Tender Greek seasoned chicken breasts with cool, creamy Tzatziki sauce is a delicious, easy and healthy dinner with Mediterranean inspiration To complete your meal with Penne pasta with spinach and feta cheese.
Prep: 40 mins | Cook: 10 mins
Ingredients
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Greek seasoning - keep reading for my homemade seasoning!
- Red wine vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Olive oil
For the Tzatziki sauce, you'll need:
- Cucumber
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
- Dill
- Salt & Pepper
Directions
Make the greek sessoning
Mix all the spices together in a jar (so you can store the extra for later!).
Make the chicken
- Butterfly the chicken breasts in half so you have four cutlets of even thickness.
- Sprinkle the chicken liberally with the seasoning. Add the lemon juice, red wine vinegar and olive oil and turn it to coat evenly. Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes.
- Grill the chicken on the grill or in a grill pan over medium heat for 8-10 minutes per side (more or less depending on the thickness of the chicken).
Make the tzatziki sauce
- While the chicken is marinating, grate the cucumber onto a clean cloth, paper towel, or fine mesh strainer. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible and discard the liquid.
- Place the cucumber in a bowl and add the yogurt, garlic, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Refrigerate the sauce until you're ready to serve your chicken.
Tips for perfect chicken with tzatziki
- Time is not the best indicator for determining chicken doneness, especially when thickness can vary. I always recommend a meat thermometer to determine when chicken is done to avoid drying it out - or food poisoning. Chicken is done when the thickest part reaches 165°F.
- Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes for the best flavor, but avoid going over a few hours since the liquid is pretty acidic and will start to denature the proteins on the chicken. It's not a big deal, but it does happen if the chicken sits in the marinade for a long time.
- I like to grate the garlic for the tzatziki since I already have the grater out for the cucumber. Always remember fresh garlic is best!
- If you don't have fresh dill, you can substitute half to 1 teaspoon of dried dill for the sauce. It won't be as good, but will work in a pinch.
- If you're short on time (or spices!) you can use store-bought Greek seasoning instead of making your own.