Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Tzatziki

Mmmmm this Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Tzatziki has everything.  Spicy chicken, bright crunchy salad and a creamy dressing all wrapped up in soft, bready deliciousness.  I could eat this for lunch every single day.  And the homemade tzatziki? Just make sure you make plenty, as you’ll be eating this stuff straight off the spoon.

In fact I probably would make this several time this week, except Chris and I have just got back from a blissful weekend break in Barcelona, and I NEED to recreate some of the gorgeous food we stuffed ourselves silly with whilst we were there.

Chris’ mum took the kids away for a few days to Wales, so we pretty much had the plane tickets booked before she finished her sentence of  ‘we’d like to take the children away…..’  🙂
Several jugs of Sangria later, we’re back, we’re relaxed, and probably a good few pounds heavier! I have a new love for tapas – which in my eyes is basically a custom-made hot buffet brought straight to your table.  I’ll be working on recreating a few of those dishes over the next couple of weeks.

But for now, let’s scoot a thousand or so miles over to Greece and talk Souvlaki.
This is a traditional Greek fast food snack, usually made with pork.  I find it works equally well with chicken thighs, or lamb.  It’s marinated for an hour or so in a lovely lemony, garlic, olive oil marinade, and the meat soaks up the flavours sooo well.  You can cook these on a griddle, under the grill or on the BBQ.

It’s a great dish to prepare ahead, and serve later, as once the prep is done, it only takes 10 minutes of cooking before you’re all sat around the table digging in.

Don’t be alarmed if the meat looks paler after it’s been marinating for a while.  The acid in the lemon juice starts to tenderise and ‘cook’ the meat.  Because chicken thigh is quite soft and tender already, I’d recommend marinating it no longer than a few hours.  Tougher meat like lamb or pork can easily take overnight marinating through.

The Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Tzatziki Recipe:

Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Tzatziki

Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Tzatziki - Light and spicy chicken wraps with a creamy cucumber dressing

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Prep Time: 1 hr 5 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Course: Lunch

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Nicky Corbishley

Ingredients

Souvlaki:

• 500 g chicken thigh fillets about 6 fillets, chopped into cubes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dried dill or 1/2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped

Tzatziki:

• 1/2 a large cucumber
• 200 g Greek yoghurt full fat works best
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dried dill or 1 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
• 1/2 a small clove of garlic peeled and crushed
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt

Salad:

• 100 g baby spinach washed
• 2 large tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 a large cucumber
• 1/4 red onion peeled, and cut into slices

To Serve:

• 100 g feta cheese crumbled
• 4 tortilla wraps If you're gluten intolerant I think Udi's do GF tortilla wraps in the US or Warburtons in the UK do a nice GF seeded bread wrap

Instructions

• Add the chicken and marinade ingredients to a zip lock bag, give it a good squish around, and place in the fridge to marinade for an hour or two.
• Whilst the chicken is marinating, make the tzatziki. Take your cucumber, peel it then slice it in half down the length of the cucumber. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the seeds. Then coarsely grate the cucumber. Take the grated cucumber in clean hands, and squeeze out the juice over the sink. Place the cucumber in a medium sized bowl. Add the remaining tzatziki ingredients and mix together. Give it a taste and add a little more sugar or salt if you think it's required. Then cover in clingfilm and place in the fridge until it's time to serve. You'll need to give the Tzatziki another stir before serving, as the cucumber will probably release a little more liquid whilst it's in the fridge.
• Make the salad just before you're ready to cook your chicken. Start by peeling, slicing lengthways and deseeding the half of cucumber (as with the Tzatziki). Then slice the cucumber into chunky half-moons. Place in a large salad bowl and add in the remaining salad ingredients. Toss everything together.
• When you're ready to cook your chicken, heat up a griddle pan until very hot, take your chicken out of the fridge, remove from the bag and place the chicken in a single layer on the griddle. It should start to sizzle. Leave to cook for a couple of minutes until browned, then using some tongs, turn over. Continue to cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through. You can test this by slicing one of the larger pieces of chicken in half, and ensuring it's hot and no longer pink in the middle.
• Place your tortilla wraps onto four plates, and distribute the chicken between each wrap. Add a little of the salad to and a good spoon full of the tzatziki. Then roll up the wraps. Serve with the remaining salad and Tzatziki.

Recipe Notes

Nutritional Information is per serving.

Nutritional Information

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Tzatziki

Amount Per Serving

Calories 501 Calories from Fat 279

% Daily Value*

Fat 31g48%

Saturated Fat 9g45%

Cholesterol 122mg41%

Sodium 896mg37%

Potassium 734mg21%

Carbohydrates 25g8%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 7g8%

Protein 29g58%

Vitamin A 3110IU62%

Vitamin C 18.8mg23%

Calcium 267mg27%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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