Greek Chicken Marinated in Yogurt and Greek Potatoes

These delicious thighs are marinated in Greek yogurt with garlic overnight and baked in the oven. While your chicken is baking, put in a tray of lemony, garlicy Greek Potatoes beside them, and you will have a Greek feast.

Greek Chicken with Yogurt and Lemon and Greek Potatoes

You can make these delicious Greek Chicken Thighs for around $5.20 for 4 people. If you add a tray of oven baked Greek Potatoes, you can serve a family of 4 for $8, and veggies and salad for around $11.

My daughter and I spent 10 days in Greece several years ago. There is no bad food in Greece—I’m not sure what they do with marginal cooks, but they apparently don’t allow them to own restaurants or cafes.

Food is Greece is amazing and as an old friend says, “they have had more time than most of the world to get it right.” We did not have a bad meal in Greece. Our favorites were calamari, souvlaki and Greek chicken. But if travel to Greece is not in your budget, it is still possible to make wonderful Greek chicken in your own kitchen quickly and cheaply. These recipes were inspired by the originals on recipetineats.com, an Australian blog that is really creative and fun.

I start with chicken thighs, which have the advantage of being both cheap and wonderfully tasty. I found 3 pounds of chicken thighs at Wild Fork Foods for $3.20. But you can use any part of the chicken adding up to 2–3 pounds. This chicken is marinated overnight in yogurt and has a very soft texture. If you like a firmer texture, just limit the marination to 46 hours. I usually take the frozen thighs out the night before serving, put them in marinade and let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight while marinading.

One thing you shouldn’t compromise on is the yogurt - use whole milk yogurt. Aldi has a really excellent option that is always in my refrigerator. Use all the garlic—Greek chicken is nothing without that garlic. And real lemon juice, please. It makes the dish taste so much better. Once you have marinated your chicken, it’s time to roast it. Both the potatoes and the chicken cook at 350 degrees for a little under an hour.

With regard to potatoes, I always use Russets. But Yukon Gold are another option. I like Russets because they are really inexpensive and make large potato wedges that look like steak fries.

Serve your Greek Chicken and Potatoes with green beans and/or a simple Greek salad.

Greek Chicken Marinated in Yogurt with Greek Potatoes (Cost is $5.20 for Chicken and $2.85 for Potatoes)

Ingredients

Chicken

• 2.5 pounds of chicken thighs, bone in, with skin (3.20, Wild Fork Foods)

• 1 c. of Greek yogurt ($0.85, Aldi)

• 4 cloves garlic, pressed ($0.10)

• Juice of 3 lemons ($0.75, Sam's Club)

• 2 T rice vinegar ($0.10)

• 1/4 c olive oil ($0.20)

• 1 1/2 T oregano

• 1 t kosher salt

• 1/2 t black pepper

Potatoes

• 4–5 large Russet potatoes ($1.50, Aldi)

• 1 c chicken broth ($0.35, Sam’s Club)

• 1/2 c olive oil ($0.40, Sam’s Club)

• Juice of 2 lemons ($0.50, Sam’s Club)

• 3 garlic cloves, pressed ($0.10)

• 1 T dried oregano

• 1 t kosher salt

• 1 t pepper

• Optional -lemon slices cut in half, or 4 additional cloves of garlic “smashed”

Directions

1. The night before you wish to serve this meal, begin marinating your chicken. If your thighs are frozen, that's okay. Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, rice vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Place your frozen thighs in a gallon zippered bag and pour in the marinade. Seal and place this gallon bag inside of another gallon bag (i.e., "double bag it"). Place in the refrigerator overnight. Make sure your thighs are defrosting the next morning. If they are slowly defrosting, take out early. Otherwise, take out about 30 minutes before you put them in the oven. (They will take about an hour to cook.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange your chicken thighs on a tray over a baking sheet. If you want to make clean-up a breeze, put tin foil over the baking sheet.

3. While the chicken is warming to room temperature, peel and slice 4-5 Russet potatoes into wedges. Place in a bowl with 1/4 c. olive oil, 3 cloves of pressed garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Put the potatoes in a single layer in a 13x9 inch baking pan. Combine the stock with the lemon juice and remaining olive oil and pour into gaps in the potatoes. Optionally, you can spread thinly sliced lemon and smashed garlic on the baking sheet, which cook and infuse even more flavor in the potatoes. They do tend to char a little, so throw them away before serving.

4. Place the potatoes in rack alongside chicken. Bake for 30 minutes. Baste the chicken with marinade and bake both dishes for additional 20 minutes. Check temperature on your chicken thighs. The two dishes should be done at roughly the same time.

5. When the chicken and fries are both done, I like to put them under the broiler for 5-10 minutes to crisp them up. The potatoes in particular really benefit from this. As soon as they are crisp, take both the chicken and the potatoes out of the oven.

6. Salt the potatoes while still warm and serve with lemon wedges. Serve the Greek Chicken and Potatoes with green beans and/or a Greek Salad.