Easy Yogurt-Marinated Chicken made with grilled boneless chicken thighs (or chicken breasts) made with a Greek yogurt marinade for the most tender chicken.
Yogurt-Marinated Chicken
These grilled Yogurt-Marinated Chicken thighs (or breasts) are so juicy and delicious thanks to this easy yogurt marinade. I love whipping up this quick yogurt marinade flavored with lots of garlic, oregano, red vinegar and turmeric, it takes just minutes to whip up! The yogurt slowly breaks down the proteins in the meat resulting in the most tender texture! I like to make this a meal by serving it with a Greek salad using tzatziki as the dressing, or make it a rice bowl with rice pilaf and some cucumbers. You can also make this in a skillet or air fryer!
Greek Yogurt Chicken Marinade Ingredients
Here is everything you’ll need to make this healthy Greek yogurt marinade for two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs or boneless skinless chicken breasts:
- Greek Yogurt: I use 1% plain Greek yogurt, but full fat or nonfat will work too.
- Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar to thin the yogurt so it evenly coats the chicken and adds flavor.
- Garlic: Finely chop five garlic cloves.
- Seasoning: Dried oregano, turmeric, salt, red pepper flakes (optional)
How to Make Yogurt-Marinated Chicken
Here’s the step-by-step process. See recipe card below for printable recipe.
- Whisk all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to 8 hours.
- Grill the Chicken: Grill the chicken on each side for 5 to 7 minutes, until the juices run clear. If you don’t have a grill you can cook it in a cast iron skillet, air fryer or griddle.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
Yogurt-Marinated Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
Greek Yogurt Marinade:
- 1/2 cup 1% plain Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
Chicken:
- 2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless skinless, 8 pieces total (fat trimmed)
- fresh chopped parsley and lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, turmeric, salt, and red pepper flakes.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.
- Preheat an outdoor grill or grill pan to medium-low heat (a cast iron skillet works too). Oil the grates or grill pan and sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Grill the chicken about 5 to 7 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through in the center of the thickest part of the chicken.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
Air Fryer Method
- To air fry the chicken, cook 400F about 5 to 7 minutes on each side.
Last Step:
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FAQ
What does marinating chicken in yogurt do?
Greek yogurt marinades slowly tenderize the chicken to make it juicy. Yogurt is a gentle and effective way to tenderize meat. While acidic chicken marinades can toughen the meat and make it rubbery, yogurt slowly breaks down the proteins in the meat resulting in the most tender texture.
How long can chicken marinate in yogurt?
The longer you marinate the chicken, the more flavorful and tender it will become. I recommend at least an hour, but you can do it for as long as eight hours. Since the marinade has vinegar, you don’t want to do it for too long.
Do you wipe off yogurt marinade?
You want a thin, even layer of yogurt on the meat because that’s where all the flavor is. If there’s too much, it will stick to the grill and burn.
How long does it take for yogurt to tenderize chicken?
Yogurt marinade starts working in as little as an hour, but you can continue to marinate the meat for up to eight hours.
Variations
- Chicken: Swap boneless skinless chicken thighs for boneless skinless chicken breasts. For bone-in chicken, adjust cook time as needed.
- Herbs: Sub dried thyme or rosemary for oregano or fresh dill or mint for parsley.
- Spices: Play around with the seasoning, add paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper etc.
- Vinegar: If you don’t have red wine vinegar, white wine, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice will work.
- Cooking Method: You can also bake this yogurt-marinated chicken in the oven at 400°F for about 20 minutes.
Ways to Serve Yogurt-Marinated Chicken
How to Store Leftover Chicken
This chicken is great for meal prep. Leftover grilled chicken lasts up to four days in the refrigerator. You can eat it cold or microwave it until warm. To freeze, store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months and thaw it in the fridge.
I added curry powder..at least 2 tsp. Kicked it up a notch!
If it’s wrong to double the marinade and use it as a dipping sauce for anything/everything, then I don’t want to be right. It’s that good!
One of my favorite chicken recipes. So simple and tasty!
Once again Gina, you have knocked it out of the park!!! I used my air fryer and the chicken was beautifully crisp with yellow highlights making it different than my usual Cajun chicken thighs❤️❤️ thank you again
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is the most delicious chicken our family has ever eaten. So tender such a good flavor. I make it all the time.
This chicken is so good! We used the air fryer method and because ours runs a little hot, we did 4 minutes, flip, then 4 minutes. Our incredibly picky 6 year old actually loved her “yellow chicken” haha. I served this with a side of rice pilaf and naan.
