Grilled Greek Souvlaki Chicken Skewers Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy

Watch the recipe

YouTube ↗

Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · charred chicken thighs and breast, lemon and oregano

Subscribe

Watch the full method on YouTube →

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 favorite 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 favorite 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 served 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 favorite 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!

Tools Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Bamboo skewer
• Nonstick pan
• Basting brush
• Tongs

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.

• 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Enjoy!

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 pan 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

• Easy Sheet-Pan Chicken Shawarma Dinner
• Mediterranean Pasta with Summer Veggies
• Savory Beef and Veggie Couscous Bowl
• Quick Healthy Chicken Shawarma Wrap
• Lebanese Pita Bread

What Is in the Souvlaki Marinade, and What Is Not

The marinade is short, and a few of the herbs people expect are not in it. There is no rosemary and no thyme — the herb side is a teaspoon of oregano plus a teaspoon of Italian seasoning, and that is all. There is no red wine vinegar either; what goes in is half a teaspoon of plain white vinegar, which is there to sharpen rather than to flavour. And there is no yogurt, so this is not a creamy marinade that will scorch on the grill.

What it does have is lots of garlic — 3 cloves, minced — along with the juice of a whole lemon, a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of chili flakes and a generous 2 teaspoons of black pepper. If you have no lemon, lime works, and so does white wine vinegar. For the chili flakes, cayenne pepper will do at a lower dose or Aleppo pepper flakes if you want the warmth without the sharpness. The fresh dill is a garnish at the end, not part of the mixture, and fresh tarragon can stand in for it.

Choice of Meat, and How to Cut It

This recipe uses 1 lb of chicken, and specifically a mix of breast and thighs rather than one or the other. That mix is deliberate: the breast keeps the skewers lean and the thigh keeps them from drying out, which is the usual failure with chicken on a grill. Whichever cuts of meat you use, cube them at 1 inch — small enough to cook through in the time the outside takes to brown, large enough that they do not turn to jerky.

Traditional Greek souvlaki is very often pork rather than chicken, and if that is your choice of meat it works here with the same marinade. Use pork shoulder cubed the same way rather than pork chops, though — chops are too lean for skewering and will go tough long before they colour. Cubed meat of any kind wants a little more marinating time than chicken, so give pork an hour if you can. Thread the pieces onto wooden or stainless steel skewers once they have marinated.

Marinating Time, Serving, and the Nutrition Information

The chicken needs at least 30 minutes in the marinade. Cover the bowl — a lid or plastic wrap is fine — and put it in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Longer is better if you have the time; an hour or two in the fridge makes a noticeable difference. Prep including that rest is about 35 minutes and the cooking is 18, so the whole thing lands at just under an hour. Cook the skewers on a grill pan brushed with olive oil over medium heat, about 5 minutes a side, then lower the heat and cover them with a bowl or lid so the trapped steam finishes the middle.