to crisp up more easily.
• Garlic: I encourage using fresh garlic cloves for their superior flavour over powdered or even jar varieties. If you don’t like using fresh garlic, use jar garlic instead.
• Olive oil: Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. I like a light flavoured one.
• White wine vinegar: White wine vinegar adds a nice tang but you could also use red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar or in a bind, apple cider vinegar.
• Lemon juice: Use fresh lemon juice, not the bottled variety. Feel free to add a little lemon zest if you really want to crank up the lemon flavour, or saute some lemon slices, as shown in these photos.
• Salt and pepper: That perfect seasoning duo.
• Onion powder: If you prefer, you could cook some fresh onion with the chicken but the convenience and flavour of onion powder added to the seasoning is wonderful.
• Herbs: I use three dried herb varieties, used often in Greek cooking – oregano, dill and thyme. You could also use dried parsley, basil or marjoram.

You can also try this Greek marinade – with some similar flavours but a few little changes and it works just as beautifully.

Greek Chicken Marinade Options

• Marinating time: While I only tend to marinate my chicken for 30 minutes, you can certainly do it for up to 6 hours. Sometimes I just cook it immediately and the chicken is still incredibly flavourful. 
• Can I add Greek yoghurt? Yoghurt is a great tenderiser so you are welcome to add plain Greek yoghurt to this marinade too. About ⅓ of a cup is great and marinate for at least 1 hour. The yoghurt actually helps get those flavours deep into the chicken. Don’t wipe off the yoghurt. Just let it drop off a little then transfer straight to your hot pan. 

How to make Greek chicken

You’ll love how simple this meal is. Juicy, tender chicken breasts that have been marinated in a simple but flavourful Greek marinade, then fried in just a little oil in a frying pan or skillet. There’s nothing to it.

See the recipe card below for the full recipe details.

1. Prepare the chicken: Start by cutting the chicken into large tenderloin size pieces. I get 4-5 out of a medium chicken breast.
2. Make the Greek chicken marinade: Simply mix together the marinade ingredients (photo 1) in a dish, then add the chicken and mix well to combine (photo 2). Let this chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Cook the chicken: Heat a touch more oil in a frying pan or skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook (photo 3) until golden, then flip and cook the other side until the chicken is just cooked through.

How long does chicken take to cook?

Chicken will take varying times to cook depending on how thick it is and how hot your cooking it – no stovetop is the same and the temperature will vary with just a small twist of the knob.

As a general rule, this chicken will take about 3-5 minutes on each side but the best way to check for doneness is to poke a meat thermometer into the thickest part. It is done when the internal temperature reaches 75C / 165F.

If you don’t have a thermometer, cut a piece open in the thickest part and it should be white but still juicy.

Can I grill this chicken?

You can grill this Greek seasoned chicken too. A grill pan, a grill on your barbecue or even under an overhead grill / broiler all work lovely. On a grill, they’ll get those gorgeous char marks and under a grill or broiler, be careful to keep an eye on it so they don’t burn.

What to Serve with Greek Chicken?

Kalamata olives, roasted tomatoes and feta cheese are all amazing Greek ingredients and would all work well with this chicken. Tzatziki sauce would be wonderful on the side as would this super simple yogurt dip.

We love this served with a creamy cucumber salad and this 3 ingredient flatbread just like you see in these photos (similar to pita bread) then we wrap it up like a chicken souvlaki. 

Roast potatoes are also great, as is this warm potato and asparagus salad. Of course, a classic Greek salad would be wonderful. This spiced roast sweet potato salad works well and this roasted beetroot feta salad too.

If you’re serving this up to guests, you could finish up dinner with this Greek orange semolina cake too. 

More quick dinner recipes

• Greek lamb kebabs (lamb souvlaki)
• Lamb kofta wraps
• Pistachio Chicken
• Creamy Tuscan Chicken
• Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince 
• Creamy Peppercorn Chicken 
• Chicken Fajita Nachos
• Beef Shish Kebabs (Beef Kabobs)