Greek Chicken Marinade (9 Herbs and Spices)

This Greek Chicken Marinade is a simple and delicious marinade for chicken breast or tenderloins, perfect to grill, bake, or air fry. Plus, this marinade is also dairy-free, gluten-free, and keto-friendly, made without yogurt or sugar added.

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Everyone loves chicken recipes, I have made so many of them, and when I don’t make my Cast-Iron Chicken Breast or my Lemon Pepper Chicken Tenders, I like to make Greek chicken with this marinade. It’s a variation of my classic Chicken Marinade.

As a French person who lived in Europe for 25 years, I have been used to eating many Greek food, and this is how I love to season my chicken with Greek flavors.

Ingredients and Substitutions

All you need to make this chicken marinade are Greek herbs, Greek spices, and a meat thermometer. Without a thermometer, your meat can be dry, overcooked, and so disappointing so please get one for any chicken recipe you make.

• Lemon Juice – freshly squeezed, not bottled juice, for best flavors.
• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil – I use extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. It has a strong olive flavor that marries so well with the chicken breast.
• Onion Powder – or fresh onion very thinly sliced.
• Fresh Garlic – minced or garlic powder.
• Black Pepper and Salt – Season to taste.
• Fresh Oregano – or dried oregano.
• Fresh Parsley – or Italian parsley.
• Fresh Mint – or dried mint powder.
• Fresh Thyme – or dried thyme.
• Fresh Rosemary – or dried rosemary.

How To Make Greek Chicken Marinade

It’s very easy to make any chicken marinade, but it is a bit more time-consuming to make this Greek marinade because you need a bunch of fresh herbs. But you will love the result, and it is worth all the time chopping these fresh herbs, believe me!

1. Place all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to combine. Nothing is easier than that.
2. Next, it’s time to marinate the chicken breast. This recipe is made for 1 pound of chicken. You can use skinless chicken breast or chicken tenderloins.
3. Place the chicken in a large Ziploc bag. Next, pound the chicken using a wooden rolling pin or a mallet.
4. Finally pour the marinade into your Ziploc bag. Close the bag tightly, making sure you remove any air trapped inside.
5. Rub and refrigerate the marinade for 30 minutes to flavor the meat.
6. Now that the chicken has been marinated with the lovely Greek flavors of your marinade, it’s time to cook it. Remember that it’s not food safe to eat the marinade unless it’s boiled, which would be weird and flavorless. Eating chicken marinade is as unsafe as eating raw chicken, so you must discard the marinade.
7. Remove the chicken breast from the bag and cook the meat. Below I listed all the cooking options for your chicken breast.

Cooking Marinated Greek Chicken

You have several options for cooking this marinated Greek chicken: baking, air frying, or grilling.

Baking is the easiest method to cook Greek chicken. It won’t add the same lovely colors as BBQ or grill, but the meat tastes delicious in the oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Oil a large baking dish with avocado oil or high-smoke temperature oil.
2. Place the chicken breast in the baking dish, ensuring they don’t touch or overlap.
3. Bake until the internal meat temperature reaches 165°F (74°C). The baking time can vary between 20 and 25 minutes. A meat thermometer is the best tool to tell you if the meat is cooked through.
4. Remove the dish from the oven, foil it, and let it cool for 5 minutes. This step makes the chicken ultra moist and juicy.

The second option is to air fry the chicken pieces.

1. Slightly spray avocado oil in the air fryer basket and air fry the meat at 350°F (180°C) until the internal temperature reach 165°F (74°C).
2. It takes between 15 and 20 minutes.

The third option is grilling the chicken. It’s delicious and ensures the best meat color.

1. After marinating the meat, remove the chicken breast from the zip-lock bag and discard the marinade.
2. Warm your BBQ to the highest temperature. Clean and oil the grill grates with avocado oil then place the meat on the grill.
3. Cover or close the BBQ lid, grill for about 5 minutes on high, then reduce and turn the meat over. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, checking the internal temperature often.
4. When the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 165°F (74°C), it’s ready.
5. Remove from the BBQ place on a plate and cover with foil to let the meat softened and get moist.

If you prefer cooking your chicken in a cast-iron pan, you can read my cast-iron chicken recipe for more details on how to cook chicken breast in a cast iron.

What To Eat With Greek Chicken

This Greek chicken is delicious on its own as a meal, and depending on the season and the way you can your chicken, you may want different sides. If you BBQ the chicken, some cold salad are perfect match like:

• Cauliflower potato salad
• Strawberry spinach salad
• Cottage Cheese Salad
• Cucumber Salad
• Deviled Egg Salad
• Spinach caprese salad

During the cooler months, and if you bake the chicken, try some of these warm side dishes:

• Cauliflower Casserole
• Smoked Cauliflower
• Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
• Smoked Mac And Cheese
• Greek Fries

Allergy Swaps

Below are some ingredient swaps to make this recipe if you can’t eat some of the ingredients.

• Lemon Juice – You can replace the lemon with apple cider vinegar, lime juice, or wine vinegar. You can also try sweeter vinegar, like balsamic vinegar, which makes the meat a bit sweet.
• Olive Oil – You an swap olive oil for any other vegetable oil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are the answers to your frequent questions about this Greek Chicken marinade recipe.

More Chicken Recipes

I love to cook chicken and here are my most popular chicken recipes for you to try: