Grilled Greek Souvlaki Chicken Skewers

Q: What is Souvlaki Chicken?

Similar to kebabs, “souvlaki” means “skewered meat.” However, I just learned that souvlaki actually refers to the entire Greek meal, consisting of pita bread, marinated grilled meat, and finished with a generous serving of tzatziki sauce.

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About this recipe

Juicy, flavorful Greek Souvlaki Chicken Skewers marinated in Mediterranean herbs and grilled to perfection. A simple, crowd-pleasing dinner recipe the whole family will love.

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Souvlaki is a popular Greek street food, and I’m absolutely in love with it!

I haven't shared a Greek recipe in the longest time and I'm so excited to share these awesome skewers! These Mediterranean skewers are inspired by one of my favourite food court meals, which is at Jimmy the Greek. If you’re in a slump in the kitchen, then I go into more detail in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!, how going out to eat at your favourite restaurants (or even fast food or coffee shops!) can spark your creativity. Whenever I make these grilled Greek chicken skewers, I love to replicate the entire order I just serve the skewers with any other sides I may have already had on hand to make custom meals - check out serving suggestions later on in this post!

My favourite way to whip out my grill pan when it’s summer time (or any time of the year but especially the summer!) is to make a variety of skewers. From Tandoori Shrimp Skewers, Juicy Chicken Seekh Kebabs, and Brazilian Churrasco, making and eating skewers always mark a special occasion!

These Greek-inspired souvlaki skewers are definitely one of the most special to me. The marinade for the chicken is so flavorful and so simple to prepare! Get out your grill pan, or even better, an outdoor grill and cook them to perfection! The lemon rice is an amazing side that complements the skewers perfectly and you’ll love those flavorful baked potatoes! Of course, don't forget a generous dollop of homemade tzatziki sauce! If Greece is a destination that you haven’t seen before, then these Souvlaki Skewers will allow you to take that trip in your kitchen as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! You can participate for free by signing up to my email newsletter, plus all of my new recipes on the blog will be delivered right to your inbox!

Follow along as I show how to prepare the Greek souvlaki marinade and grilling the skewers! I’d appreciate it if you would subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’re not already, and don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my new video recipes go live! Let’s get grilling!

Grilled Greek souvlaki chicken skewers with charred edges, served with tortilla chips and tzatziki sauce on a white plate.

What is Souvlaki Chicken?▼

Similar to kebabs, “souvlaki” means “skewered meat.” However, I just learned that souvlaki actually refers to the entire Greek meal, consisting of pita bread, marinated grilled meat, and finished with a generous serving of tzatziki sauce.

Grilled Greek chicken souvlaki skewers with charred exterior, served with lemon wedges and tzatziki sauce on a white plate.

Gyros vs. Shawarma vs. Souvlaki?▼

Ah yes, I’ve been confused too! Obviously I’m not from a Mediterranean background, and I wasn’t really familiar with any of these until I came to Canada, where all of these great dishes are served around! By the way, it seems that a bit after I left India in 2013 that shawarmas started to be sold! So not fair!

Anyway, all three of these are popular Mediterranean meat dishes that are typically served with pita bread. However, the difference is that gyros are made with ground meat, whereas souvlaki is made with chunks of meat. Shawarmas are Middle Eastern, and the lamb, goat, turkey, chicken or beef is shaved and wrapped in pita bread.

I hope this clears things up!

Ingredients for This Souvlaki Marinade Recipe

Here’s what you’ll need to make this wholesome Greek meal! The FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD at the bottom of this post has the full list of ingredients with their quantities, along with allowing you to save the recipe for later. You can also scale the recipe based on how many skewers you want to make! By default, the recipe will make 4 skewers.

Souvlaki marinade ingredients including raw chicken cubes, lemon, garlic, oregano, vinegar, and spices arranged on a wooden board.

Chicken: I’m using a combination of both chicken breast and chicken thighs. They’ll be cut into one inch cubes so that we have nice chunks for our skewers! You could use all breast or all thigh meat, but I really enjoyed the combination to get different textures in each bite!
Souvlaki chicken marinade: The marinade consists of juice of half a lemon, minced garlic, oregano, chili flakes, salt and pepper, olive oil, Italian Seasoning, and a few drops of vinegar. This is the marinade I use for my Italian Herb Grilled Chicken Breast. This combination really helps to flavor the chicken and make it extremely juicy when it’s grilled!
Fresh dill: Optional for garnish.

That’s it! It’s simpler than you think to whip up restaurant-quality chicken skewers!

How to Make Grilled Greek Souvlaki Skewers

Prepare the marinade by adding the cubed chicken into a bowl. Add in the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, chili flakes, Italian seasoning, oregano, salt and pepper.

