Chicken Souvlaki

Greek food is without a doubt my favourite and I’ve made a variation of souvlaki for more than ten years; adapting and tweaking along the way.

Happily, my children and Glen also love Greek food and chicken or pork souvlaki with couscous, Greek Salad, pitta and tzatziki have become a favourite weekend meal.

My souvlaki game went up a notch when I discovered and begun incorporating the ‘ladolemono’ – which essentially means brushing the cooked meat with a simple lemon and olive oil dressing before serving, which is frankly a game-changer.

When you marinate the meat, try to do so for at least a couple of hours, or overnight if you can, it does make a difference.

You can cook souvlaki on the BBQ – but at this time of the year, I cook them under a grill. The below serves four people. 

Chicken Souvlaki

Here’s how:

600g chicken breast
1 lemon juice and thrown in the body
7 cloves garlic
1.5 tbsp oregano
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tbsp. rosemary
Salt & pepper
250ml glass dry white wine
250ml olive oil
For the ladolemono
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
Pinch of sea salt

Peel the garlic cloves, cut them in half and then place into a bowl for the marinade with the olive oil, white wine and the lemon juice. Pop the two halves of the lemon into the bag too.

Now cut the chicken into pieces – as equal as you can get them and throw into the bowl.

Now add the oregano, cinnamon, paprika and rosemary and then season generously with salt and black pepper.

Use a spoon or your hands to move the chicken all around and ensure it all gets a good coating. Now cover with clingfilm and place into the fridge.

If using wooden skewers, ensure to stand them in water so they are fully immersed for a good hour before cooking.

When ready to cook, remove the chicken in the marinade from the fridge, and place each piece of chicken onto the skewers, pack them quite close together.

Place the chicken skewers under a hot grill and cook for about 4-5 minutes, and then carefully turn them around and cook the other side for 4-5 minutes, or until cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, make up the ladolemono – just combine the olive oil and the lemon juice in a small bowl or cup and add a pinch of salt.

Once the chicken is cooked and out of the grill, give it a brush of the ladolemono – using a pastry brush, on both sides before serving. Enjoy!

Here are a few other Greek recipes I’ve shared on here that you might like to try;

Pastitsio – the Greek Lasagna
Moussaka
Briam
Greek Chicken Traybake
Gemistes – Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
Prawn Saganaki
Feta and Spinach Open Tart
Greek Chicken One Pot