I’ve never been a big fan of grilled chicken, especially at restaurants. You end up paying too much money for an extra thick, chewy chicken breast that tastes like water with a thin coating of whatever sauce you thought would make this version of charred bird would taste better than the last. To break that sordid cycle, I always do one of three things to chicken breasts; I stuff them, halve them, or pound them flat. The flavor of grilled chicken is on the outside, so I either add flavor to the middle, decrease the thickness and/or increase the surface area. This time, I used small, tender chicken breasts and flattened them before grilling.
Here’s everything you need:
Grilled Greek Chicken
- 2 large chicken breasts, halved and pounded thin (or 4 small chicken breasts)
Citrus Dressing
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- Juice from 2 lemons
- Juice from 2 limes
- 3 tablespoons fresh Greek oregano, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
This is a really easy dish to make. You just finely chop your oregano and garlic and mix it with the remaining ingredients to form a kind of vinaigrette.
Next, you pound your chicken so that it’s the same thickness throughout. All the cooking stores sell expensive stainless steel mallets for this process. If I was going to flatten meats for a living, then maybe I’d buy one. Instead, I just use the bottom of my fist and a ziplock bag. With your hand, you can really feel when the meat is softened and starting to tear. I use this method whenever I flatten chicken or veal for schnitzel, paillard, marsala, picatta, saltimboca, parmigiana, etc. (I really need to get those recipe on this site)
Once the chicken is flattened, you pour half of the dressing over the cutlets and coat both sides. Let me stress that you can’t dip the chicken in the dressing or you can’t use it again later. Salmonella and all that. Let the chicken cutlets rest in the refrigerator for twenty minutes or so. They really don’t need to marinate for very long. This dressing packs a lot of punch.
Grill the chicken over medium-high heat. They only take a couple of minutes per side, so don’t walk away.
Finally, let the chicken cool for a few minutes and then pour the rest of the dressing over them.
If you have some leftover dressing, it’s good on pretty much anything. We used it to add some zest to our grilled corn and carrots.
Add chopped fresh mint to your recipe then you’ll have an authentic greek marinade. Also try red or white wine vinegar instead of the citrus for a slightly different flavor.