Massive flavors going on in these delicious Spiced Yogurt Grilled Chicken Pitas! I love meals like this because they are so easy to throw together, quick to cook and the flavors, colors and textures are spot on. This has easily become one of my favorite chicken dishes!
I know Winter is creeping close but we have had some weird weather where within days it goes from really lovely out to really really cold. On those warmer days I love being able to grill up an easy dinner. The flavors in the marinade I use on inexpensive chicken thighs will rock your world. Greek yogurt helps tenderize the meat and the mix of spices is so good.
I have to say, I sort of struggled on figuring out what to title this dish. To me it has a Middle Eastern/Greek feel to it with the warm spices and cool Greek yogurt sauce. I am a huge fan of chicken thighs especially when it comes to grilling. They are so inexpensive and more juicy then a chicken breast.
Rather than just leaving the thighs whole and marinating I cut them into large cubes. This allows even more of that marinade to flavor the chicken and gets you more crisp edges when grilling. I keep talking about the flavors so I guess I should mention the spices in this one huh? I start with a base of plain Greek yogurt and mix in smoked paprika, chili powder, turmeric, cumin, garlic powder, salt and fresh parsley.
How amazing is that color? I let the chicken marinate for about an hour to and hour and half before skewering them. I prefer metal skewers because I’ve really never had great luck with wooden skewers even after soaking them in water. The chicken takes about 3-4 minutes per side- for a total of approx. 15 minutes. I do quarter turns so I get plenty of those crisp edges I mentioned before.
I served the Spiced Yogurt Grilled Chicken with warm pitas, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber slices, fresh parsley and a very simple lemon cucumber yogurt sauce. The cool yogurt sauce pairs so incredibly well with the chicken. The added bright fresh flavor of the cucumber, red onion and parsley really finish this off so well.
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, large cubes
- ½ cup plain non fat Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ¾ tsp tumeric
- ¾ tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- salt
- fresh chopped parsley
- For the Greek lemon cucumber sauce:
- ½ cup plain non fat Greek yogurt
- set of ½ a lemon
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp finely chopped cucumber
- salt to taste
- Pita, warmed
- thinly sliced red onion
- cucumber slices
- fresh parsley
- In a bowl mix together the yogurt, paprika, chili powder, turmeric, cumin, garlic powder, salt and parsley. Add in the cubes chicken and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 1- 1.5 hours.
- Skewer the chicken. Grill for about 3-4 minutes per side for a total of about 15 minutes. The chicken should be golden with slightly charred edges.
- In a small bowl mix together the yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, cucumber, parsley and salt.
- Serve the chicken with warm pita, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber slices, fresh parsley sprigs and the yogurt sauce.
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