Yogurt adds tang, tenderness to Greek Grilled Chicken

Olive oil, lemons, garlic, oregano, paprika and Greek yogurt create a delicious, tenderizing marinade for grilled chicken thighs. Recipe below.

ONE THING THAT’S BEEN KEEPING US SANE during all of everything has been nightly walks in our neighborhood. Or sometimes drives to other neighborhoods for new places to walk. One favorite destination is downtown. To get there, we often cut through Chicago’s Greektown on South Halsted Street.

We never eat there anymore, but as we passed Greektown the other night, I remembered a place there fondly, where Marion and I spent many a pleasant evening long ago, the Courtyards of Plaka. The restaurant is gone now, but those memories got me thinking of Greek food—a cuisine we don’t often cook or seek out. And that got me thinking of some chicken I was planning to grill and new ways of doing that.

Another aspect of “all of everything” is that, like many people, we are cooking with what we have on hand. Looking for Greek grilled chicken recipes led me to many variations on the theme, but most all of those variations used simple ingredients we usually have. Olive oil, lemons (or lemon juice), garlic, oregano, paprika, Greek yogurt.

This chicken is not authentic Greek restaurant food or a dish passed down by Greek grandmothers. Not moussaka. Not spanakopita. Instead, it is a dish flavored with ingredients frequently favored in Greek cuisine—see the list in the previous paragraph—and it is authentically delicious. The yogurt adds a mild tanginess and, more important, helps tenderize and moisten the chicken, much as buttermilk does with Southern fried chicken. We will be making this again. Soon.

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Greek Grilled Chicken

Olive oil, lemons, garlic, oregano, paprika and Greek yogurt create a delicious, tenderizing marinade for grilled chicken thighs.

Course Main Course, Poultry

Cuisine Greek-inspired

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt if you don’t have Greek)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon, about 3 tablespoons (see Kitchen Notes)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika (not smoked)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 to 5 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (see Kitchen Note)

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients except chicken in a medium bowl and whisk to completely combine.
• Trim chicken thighs of excess fat and place in a zippered plastic bag. Pour marinade over chicken, seal bag and work with your hands to make sure all chicken pieces are thoroughly coated.
• Marinate in the fridge for at least an hour and up to 4 hours, turning bag once or twice to make sure everything marinates evenly.
• Remove chicken from fridge when you light your charcoals to allow it to come to roomish temperature. Arrange coals for indirect grilling.
• When grill is good and hot, remove chicken from the marinade, shaking off excess. Discard leftover marinade. Oil the grill rack and place thighs skin side down. Close the lid immediately—flareups are a given. You might also partially close vents on the grill for a bit to reduce oxygen and smother the flames.
• Cook chicken for 4 to 5 minutes, then turn skin side up. Again, close the lid to discourage flareups. Cook for another 4 minutes or so, then use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature—you want the chicken at least 160ºF in its thickest part.
• As pieces get done, move them away from the coals to keep them warm, but not overcook them (all grills seem to have hot and less hot spots, and chicken pieces vary in size, all meaning not everything will be done at the same time).
• When chicken is done, transfer to a platter and let it rest for about 5 minutes, then serve.

Kitchen Notes

Lemons? Lemon juice? Fresh lemons are awesome. But increasingly, we’ve been keeping bottled lemon juice and lime juice on hand. It keeps longer and is easy to measure and use. The one thing you don’t get is the zest. And yes, we do occasionally get fresh lemons and limes, but this is an excellent “all of everything” workaround.

Chicken parts. Our usual go-to for chicken parts is bone-in, skin-on thighs—meaty, juicy, full of flavor. But use what you like or have on hand—chicken breasts, a whole cut-up chicken.