Preview: Greek Chicken

The sauce in this recipe is enough to make both the Greek Chicken and the Lemon Potatoes, so to save time, I recently tried to make both of them in the same pan; I put the potatoes in the roasting pan, and the chicken on top of it.

While the potatoes were still tasty, the potatoes definitely loses some of the crispiness.

Try omitting the lemon zest and replacing with an additional 3 tbs of lemon juice. This makes a much more tangy sauce. Also try substituting Olive Oil for vegetable oil, this subtle flavor really adds to the dish. I also tend to go heavy on the garlic, but who doesn't like garlic!

My taste buds are dripping. I loved the money shot. Can't wait to marinate greek saugage instead of chicken.

We made this dish for a dinner party of six, and it was a huge hit. Made the sauce in the morning and left the chicken to marinade all day, then just popped it into the oven before the party. So simple and required very little in-the-kitchen time so we could spend more of the party with our guests. We served it with a simple salad and the Lemon Shallot Salad Dressing elsewhere on this site, plus a lemon polenta cake for dessert. Everyone raved! I also substituted olive oil for the vegetable oil; just a personal preference.

That was the best explanation I've ever seen of how to debone a chicken. It's a technique I've struggled with for a while, trying any variation I can find or come up with. This is one I can actually perform.

Is this the yellow container with the chef on the front greek seasoning? My problem with this being used as an ingredient is that it is contains MSG and that its not a "fresh" ingrediant that can be controlled. Also tasting it, it does not taste like authentic greek flavors.

Other than that the recipe looks good.

Hi Ryan
Thanks for your comments. To answer your question, the Greek seasoning that I use is not the one that you are referring to. Because, like you, I generally don't use something if it contains MSG. The Greek seasoning that I use, I buy locally, at a gourmet store. But I have seen it in many other stores, even Costco sells it. I would just check the label to see if it contains any MSG.

Thanks for the follow up, I'll keep an eye out for it.

I love this chicken - it will be a old fave of mine by the time I have my own kitchen and family. It's so tasty and easy! THE FAMILY LOVED IT!

msg is something that can be in a seasoning but used in another name, i went to a sight a while ago and researched msg, it listed all the ways it can be put into a product with a different name. fyi

dawn, my question is can i pound the chicken before coating it or would that change the cooking process?

dawn, i could not find a satisfactory greek seasoning at the store, i made my own, nice blend of ingredients. i did not know if i was allowed to send the receipe if yes, let me know otherwise just as a suggestion, home made is good and no msg

If you flatten or pound the chicken before you cook it, it will certainly cook faster and as a result the dressing may not caramelize as nicely. Also, for a nice moist chicken it is probably better just to cut the chicken into smaller pieces, after you cook it and let it rest.

Of course you can pound out the chicken, don't get me wrong, you just won't necessarily get the same results. Good Luck!

I did half the dressing recipe because I did not make the potatoes..the flavors were great..I served with a fresh salad containing asparagus and bacon..and made the digon vinigerette from one of the salad recipes from this site..went well together..

Here is a recipe for Greek seasoning:

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion (or onion powder)
1/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or garlic powder)
Optional ingredients:
dried rosemary
dried lemon peel
salt and pepper

I love this recipe. It's my go to recipe for dinner parties to impress the guest or just for the two of us. To save time I make the sauce the day before, so it takes the hassle out of last minute preparations. It is an easy recipe to freeze if there are leftovers.

I made the lemon potatoes with the same dressing last week and my family just loved it. This week i made the same dressing with the chicken. Made fresh dressing in the morning and marinated it for 6 hours... but some how it bounced off my table.... my husband said - nah this recipe is not a keeper!!!!
Normally my family loves baked chicken - not sure if i did something wrong or.... because i normally make honey mustard chicken and they really enjoy it....

Hi Veena. Sorry to hear this recipe didn't work out for you. Let's think about this. It certainly wasn't the flavor as you liked the same flavor on the potatoes. The chicken was tough though. Only two things could have happened here (okay three):

1. Your oven is off in temperature, the heat was too high and the chicken was overcooked. Oven temperatures varies significantly from one oven to the other. Did you cook it for the time in the recipe or check for doneness from time to time?

