Chicken Souvlaki: Not Your Mom's Diet Food

Typically, if we're in the mood for Greek food, we go no further than Dedham Square for a family fix at . After all, they do have the best Greek salad topped with the finest lamb kabobs. We’re lucky enough to have this gem of an authentic Greek restaurant right in our patch of the world.

And honestly, if we ask our kids where they want to get takeout from, they’ll shout out Kouzina instead of McDonald’s. I love that and I know this has to do with the food as much as it has to do with the friendly owners.

But if you’d like to try making some Greek food yourself, this healthy and diet-friendly chicken souvlaki is really effortless. It’s got a healthy olive oil and lemon juice marinade (garlic and oregano really adds flavor).  Plus, this is a light recipe, so it’s healthy. Let's not forget the dipping sauce!

I went to in Dedham where I grabbed some prepared zucchini and summer squash and a bag of lemons, but then I added some of my own veggies, too (red and orange peppers and yellow onions) to mix it up a bit. 

I served this over white rice with sautéed spinach on the side (I used the olive oil, garlic and lemon juice in my sautéed spinach that I needed for my chicken marinade).  If you’re having a crowd over for the big game Saturday night, why not serve up a platter of these beauties? Healthy, fun to eat and tasty — they’re going to get gobbled up fast! Add a few pita chips, too, to your serving dish. I quadrupled the recipe (this recipe is good for two servings) and there was plenty of Tzatziki sauce for extra dipping!   

Note: Instead of a grill pain, I lined two baking sheets with aluminum foil and sprayed them with cooking spray and cooked at 375 x 25 minutes.

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce

Source: Cooking Light 2003

Ingredients:

Souvlaki:

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I used dried)

2 teaspoons olive oil (lucky me had olive oil straight from the Greek island of Crete!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices

Cooking spray

Tzatziki Sauce:

1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded

1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, minced

Directions:

To prepare souvlaki, combine the first 5 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag; seal and shake to combine. Add chicken to bag; seal and shake to coat. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning once.

Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Thread the chicken and zucchini, alternately onto each of 4 (8-inch) skewers.

Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add skewers; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once.

To prepare tzatziki sauce, combine cucumber, yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 garlic clove, stirring well. Serve the tzatziki sauce with souvlaki.