This easy Greek chicken and potatoes recipe is a family favorite! The secret is in the lemon-garlic marinade.
Why This is My Go-To Greek Chicken Recipe
- It’s easy to make, and you can’t go wrong with chicken and potatoes.
- The lemon garlic marinade can be used right away or, if you have the time let the chicken bask in the flavors for a few hours or overnight.
- The leftovers are even better the next day.
Greek chicken makes an appearance on my dinner table pretty frequently. In many forms. From tender Souvlaki skewers to chicken gyros or a quick skillet chicken covered in a tasty yogurt chicken marinade. Ah, but if it’s a special, comforting meal we need, Greek chicken and potatoes it is!
This easy chicken recipe hits all the right flavor notes, thanks to a couple of Greek spices and a tasty lemon-garlic sauce that can also double as a marinade (although, luckily, you don’t have to marinate this chicken for hours, it can go right in the oven)!
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: For the best flavor, use bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces. You can also break down a whole small chicken into pieces to use in this recipe.
- Potatoes: I prefer to use Yukon Gold for color and their tender, creamy texture. Make sure you cut them into thin wedges so they cook with the chicken.
- Onion: I prefer yellow onion, but white will work as well.
- Lemon-garlic marinade: This is where all the glorious flavor in this Greek chicken recipe comes from. The sauce is made of Greek extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, loads of garlic, rosemary or oregano, and a pinch of nutmeg.
- Chicken broth: You can use homemade chicken stock or store-bought. If you use store-bought, opt for a low-sodium variety.
- Lemon slices: You can’t have enough lemons in a Greek chicken recipe! Lemon slices act as a pretty garnish, but as they bake over the chicken, they also impart great flavor.
- Fresh parsley: A little green and something bright to finish a dish is always a good idea. Afterall, we eat with our eyes first.
- Kalamata olives: I use pitted olives. They are an optional ingredient, but I love the briny flavor they add to this recipe.
How to Make Greek Chicken
- Get Ready: Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375°F.
- Season the chicken: Season 3 pounds of chicken pieces with kosher salt on all sides and underneath the skin.
- Prepare the potatoes: Slice 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes and 1 yellow onion into thin wedges and arrange in a 9×13 baking dish. Season with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Make the marinade: In a bowl or measuring cup, add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 8-12 minced garlic cloves, 1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. You can use dried oregano instead of rosemary if that’s what you have on hand.
- Put everything together: Arrange the chicken pieces in the baking dish. Pour the chicken broth into the dish, then pour the marinade evenly over the chicken and potatoes. Arrange lemon slices on top.
- Bake: Place the uncovered baking dish in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through; it should read 165°F on an instant-read thermometer. Depending upon the size of your chicken pieces and potato wedges, you may need an extra 20 minutes. To get more color on the chicken, place the pan under the broiler briefly to allow the chicken skin to gain additional color. Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn. When finished, remove from the oven, add Kalamata olives and fresh parsley.
Make it a Greek Feast!
In my house, Greek chicken is served with a traditional Greek salad for something fresh. It’s one of the easiest salads to make, which is a win in my book, and everyone loves it. A side of Tzatziki sauce for something creamy and fresh baked pita bread is a must.
You can make it from scratch, but I won’t tell anyone if you pick it up from the store. No judgement here! If you’re gluten-free, and bread is off the table, then serve it with Spankorizo, my Greek spinach rice.
This easy Greek chicken recipe is a family favorite. The secret is in the lemon-garlic marinade. Whether you choose to marinate the chicken for a couple of hours (I usually don't) or cook it right away, the flavors will surprise you in the best way possible.
Ingredients
For Chicken and Potatoes
- 3 pounds chicken pieces, bone in and skin on (I used 2 smaller breasts and 3 legs)
- kosher salt
- 4 gold potatoes, about 2 lb, scrubbed clean, cut into thin wedges
- 1 medium yellow onion, halved then sliced
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 6 to 12 pitted kalamata olives, optional
- fresh parsley, to garnish
For the Lemon-Garlic Marinade
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil I used Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 8-12 fresh garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary or dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Sides (optional)
Instructions
- Get ready: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Season chicken: Pat chicken dry and season generously, including under the skin, with salt.
- Prepare the potatoes: Arrange the potato wedges and onions in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Season with salt and 1 tsp black pepper.
- Assemble the dish: Add the chicken pieces to the pan with the potatoes, tuck the lemon slices around the chicken pieces, and pour the chicken broth over the chicken.
- Make the marinade: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, rosemary, and nutmeg. Pour evenly over the chicken and potatoes.
- Bake: Place the uncovered dish in the heated oven and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165° and the potatoes are tender. Depending upon the size of your potato wedges and chicken pieces, you may need a little more time. If the potatoes are not fully cooked through, raise the oven temperature to 425°F and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. To get more color on the chicken, place the pan under the broiler briefly, allowing the chicken skins to gain additional color. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn.
- Garnish and serve: Remove from heat and add kalamata olives, if you like. Garnish with a little bit of fresh parsley.
Video
Notes
- Optional Step: If you’d like to get even more crisp and color on the chicken pieces, sear the chicken pieces in a bit of extra virgin olive oil before adding them to the potato pan (do this step before step #4). To do this, simply heat about 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken skin-side down to brown (about 5 t0 7 minutes,) then flip over and sear briefly, another 3 minutes or so. Transfer from skillet to the prepared pan with the potatoes. This step is not necessary if you plan to broil the chicken briefly at the end.