2. The chicken was just poor quality. I wouldn't normally have put this option on the table, but we just returned 2 twelve packs of chicken breast the other day because the meat was chewy.. in 28 years of cooking, I had never experienced this before.

3. They were simply over-cooked (at a lower temperature).

I'm not trying to suggest you did anything wrong at all. Was it just that the meat was tough.. or was there something else that was wrong with the dish in your opinion? Or your families opinion?

Let's get to the bottom of this.

Hi

I want to know if I could use dark meat for this recipe. If so why do you have to skin and bone it?

The skin and bone are removed from our recipe only because that is the way we ended up doing this particular recipe. To tell you the truth it is a recipe that we did about 300 times when we were film caters. It was always a hit, but we found most of the crew liked boneless skinless chicken.

That being said, I think thighs might even be better, and even better still if the bone was left in. However I would perhaps remove the skin as it may not crisp up due to the marinade.

Let me know how it turns out and good luck :-)

Hey Joe,
I tried this recipe again and followed it exactly! I made the lemon potatoes and the Chicken together..
The pototoes were a big hit. Some how my family didn't like the chicken...
Think its the flavor in the Greeek Seasoning they don't appeciate with chicken (Can't think of anything else)
Its not bad they say but its not the best you've made...
Anyway, its not a big deal, guess i just wanted to make it perfect.
Thanks for your reply though, appreciate it.

Veena

Instead of using the oven, could you simply cook on the stove top? Would it be vastly different?

You could fry it but you'd have to do it on fairly low heat or the marinade will burn. Much safer in the oven in my opinion.

this is a very good recipe. i only modified it slightly. i used boneless skinless thighs and used 50:50 canola oil:olive oil and a bit more garlic, (i'm a junkie) 10 cloves.

about the greek seasoning... it is absolutley better to make it yourself. the stuff that is called "greek seasoning" in the market varies greatly by brand. if Veena used one of those it could be why her family did not care for it. shall i name names? ok... just a few... "cavender's" is not for this application, it's a salt based seasoning which contains msg & sugar!. "spice islands" is ok but falls short on the herbal-citrus marriage. "the spice hunter" (the one my family says is "yuckky") contains peppermint, cinnamon & nutmeg which seems to overpower the other herbs. ...and so on. the recipe here from Dawn is excellent. the only extra i added is about 1/4t of red pepper flakes (only cuz i like a little kick)

after baking i put the meat under the broiler for about 1-1/2 - 2 min on high. this made it a bit more cripsy on the outside and they stayed nice and juicy on the inside!

the pan juice is perfect as a spoon over not only for the meat but i also drizzled it on a roasted veggie combo of mushrooms, red onions, zucchini, carrots and red bells.

then i went coo-coo with left-over marinade and added some fresh basil, oregano & parsley... & one little anchovy (don't tell my husband about the fishy) then made a salad of chunked cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced shallots, capers, kalamata olives & a few chunks of green bells. served the marinated raw veggies on a bed of baby spinach & shredded racchio & topped it with a little bit of crumbled crispy pancetta & shaved asiago. turned out very good.

i made this dinner for my birthday and ... yes... i did make the potatoes too! fabulous!

all of that along with a creamy tomato florentine soup course & an amaretto poundcake "birthday cake" with carmel-almond sauce and banana ice cream for dessert.

i've made many versions of "greek chicken" before but this recipe is my favorite so far. thanks for a great one!

Christina I am so glad you liked the recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment as well. Your dessert sounds very good (even the banana ice cream). Do you have a recipe for the poundcake and caramel-almond sauce? If so I would love it...you could even enter it in the test kitchen if you like.

Thanks again!

This recipe sounds really appealing, but I can't make it because of an allergy. Is there a substitution that can be made for the mustard?

Dijon Mustard Substitution:

1 tablespoon dry mustard (if you can use it)
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon mayonnaise and a pinch of sugar

Now if you can't use the dry mustard then maybe just try adding a bit more lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Without the mustard the dressing will not be as thick (as it has both Dijon and grainy mustard) so you may want to add some powdered parmesan (or something like that) to help thicken the dressing.

Hope this helps! Good luck

Thank you very much for the suggestions (especially the last, I can't use dry mustard), I'll give it a try.