Perfect!
Wonderful!
This is really my favourite way to cook chicken thighs and thanks to your explanation as to why using Greek yoghurt in the marinade is the key to tender results, I also end up with tender leftovers!
Thank you!
Yes!
I make this recipe every couple of weeks and it’s fantastic! Makes enough for dinner and then lunch for a couple of days.
This was a very tasty (and forgiving!) recipe. Had wanted to try a yogurt marinade for a while and found this. Got distracted while mixing the marinade and later realized we halved the recipe as planned for part of the ingredients, but the rest were full amounts. Clearly, the ratios have some give because the end result was a hit! Thank you!
This was totally delicious…I plan to use this recipe as a base often, playing around with the ingredients as Gina suggests. Used the recipe pretty much as written with boneless skinless chicken breast. Because I marinated for around 3 hours, I sliced the breasts lengthwise. Did add some lemon juice as well and definitely the hot pepper flakes, and used non-fat Greek yogurt. I prefer full fat but we are making changes to our diet. It was so tender, not dried out at all, and yummy.
Will try next with thighs and other seasonings…and probably marinate over night.
can I make this to marinate chicken in the freezer for later?
This was really good and pretty simple to make. I had very large thighs so they took a bit longer to cook-I’d probably make sure to not use such large ones in the future. I am going to use one (leftover) today and try it in chicken salad-it seemed like the flavors might be a nice change for that recipe.
I recently made this chicken and it was a hit with friends! Thanks for the recipe.
Delicious! We do a lot of Greek yogurt-based marinades and my husband loves this one best – the turmeric adds something special.
This was delicious, chicken well flavored and tender. Will make again
I made this recipe using boneless chicken breasts and minus the red pepper flakes. When my husband tasted it, he immediately said, Wow! He’s fussy, too, so this is a real compliment.
For me, I also decided to boil the remaining marinade and put it over my chicken, and it was amazing. Next time I’ll hold out some marinade to use as a topping for additional flavor.
This has become a staple in our house. The chicken turns out flavorful and juicy every time. Plus you can use the chicken in so many ways- bowls, main dish, on a salad, etc.
Delicious! The turmeric really added a different taste
Gave up. Your site is pop-up hell.
I made these last night in a cast iron skillet. They were so good! I’ll definitely make them again!
Absolutely delicious!! I didn’t have oregano, so I subbed for rosemary and used the chicken on a greek salad!! I live in a studio apt so I don’t have a full kitchen, and I cooked it in my air fryer with the roast option… amazing, will be making again and for family/friends!
I make this at least once every other week and it’s a hit every time. I serve it with rice, Flat bread, and tzatziki sauce and it all comes together so well. I make in the airfryer and it’s so quick and easy. I have found that it’s best if marinated at least overnight.
Can I cook in the slow cooker and then make pulled chicken?
I didn’t find this as great as everyone is saying. I still voted it a 5 star since it came out extremely tender and juicy. I felt that the yogurt had an overpowering tart taste to the chicken. I would not make it again. Possibly I didn’t remove enough of the yogurt prior to cooking or maybe the air fryer version was a fail. Just putting this out there to forwarn others to maybe not marinate your entire package of chicken until you took this for a test spin first. We will gladly eat what we cooked but again that tart yogurt robs the flavor from the chicken. I have to admit we did not have tuneric so possibly that was the deal breaker? Thank you for sharing the recipe regardless and others certainly found it tasty.
I think tumeric or other herbs (whatever type you have) will smooth out the yogurt flavor. As well, ensuring you don’t have blobs on the chicken will help as well. Perhaps cut the red wine vinegar in half next time. I’d give it another go.
Sooo good! I skewered the chicken breasts with wooden skewers and used a grill pan to cook. Served your greek salad on the side.
Dead easy, very quick and so delicious. Will be cooking again. Have shared on FB. Thank you 😻
This was absolutely hands down phenomenonal. My whole family was blown away. My only change was using paprika instead of turmeric bc I didn’t have any. This will definitely be on regular rotation.
I started back with WW last week and was looking for some new chicken options. This is officially my new favorite way to make chicken breast. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, nonfat Greek yogurt and cooked half in the air fryer and half in a grill pan on the stove. I will be making this weekly.
Hi, which did you do first, the air fryer or the stovetop?
Super moist and easy to make. My kids loved it!
So, so, so good. I absolutely love this recipe.