Raw chicken cubes coated in olive oil and marinade in a glass bowl on a wooden surface.

Squeezing lemon juice over cubed chicken in marinade with olive oil and spices in a glass bowl.

Raw chicken cubes marinating in olive oil, lemon juice, and Greek seasonings in a glass bowl

Raw chicken cubes in glass bowl with olive oil, lemon juice, red chili flakes, and dried oregano seasoning mixed together.

Raw chicken cubes marinating in olive oil and Greek seasonings in a glass bowl on a wooden board.

Seasoning being added to marinated chicken cubes in a glass bowl with olive oil and herbs for souvlaki marinade.

Mix well to coat marinade evenly, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Marinated chicken cubes coated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and herbs being mixed in a glass bowl with a spoon.

Cubed chicken coated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and spices in a glass bowl during marinating stage.

Thread the marinated chicken cubes onto wooden or stainless steel skewers.

Marinated chicken cubes threaded onto a metal skewer, held over a wooden cutting board.

Hand holding grilled Greek souvlaki chicken skewer with charred exterior and spice coating on wooden board.

Preheat a grill pan on medium heat, brush the pan with olive oil. Add the skewers on the hot grill, the chicken should sizzle if the pan is hot enough.

Greek chicken souvlaki skewers on a grill pan, partially cooked with golden-brown searing and visible char marks.

Cook for about 5 minutes and then flip the skewer, lower the heat and cook other side. After 5 more minutes, or once the other side has become browned as well, lower the heat and cover the skewers with a bowl or lid to capture the steam and cook the chicken completely. It should take about 12-18 minutes.

Grilled Greek souvlaki chicken skewers on a ridged grill pan, golden brown with char marks.

Grilled Greek chicken souvlaki skewers with charred, golden-brown exterior on a ridged grill pan.

Grilled chicken souvlaki skewers with charred, golden-brown coating on a white plate in a grill pan.

If you’ve prepared the lemon potatoes, baste those juices onto the skewers. Alternatively, you can baste any leftover marinade onto the skewers.

Grilled Greek souvlaki chicken skewers on a grill pan with lemon potatoes in a container beside it.

Grilled Greek souvlaki chicken skewers with golden-brown charred exterior on a white plate.

Serve immediately with a hot spoonful of lemon rice, lemon potatoes, souvlaki skewers and a dollop of tzatziki. Sprinkle some sprigs of fresh dill if desired.

Grilled Greek chicken souvlaki skewers served with lemon rice, lemon potatoes, and tzatziki sauce on a white plate.

Grilled Greek souvlaki chicken skewers on a white plate with lemon wedges, rice, tzatziki sauce, and fresh dill garnish.

Enjoy!

Grilled Greek chicken souvlaki skewers served with lemon rice, lemon potatoes, and fresh dill garnish on a white plate.

How Do I Know the Chicken is Cooked?▼

My go to method to check if the chicken is cooked is to lightly poke it with my index finger. The chicken should have a slight spring back once poked. This is very similar to the spring back if you poke the tip of your nose. Alternatively, you can slice one of the pieces of chicken in half to check if it is white and juicy inside.

Tips to Have Super Juicy Greek Chicken Skewers

If you’re using a combination of dark and white meat, take special care to make sure that each piece is roughly the same size. This will allow you to cook the chicken evenly and at around the same time.
Play around with the heat on the stone if pan-grilling to achieve a nice char and control the heat if the chicken is browning too quickly. Keep in mind to lower the heat once both sides are brown and cook the chicken covered until it is completely white inside.
Alternatively, you can easily make these skewers under a broiler in the oven. For oven broiling, it’s much easier to use metal skewers than worrying about soaking bamboo or wooden skewers.

What to Serve with Souvlaki Chicken

With this Souvlaki Chicken recipe, I’ll be serving a quick version of lemon rice pilaf, lemon-herb potatoes, and homemade tzatziki sauce! Check out each recipe for more details:

Lemon rice: Here I’m using basmati rice, olive oil, and juice of one lemon. This rice will be so flavorful and tangy, making it a perfect side for your skewers!
Tzatziki sauce: I personally must have tzatziki sauce to complete my Greek feast! In my homemade tzatziki sauce, I use Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and some fresh dill if you have some on hand!
Lemon potatoes: Baked potatoes with chicken broth, oregano, lemon juice, and olive oil, these potato wedges are so flavorful and addictive! I really can’t stop snacking on them and they’re so simple to prepare!

Other Incredible Mediterranean Recipes

Quick Healthy Chicken Shawarma Wrap

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!

Recipe by Anadi Misra