I like this recipe very much and have made it several times . I would like to make extra dressing to save time for another day's meal . How long do you think this dressing can be kept before using ?

The dressing should last for quite a while in the refrigerator. There is garlic in there, which makes some people leery, but because there is an acid in the dressing (the lemon juice), it should be fine.

I know that I have had leftovers before and used it a few weeks later and it still tasted very good. Not sure exactly how long the flavor will keep though. I suggest you try it fresh and then after storing it for a week or so, give it another try to see if there is any difference in flavor.

Hope this helps!

I know I'm mentioning this really late but I wonder if Veena A's family didn't like the chicken as much because of the fresh oregano and thyme? The only real difference between the potatoes and the chicken is that the potatoes use fresh rosemary and parsley instead of oregano and thyme. Perhaps it is one of those flavours that taste's off to your family? You could always try to make the chicken with the fresh rosemary and parsley instead and see if it makes a difference. HTH!

Great recipe!!! And also a big plus also goes to Dawn for the Greek seasoning mix!!!

Love to cook, love this site!!!

My wife's words about this recipe. I made the chicken and potato's and they were great, I had a guy in my new house doing my closets and he said " I don't know what that is but I'm staying for dinner" lol.

Made this with the potatoes, grilled vegetable olivada and spanakopita. Also made the tzatziki sauce. I did make my own Greek seasoning and didn't have any "taste" issues that people were describing above.
I think next time I would turn on the broiler for a bit to brown and crisp the potatoes as they seemed a little too soggy for me. They did brown, but would prefer crispness.
The chicken with the tzatziki was amazing. Will definitely make this again.

I am looking forward to trying this but I noticed that the instructions read "finely chop the oregano and thyme" and the listed ingredients are rosemary and thyme. Is there a correction needed?

Good catch. Funny after all this time no one has noticed that. In the video we used oregano and thyme; however we often use rosemary instead of thyme. Good luck and enjoy. Cheers!

Hi! I'm wanting to make this dinner along with a salad that I make often. I'm wondering if the flavors will mesh or not... The salad I make is a cumin butter bean sald that has a lemon based dressing. I'm wondering if the cumin will throw the whole dish off? I'm still experimenting with spices and am not sure what goes with what... help?

Thanks,
Sherry

I'm sure it would be tasty. Cumin is popular in Mediterranean cooking. The more you cook, the more you'll be able to "visualize" what the flavors in a recipe will be like and you'll be able to gauge how well each dish will go with another.

To start, think in regions. For example, you probably wouldn't serve a Mexican dish with a Thai dish. But since Greece, the Mediterranean and the Middle East are all in the same general area (and they all use cumin in their cooking), the flavors of each dish should work fine together. Hope this helps! Cheers!

p.s. "The Flavor Bible" is a good reference book when it comes to pairing foods and combining flavors.

Thanks Kimberley, for your advice and the book! I really appreciate it and will let u know how it goes! :)

The Greek Seasoning recipe by Dawn calls for dried Lemon Peel. Do you buy this in the spice section of your local market. I have fresh Myer lemmons I use for everything. Is it too strong for this recipe?

Dried lemon peel can be found in many Greek, Mediterranean or specialty food markets. You can also dry your own. Simply remove the zest (no pith), and then place it onto a tray in a single layer and keep somewhere dry and warm. Once it's completely dried (usually about 2 to 3 days), place it in an airtight container.

For this recipe I personally prefer the tartness of regular lemons but you can use Meyer lemons. Just note that they are sweeter and less acidic than regular lemons so you will not necessarily end up with the same results. Cheers!

We loved this recipe but it made far more than we could use for one meal. I would like to save time for future meals by prepping the same amount but either freezing half the chicken marinated but uncooked or cooking it all and freezing half. Will one way provide better quality than the other or are both considered to be poor options?

Thanks in advance for your help.

It is better to freeze the raw chicken in the marinade. This way, you won't overcook the chicken by cooking it twice when you go to reheat it. In fact, you do not need to marinate the chicken beforehand. Make the marinade, toss in the raw chicken and freeze in well-sealed, plastic freezer bags. Thaw in the refrigerator before cooking. The meat will marinate during thawing. Cheers!