GREEK CHICKEN SOUVLAKI | The Best Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Skewers

Chicken souvlaki is one of my favorite Greek street food items! Tender chicken soaks in a bright lemon garlic marinade, then it’s threaded on skewers and grilled until perfectly juicy and charred.

Consider this recipe a more simplified version of my Greek chicken kabobs or shish kabobs. Unlike kabobs (which are grilled with vegetables), souvlakis are simply skewers of meat and are meant to be served with fresh-cut veggies or even a Greek salad. But the finishing touch is a mandatory drizzle of tzatziki sauce all over everything.

If you love Mediterranean recipes and easy dinner ideas, this recipe was meant for you!

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► TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:27 Cut the chicken breasts into small cubes.
00:50 Make the Greek chicken marinade and toss with the chicken.
02:00 Make the tzatziki sauce.
03:26 Thread the chicken pieces onto the skewers.
04:12 Grill the chicken souvlaki.
05:27 Serve the chicken souvlaki with a Greek salad and some tzatziki sauce.
06:00 Taste test, storage, and tips.

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#chickensouvlaki #grilledchicken #chickenrecipe

– If you love simple Mediterranean recipes with bright flavor, you are going to love my Greek chicken souvlaki. The word souvlaki just means meat on a skewer, and this traditional Greek dish is perfect for summertime grilling. The lemon garlic marinade soaks all into the chicken, and it’s even better with a drizzle of my homemade tzatziki sauce on top. You guys know that I love recipes that are easy, healthy, and delicious, and this is certainly one of those. So, let’s dive right in. To get started, you’ll need four boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cut those into one-and-a-half inch or so cubes. And to do that, I’ll slice the chicken breasts across into strips, then slice each of those strips into cubes. The important part here isn’t so much the size. You can make the pieces bigger or smaller to your liking, but more so that all of the pieces are uniform in size so that they cook evenly when they’re on the grill. The Greek marinade for the chicken is super easy and it starts with juicing one lemon, which should give you about three tablespoons of juice, and you’ll divide that between both the marinade and the tzatziki sauce that we’ll get to here in just a second. If you guys have made my Greek sheet pan chicken or Greek salad recipe, or even my avgolemono soup, you know that I am a big fan of the lemony garlicky flavor that’s ubiquitous and Greek cuisine. And good news for you, you get to enjoy it again here today on this chicken souvlaki. Add the cube chicken to a mixing bowl and then drizzle one third cup of olive oil on top. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice, making sure to reserve what remains, and mince three garlic cloves into the bowl. For herbs, you just need two teaspoons of dried oregano, one teaspoon of dried parsley, one teaspoon of kosher salt, and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Mix that altogether. And you guys know I’m just going to dig in with my hands because it is so much easier. And yes, I do wash my hands a whole bunch when I’m cooking. And then, let that marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let those flavors permeate the chicken. So, while the chicken is marinating, you can whip up the tzatziki sauce. And I have to say that I am literally obsessed with this sauce. Homemade is a million times better than store-bought. So yes, while you can buy it in a pinch, I really do recommend that you make it at home. Grate a medium cucumber, and if you’re using a garden cucumber, make sure to peel it as the skin is really thick. But if you use an English cucumber, I don’t think peeling is necessary. My English cucumber is also quite large today, so I’m not gonna grate this whole thing, just about half of it. Cucumber has a lot of water in it, so to prevent a watery tzatziki, you’ll need to drain the cucumber either by pressing down on it over a fine mesh sieve or using a nut milk bag to squeeze out all of the water like I’m doing today. You’ll also need two tablespoons of freshly chopped dill, so go ahead and chop that up. To a mixing bowl, add one-and-a-half cups of Greek yogurt, the drained cucumber, the two tablespoons of fresh dill, two minced garlic cloves, two tablespoons of olive oil, and one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, which you should still have remaining from your juiced lemon. See, these recipes were just made to go together. And lastly, add half a teaspoon of kosher salt. Give that a stir to combine all of the flavors, and then let this rest in the fridge while you proceed on with cooking the chicken. And for a little time-saving tip, you can also make the tzatziki a few hours in advance. In fact, I think it’s better made in advance so that the flavors can properly meld together. Alright, let’s skewer this chicken. I have eight-inch metal skewers today, so I should get about four to five pieces of chicken on each skewer. But if you have larger 12-inch skewers, you could get about eight to nine pieces of chicken on each one. I also recommend flat metal skewers as the flat side helps to prevent your chicken from rotating around when you go to flip them, at least more so than round skewers. And I prefer metal skewers to wood skewers because one, they’re reusable, and two, I don’t have to remember to soak them. So, I’ll link the skewers I’m using in the video description below. And once I’ve threaded all of that chicken on, which only takes a few minutes, I’ll go wash my hands yet again before taking it over to the stove. Now, if you have an outdoor grill, by all means, go ahead and use that. I am such a fan of outdoor grilling. But as I don’t have one yet in my new condo, I’m using a grill pan, and that’s totally fine to use as well. Heat your grill or grill pan to medium high heat, and then cook the skewers for three to four minutes on each side. And see, just after I told you that flat metal skewers help to prevent your chicken from rotating, I’ve got a few pieces here that decided to go rogue on me. But really, they do help because if these were round skewers, they’d almost certainly all be flipping around. Continue cooking the skewers until they’ve got a nice char on them, and the chicken is cooked through, then transfer them to a plate. This is such a great recipe for serving a crowd, and my family always requests it during the summer when we often grill over at my brother’s house. But it’s also a great weeknight recipe for yourself or a small family because leftovers are pretty much the best thing ever. (bright downbeat music) To serve it up today, I’ll just transfer some of the tzatziki into a small serving bowl, and I whipped up a quick tomato and cucumber side salad with what I had in my fridge. But if you wanna go full on, feel free to whip up my Greek salad recipe, which of course is a perfect accompaniment. Add a couple of skewers to a plate, serve up a portion of salad, and dill up some tzatziki on top for one, incredibly easy, ultra flavorful light and healthy Mediterranean dinner recipe. And boy, oh boy, am I ready to dig into this? You really can’t beat a simple recipe like this. This is such a good summertime recipe as well. And to be honest, I would not usually drizzle the tzatziki on top. I would get the chicken off the skewers and probably just put a dill above it on my plate, and then dip the chicken in it. I also got the chicken pieces just a little big today, so I’m gonna cut them into smaller pieces so I can pop a piece into my mouth. All right, here we go. (soft downbeat music) So good. The lemony garlic flavor from the chicken really shines through, it’s so good and just fresh. And then you’ve got the cooling cucumber yogurt sauce on top, they just go together so beautifully. That’s why it is a classic. (soft downbeat music continues) Now, if you’re serving this up for an outdoor party or barbecue, I guarantee that this entire plate of chicken souvlaki will disappear very quickly. But if you do happen to have leftovers, the chicken itself will keep for about four to five days in the fridge, in a sealed storage container. Or up to three months in the freezer. I always think a smart move is to do a big batch of this towards the end of summer. And then when you want that flavor to carry you through into say, September and October, you’ve got some in the freezer that you can then thaw in the fridge overnight and enjoy that bright summery flavor even when it’s not summer anymore. I hope you guys add this to your list as a must-make recipe now that the weather is warming up and it’s nice and sunny outside. And I will try to get you some new grilling recipes in the future. I hope you guys enjoyed today’s video, and if you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up, share it with your family and friends who love Mediterranean dishes and Greek food, and just recipes in general with a bright burst of flavor that are also easy to make. And I will see you again in the next video. (soft downbeat music)