I know, I knowwww. Greek food galore! But check it: the last two posts, maroulosalata and tzatziki? They go real nice with today's post, which is grilled chicken kalamaki!
Kalamaki is meat cut into cubes and marinated in an olive oil and lemon dressing, usually overnight. Then, you grill that meat and devour! A good choice for grilling season if I say so myself.
I love Greek food. Especially in the summer time.
Speaking of summer, if you're a parent, do you know of Red Tricycle? It's a site that offers parents info on finding things to do with their kids in their city! Whether it's eating, making stuff together, going to a festival, etc. It's a pretty cool site! They also recently shared my fish tacos recipe. Go check it out!
Speaking of fish tacos, I think I might make some for dinner sometime this week! After I finish up my kalamakia leftovers.
In the recipe below, I suggest you marinate the chicken for thirty minutes, but really, that's for the absolute minimum. If you have time to prep it some hours in advance, I highly recommend it! Anywhere from eight to twenty-four hours would work just fine.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 boneless chicken breasts
- 6 bamboo skewer sticks, I used 6"
- ¼ cup olive oil, not extra virgin
- 1 lemon, halved
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Greek oregano, rigani
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Soak bamboo skewers in water for about twenty minutes (this will help keep them from charring when grilling).
- While the skewers are soaking, prepare the remaining ingredients.
- Add olive oil, juice from half of the lemon (reserve the other half for later), salt, rigani, garlic powder, and black pepper in a small bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Cut the chicken into cubes. I slice the chicken in thirds lengthwise, then cut each strip into small cubes.
- When the skewers are done soaking, thread each stick with the chicken.
- Place chicken in a bowl or ziplock bag and marinate with the dressing for thirty minutes (if using a ziplock bag, place that in a bowl in case the sticks poke holes in the bag).
- After marinating, preheat your grill over medium-high heat.
- Cook the chicken 4-6 minutes per side, until cooked through.
- Remove from heat and squeeze the remaining lemon half over the meat.
- Enjoy!
Yummm, this looks absolutely delicious!
Thank you!
Now this is my kind of food!! I lived in Greece for years and their souvlakia are never marinated, so I reckon yours would be miles tastier than theirs!
Isn't Greek food just the best? Especially eaten outside on a warm night ... 🙂
Helen, I'm a little jealous of you living there! I used to visit often, but it's been years. I still have a lot of family over there and one of these days, I'll make it back! Eating outside on a warm night was one of my favorite parts. That and being at the beach!
Meat on sticks is always a huge hit in our home! I love recipes like this one because I can put it in the fridge to marinade the night before and the next day, after a busy day, there's some really tasty to feed my family!
Agreed! It's also just fun to eat off of sticks. 😀
Mmmm now that's my kind of chicken!! Love the name of your blog by the way 😀
Thanks, Amanda!
I LOVE simple and delicious recipes like this for summer bbq's! This sounds fantastic and I will definitely be adding it to my summer recipe list 🙂
I'm with you on simple and delicious bbq recipes! Let me know how you like it if you end up making it!
I'm going to Greece this summer & will be looking around for Kalamaki! thanks for the interesting recipe!
Ooh, have a wonderful time! I love it there.
I think this is the first time I've visited your blog. I follow you on Instagram and your posts always make me hungry... as does this one! Looks yummy!
Thanks so much, Byron!
I'm always up for some good Greek food and we love to BBQ, so this is going on next week's menu list!
Yay! Let me know how you like it!
Perfect inspiration for a midweek supper - super light and healthy too.
MARISSA ! Your GRILLED CHICKEN KALAMAKI Looks amazing!!!! Love the recipe - the ingredients and seasoning you used. Thanks for sharing this, looks perfect for a lunch party!
Thanks, Levan! I'm planning to make it again for a BBQ next weekend. 😀
I want to learn more about greek food, I have never heard of this, but am highly intriqued by the idea of the lemon/olive oil marinade.
How many are made with the amount of ingredients?