Greek Chicken Souvlaki recipe (Skewers) with Tzatziki

Name: Greek Chicken Souvlaki recipe (Skewers) with Tzatziki
Prep time: 1 h 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 4 boneless chicken breasts (approx. 1 kg/35 ounces); 4 tbsps olive oil; juice of 1 lemon; 1 clove of garlic, minced; 2 tbsp dried oregano; salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 cucumber; 2 cloves of garlic, minced; 1/4 of a cup extra virgin olive oil; 500g of strained yogurt (18 ounces); 1-2 tbsps of red wine vinegar; a pinch of salt; 8 pita breads; olive oil; 1-2 tsps dried oregano; 1 tomato sliced; 1 red onion sliced; fried potatoes (optional); romaine (cos) lettuce (optional); salt and freshly ground pepper; 8-9 wooden skewers

in ***Most liked recipes***, 40 minutes or less, Barbecue Recipes, Beginner, Fried, Main Courses, Mainland Greece, Most Popular, Our hand picked recipes, Simply souvlaki, Traditional Greek Taverna Recipes

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Make your own homemade chicken souvlaki with fluffy pita bread and creamy tzatziki sauce with this easy to follow Greek chicken souvlaki recipe, now with my hands on video as well!

Souvlaki ( skewers / suvlaki / suflaki ) is one of the most popular street foods in Greece, together with the traditional moussaka and for good reason. It’s stuffed with a deliciously marinaded and seasoned meat, garnished with a cooling tzatziki sauce, wrapped in a delicious crispy pita and best of all? It tastes like heaven!

Souvlaki stands for “meat-on-a-skewer”. However the majority of Greeks and especially those from Athens call any type of pita wrapped meat a souvlaki, specifying the type of meat and method of roasting separately. For example Souvlaki with chicken Gyros or Souvlaki with pork Skewers etc.

Greek chicken souvlaki recipe – Preparing the marinade

The most important step in making the perfect, traditional Greek chicken souvlaki is nothing else but the marinadeFor this traditional chicken souvlaki recipe, the chicken is first marinated to soak up all the wonderful Mediterranean flavours and then grilled to high temperature, to get all crunchy, nicely coloured and juicy.

To prepare the marinade, select some good quality chicken breasts and season with my favourite Greek spice, oregano, coat with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and flavour with some chopped garlic.

Tip: Marinading your chicken souvlaki in the fridge for at least half an hour will allow the aromas to infuse the souvlaki and give it the desired flavours.

Tips for the best Greek Chicken Souvlaki Skewers

This is my list of tips that I’ve traditionally used to make my chicken souvlaki and for you to make it to perfection from the very first time!

First of all it is important to marinade the pieces of chicken for at least half an hour in the fridge, to soak up all the wonderful flavours from the marinade.

When cooking the chicken souvlaki skewers try not to overcook them, to avoid becoming dry and tough. Juicy, tender chicken is entirely a function of cooking it just enough. And this means to reach internal temperature of 165 F (74 C). An inexpensive kitchen thermometer is a handy tool to have to prevent your meats from overcooking and drying out!

When threading the chicken pieces on the skewers it is essential to thread the pieces loosely, rather than smush them tightly together. This will allow the chicken cook evenly in between the pieces.

If you like peppers you could thread some pieces of green and red bell peppers and red onion in between the chicken. Cut them in the same size as the chicken to help them cook through and caramelise. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Chicken Souvlaki recipe – Serve your Chicken souvlaki (skewers) the traditional Greek way

The best way to serve your traditional Greek chicken souvlaki is nothing other than with some delicious traditional Greek pita. Finding the original Greek pita can be quite challenging as most supermarkets stock only the arabian style ones but you can most likely find them at your local Greek deli or amazon (here and here).

However as we all know, nothing compares to home-made, so you can also make your own homemade pita bread with this super easy recipe, including video!

Chicken Souvlaki with Τzatziki sauce

Of course tzatziki is the preferred sauce to garnish your chicken souvlaki and we have included one below. Also here is my short video on how to make it to perfection!

Finally don’t forget to sprinkle some paprika on your souvlaki before serving, either sweet or spicy if you like an extra kick. Most Greeks enjoy their traditional Greek chicken souvlaki with some potato fries, so feel free to try adding some as well. Finally don’t forget to pair it with a refreshing Greek feta salad, or a Greek Orzo Salad (Orzo feta salad).

More souvlaki recipes for you to try:

Love Greek souvlaki? Then give these delicious and super easy recipes a try and let me know what you think!

Recipe image gallery:

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Greek Chicken Souvlaki (Skewers) recipe with Tzatziki sauce

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