Chicken Souvlaki

With a craving for one of my favourite Greek meals, I whipped up some skewered chicken and homemade tzatziki to create this memorable recipe.

Admittedly, I always relied on restaurants for a delicious Greek meal, never thinking to try making it at home. But after cooking this meal, it’ll likely be homemade chicken souvlaki for me.

Though the tzatziki was the most daunting part of this recipe, it turned out to be one of the easier foods I’ve made. With a plain Greek yogurt base and side ingredients of grated cucumber, chopped mint, a dash of lemon juice and some garlic, it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and make (plus it tastes restaurant-made).

The next challenge for myself will be making the pita from scratch — which will undoubtedly take more time — but I already have a recommended recipe on hand. Stay tuned!

Prep time | 10 mins.
Cook time | 20 mins.
Serves | 2 people

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 skewers, wooden or metal
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp cajun
  • 1 cup rice
  • 2 pitas (preferably Greek-style, if store-bought)

Tzatziki

  • 2 cups cucumber, grated
  • 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp mint, chopped
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 medium clove of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
  2. Cut the 2 pieces of chicken in thick pieces. Put 5-6 pieces of chicken on each skewer, then marinate the chicken in salt, pepper and cajun.
  3. Add the chicken skewers to a baking pan and let cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
  4. Boil a large pot of water. Once the water is boiling, add the rice and let is cook for 5-10 minutes, or until it’s soft.
  5. While the rice is boiling and the chicken is cooking, start making the tazatziki sauce. Grate the cucumber with a regular grater to make sure you have 2 full cups of cucumber. Then chop the mint and mince the garlic.
  6. In a large bowl, mix the plain Greek yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, mint, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Stir until it’s well combined then set aside.
  7. When the rice is cooked and the chicken is cooked, plate them alongside a few scoops of the tzatziki.
  8. Don’t forget the pita! You can heat up each pita in a pan on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
  9. Add your pita to the plates and enjoy your Greek meal with a glass of wine!