So easy and so tasty! We loved this recipe! We don’t have a grill so I baked it and the chicken came out juicy and delicious. I will be making this for guests in the future, it is that good.
Delicious
Love this and that squeeze of lemon when done made it even more perfect!
Already planning to make it again to serve over a salad.
Easy to make we loved it! Will make it again!
Is to make we loved it! Will make it again!
Absolutely the best!
Absolutely the best, loved my everyone at my table!
My new go-to marinade for chicken thighs!! Absolutely delicious! Double the recipe for yummy lunches the next week!
This is absolutely delicious! I air fried it, but next time I’ll grill it- but I don’t know how it could be much better. Today for lunch I sliced up a leftover thigh on top of a bed of arugula that I had tossed with evoo and a squeeze of lemon juice , then added fresh mango. The salad was great too!!
I made this already with the boneless (Unbelievably delicious!) but now only have thighs with bones. Any suggestions on time for bone-in thighs? Grill or cast iron pan with these?
Family favorite. I have made it weekly by request since you posted this!
Perfect! Delicious, easy, and can be made ahead and served at room temperature! Definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you, Gina!
Such a delicious, juicy chicken breast and the flavor was wonderful! Really easy weeknight dinner option. Paired it with grilled asparagus & pesto pasta. Will definitely have this on repeat!
This was excellent and was great cold as left overs on a salad later in the week. definitely a keeper for us
This recipe is easy and so tasty! Chicken was very tender and I’m thinking of trying different spices to throw in the marinade next time. I will definitely make this again.
Packed with so much flavor! Love this recipe.
Family loved it. Very easy. Great flavor.
This recipe was a hit! I used nonfat greek yogurt since my store didn’t have 1% and I marinated it overnight. It came out great!
This has really good flavor! I was worried because there wasn’t a lot of seasoning but the yogurt in combination with the turmeric was delicious. I served it with a greek type veggie salad
This recipe is a huge hit with my whole family. I served it on top the chopped feta salad and it is was so good! My teenagers put their’s inside of pitas with a smear of hummus. This is a super easy dinner that will be in regular rotation. A huge win for me with my picky eater.
So juicy and flavorful! I used bone in thighs as that’s what I had, adjusted the cooking time about 25-30 minutes as they were larger. Turned out so good! would like to use boneless next time as they started to burn on the grill. No fault to the recipe! Will be having again!
Delicious, and leftovers made a fantastic chicken salad. Used Icelandic yogurt because it’s what we had handy.
Excellent. I made this for dinner, everyone liked it. I will definitely make it again.
Perfect easy meal
Would it be ok to let this marinate overnight? Thanks!
Sure
This recipe was amazing! Plans changed and after I put it in the marinade for dinner that night, I didn’t get to cook it until the next evening. It was so so good. I cooked it in my cast iron pan and served it with SkinnyTaste’s brussels sprouts with shallots, some riced cauliflower with veggies that I had picked up at Costco, and a big salad. It was also a very quick and simple recipe to make. Per the suggestion of another reviewer, I doubled the marinade and froze it for a future meal.
Outstanding! I can’t get over how delicious this recipe is and will definitely be making again. Not to mention how easy it is to make. I used chicken breast since that’s what I had on hand but followed the recipe to a T.
Thank You!
This was so so good! Not only was this an easy marinade to put together but it was absolutely delicious! I served this with Gina’s rice pilaf and the chickpea cucumber salad. Satisfying and flavorful meal. I love Skinnytaste!
Thanks Emily!
This recipe is so yummy. This will be a go to recipe. I used chicken breast and my husband loved it. Thank you!
This was excellent! Marinated the chicken thighs for several hours….so great for “make ahead”. Served with your Rice Pilaf and a green salad, can’t wait to try this with chicken breasts, I know it will be equally as wonderful. Thanks, Gina!
Only marinated it for an hour, it was 100% delicious!
Would this work with 0% Greek Yogurt??
Sure I mention this above
Do you think the dairy free Greek-like Kite Hill yogurt will work?
Thank you!
I am not sure if it has the same effect. If you try it, let me know!
Yes. I used Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt and it was delicious!
Made this tonight! UH MAY ZING!!!!!! I made it with tiny breast tenderloins in the air fryer and left them marinade for about 4 hours . So much flavor! Such an easy go to recipe for tasty chicken !!!!! My 4 year old was asking me for more!
Perfect!
How long and what temp did you cook them at?
Wow looks so delicious thanks for sharing this 1 i cant wait to try it later after work