- To marinate the chicken in advance: if you have the time and want to use the lemon-garlic sauce as a marinade for the Greek chicken, you can. Simply add the lemon-garlic sauce it to the chicken a couple hours in advance, cover and refrigerate. When you’re ready to bake, add the marinated chicken to the potatoes and onions and follow the recipe from there.
- Visit Our Online Shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils and spices used in this recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 194.4kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 3.4gFat: 9.5gSaturated Fat: 1.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6.6gCholesterol: 1.2mgSodium: 154.9mgPotassium: 573.1mgFiber: 3.8gSugar: 2.6gVitamin A: 26.7IUVitamin C: 38.7mgCalcium: 40.2mgIron: 1.4mg
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This post originally appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2017 and has been recently updated with new information and media for readers’ benefit. Enjoy!
This was DELISH!
My dad is on a salt restriction, so I adjusted that part. I froze in batches so they had easy meals I could pull out of the freezer.
Making batch number three for them this Easter weekend.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks so much, Cindy!
I really wanted to love this because it sounded great and it was easy-but I did not. I had to cook it way longer than the recommended time and the potatoes still weren’t really cooked. It was late so we just ate it as it was, while the chicken was juicy-the skin didn’t crisp up and there was almost no flavor. I followed the recipe exactly and sadly it didn’t taste like much to me.
Love the idea of this but my potatoes weren’t cooked by any means
Made this with chicken thighs – delicious but the potatoes weren’t cooked, would defo recommend partially pre-cooking them before
I followed the directions exactly, but did not do the optional steps. I used chicken thighs, and they were bland. The skin was soggy, and the chicken meat had little flavor. I think they would have benefitted from marinating and being seared/broiled. The pictures made this recipe look great, but my attempt was not successful.
Im making this chicken, but I only had skinless chicken breasts & my son like thighs, so thats what I’m using. Ill let you know how it comes out. Since Im on oxygen Im not always able to go to store to purchase the needed ingredients & use what I have.
Delicious! I made this without marinating, just cooked it all in the marinade. It was also really easy. I have 3 meat eaters and one vegetarian. I made a second small dish of skipping the chicken and swapping vegetable broth, after potatoes were soft I added large slices of feta to the pan to roast in the sauce. everyone raved.
I made this recipe and our family loves it so it’s become a keeper. I don’t use olives, but I do slice up two lemons instead of one. I add an extra half to a full tablespoon of Rosemary. Plus I throw in one to two teaspoons of spicy oregano. It’s so easy and absolutely delicious.
The last time I made it I had some leftover potatoes and a leftover chicken breast. So I scraped up all the rest of the pan drippings along with the leftovers and put them in the fridge. Then I thought maybe this would make a great soup. I pulled away the skin and bones and shredded the chicken. I made sure to scrape all the seasonings and drippings into a saucepan, added my shredded chicken, and then I added all my potatoes cut up a little bit smaller. I also added more chicken stock. As it warmed I scooped all the fat/Olive oil off the top. In a separate pan I warmed tablespoon of the fat and then whisked in a tablespoon of flour. Once I had my roux started, I added cream until I got a creamy consistency but not liquidy. And then mix that into the soup and ended up with A really lovely creamy lemon chicken soup. Instead of soup crackers I used alessi’s garlic breadsticks. It all came out delicious. So basically this recipe turned into two recipes both of which I love immensely.
Wow, that was such a great idea to make broth with the left over chicken and scraps!! Thanks for sharing. Homemade broth/soup is the BEST!!
I have thrown out an entire dinner only once in my life. That was 20 years ago. Tonight was the second time. I could not salvage any part of the dinner…even the chicken for our dog because the garlic was so overwhelming. There are so many garlic lemon chicken dishes that are Mediterranean. This was horrendous. Too much garlic and too much rosemary. I even used less rosemary and added oregano to try to tone it down. The chicken wasn’t cooked and the garlic and rosemary were burned on top. The potatoes never cooked. I have a Wolf oven FWIW.
Not great. I had to cook the chicken and potatoes for almost twice an as long. The chicken was moist but with all the broth, natural juices from the chicken and the lemon garlic sauce…. The potatoes were swimming in liquid. Very soupy. I found everything to be very bland. I won’t make this again.
I love this dish, quick and easy to prepare and tastes delicious.
Absolutely perfect. I haven’t had a Greek chicken dish this good in a long time even from a restaurant. 1 tbsp of rosemary and 1/2 tbsp of oregano leaves. 3 pcs. 1/4 leg chicken and 3 thighs, bone in skin on. I woke up thinking about leftovers lol. Can’t wait to explore the rest of your recipes!
Hope you find many more you love!
Has anyone made this recipe as whole chicken? If so – what temp and how long ?
Hi, Sherri. We have not here at The Mediterranean Dish… but I think it should work! Maybe you can use our Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe as a guide and give it a try! I you do, we’d love to hear how it turned out!
Can I use fresh rosemary instead of dried?
You sure can! You’ll need about 5 to 5.5 Tablespoons of fresh rosemary to replace the dried here.
This was absolutely amazing! I did 40 mins at 375, then kind of stirred the potatoes and onions, then made sure to submerge the chicken into the bubbling broth to maintain its moisture, and another 35 min- still at 375. The meat fell right off the bone! The potatoes were fantastic.
Great flavours in this one! Recipe worked for me. Chicken just cooked (as it should be) and potatoes cooked while having a little bit of a bite to them. I added a sprinkling of Feta for the last 10 minutes in the oven because I like cheese and then some fresh oregano at the end. Very tasty.
The recipe offers a vegetarian or vegan option that doesn’t compromise on flavor or satisfaction, making it a delicious choice for plant-based eaters and omnivores alike.