This easy baked Greek chicken and potatoes is a family favorite! The secret is in the lemon-garlic sauce which doubles up as a 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.
Greek chicken makes an appearance on my dinner table pretty frequently. In many forms. From tender Souvlaki skewers to Greek chicken gyro 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 Greek 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)!
Ingredients for this Greek Chicken Recipe
- Chicken- 3 pounds of chicken. For best flavor, use bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces. You can also portion a whole small chicken into pieces to use in this recipe.
- Potatoes- 4 gold potatoes scrubbed clean and cut into wedges (Greek-style roasted potatoes are typically cut into wedges).
- Onion- 1 medium yellow onion, halved and cut into wedges to mimic the look of the potatoes
- Lemon-Garlic Sauce- 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 (anywhere from 8 to 12 garlic cloves, minced), 1 1/2 tablespoons dry rosemary (or dry oregano), and a pinch of nutmeg. Tip: this can also act as your Greek chicken marinade, if you want to work ahead and marinate the chicken in the fridge for a few hours.
- Chicken broth- anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup chicken broth poured in the pan helps cook the potatoes to tender perfect and it also keeps the chicken tender and juicy while baking.
- Lemon slices- Can’t have enough lemons in a Greek chicken dinner! Lemon slices act as a pretty garnish but as they bake over the chicken, they also impart great flavor.
- Garnish- fresh parsley and a few pitted kalamata olives two optional ingredients that add a good pop of color and some more Greek flavor are
How to Make Greek Chicken: Step-by-Step
Time needed: 1 hour and 15 minutes
How to make Greek chicken (print-friendly recipe with exact measurements below)
- Heat oven and season the chicken
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Arrange a rack right in the middle.
Season the chicken with kosher salt on all sides. Tip: for best flavor, make sure to lift up the chicken skins and season underneath.
- Arrange potatoes and onions in baking dish
Slice the potatoes and onions into wedges. Arrange them in your baking dish. Season with kosher salt and black pepper
- Make the lemon garlic sauce
In a bowl or a measuring cup, add extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, dried rosemary and nutmeg (you can also use a bit of dried oregano instead of rosemary).
- Add chicken, sauce, and broth to the baking pan
Arrange the chicken pieces in the baking dish or pan. Pour the lemon garlic sauce evenly all over the chicken and potatoes. Arrange lemon slices on top. From one side of the pan, add in about 1 cup chicken broth (but do not pour over the chicken)
- Bake!
Bake in heated oven uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the chicken and potatoes are tender. (Chicken’s internal temperature should register at 165 degrees F). NOTE: If the potatoes are not fully done at this point, you can raise the oven temperature to 425°F and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes (make sure to remove the chicken breast pieces that are fully cooked so they don’t get dry). To get more color on the chicken, place the pan under the broiler briefly to allow the chicken skins to gain more color (watch carefully).If you like, place the pan under the broiler briefly to allow the chicken skins to gain more color (watch carefully).
Greek Chicken Marinade Option
Like I said earlier, in this recipe, you do not need to marinate the chicken for hours in advance. But if you like, you can apply the lemon garlic sauce to the chicken a few hours before you are ready to bake it and keep it in the fridge. Marinade ingredients (same as lemon-garlic sauce ingredients used here):
- 1/4 cup Greek extra virgin olive oil (I used Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 8 to 12 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary or dried oregano (or if you like, a bit of each)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
To marinate the chicken, mix all the above together and pour it over the chicken (lift chicken skins up to get some goodness underneath). Cover and leave in the fridge for a couple hours or so.
When ready, add the chicken to the potatoes and onions and follow the recipe for baking instructions.
What to Serve with Greek Chicken?
This baked chicken and potatoes doesn’t require much to turn into a fun Greek feast. Serve it with a side of Greek salad and Tzatziki sauce. If you like, add some warm pita bread. That’s it!
Watch the video for this Greek chicken recipe:
More chicken recipes you might like: grilled whole chicken, and baked cornish game hen.
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Greek Chicken and Potatoes Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: Serves up to 6
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This easy Greek chicken and potatoes recipe is a family favorite. The secret is in the lemon-garlic sauce, which doubles up as a 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 lb chicken pieces, bone in and skin on (I used 2 smaller breasts and 3 legs)
- Salt
- 4 gold potatoes (about 2 lb), scrubbed clean, cut into thin wedges
- 1 medium yellow onion, halved then sliced
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 6 to 12 pitted quality kalamata olives, optional
- Fresh parsley, for garnish
For the Lemon-Garlic Sauce (can also be used as marinade)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I used Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 12 fresh garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary (or dried oregano)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Sides (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Pat chicken dry and season generously with salt (lift the skins and apply salt underneath as well). (see optional step in notes)
- Arrange potato wedges and onions in the bottom of a baking dish or pan. Season with salt and 1 tsp black pepper. Add the chicken pieces (see optional step in notes).
- Make the lemon-garlic sauce. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil with lemon juice, minced garlic, rosemary, and nutmeg. Pour evenly over the chicken and potatoes.
- Arrange lemon slices on top. Pour chicken broth into the pan from one side (do not pour broth over the chicken).
- Bake in heated oven uncovered for 45 to 1 hour or until chicken and potatoes are tender. NOTE: If the potatoes are not fully done at this point, you can raise the oven temperature to 425°F and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes (make sure to remove the chicken breast pieces that are fully cooked so they don’t get dry). To get more color on the chicken, place the pan under the broiler briefly to allow the chicken skins to gain more color (watch carefully).
- Remove from heat and add kalamata olives, if you like. Garnish with a little bit of fresh parsley.
- Serve with Greek salad Taztaziki sauce and a side of pita bread, if you like. Enjoy!
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.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Greek
This post originally appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2017 and has been recently updated with new information and media for readers benefit. Enjoy!
Can the marinade be used as the sauce? Or should I discard it after marinating and make a new sauce to pour over the chicken? Thanks!
Hi, Maria. I always discard this marinade since it had raw chicken sitting in it for a bit.
Marinade goes in the dish here though, no? Seems like a waste to make a new one as it cooks with the dish.
i learn more about the mediterranean dish…..excillent
Awww! Thanks, Danilo!
Fabulous recipe, but really didn’t need the broth , will omit next time
Yet another absolute winner from Suzy! I just followed orders, as I do first time with a recipe, and I was very satisfied with the result. Did brown for a brief moment under the broiler for aesthetics and next time would slice the olive garnish so that a piece can go with every bite. Don’t short change the garlic!
Wow! What a deeply satisfying meal on every level. I love garlic but when I saw the amount in the sauce, I was like…are you sure?? Ok let’s do it I’m in 😂
The end result is definitely garlicky but the lemon really cuts through it, as do the herbs & spices, resulting in what can only be described as a heavenly dish 💜
This is going into my favourite go to recipes of all time, just mwah
Garlic is LIFE! lol!
Chicken wasn’t nearly cooked enough after 45 minutes at 350. No browning, red on the inside and bloody. The garlic also started to burn at about this time so clearly something is wrong with the times and temps.
Agree. I bumped up the oven to 400 F after 40 miniutes and let it cook for 40 minutes more.
Enjoyed the dinner and will make it again.
Great dish as usual! It is so tasty and so Mediterranean! A super way to be on a diet and get the best out of it.
Thank you Suzy, you are the very best!
Excellent!
Thanks, Miska!
This one was actually a huge miss for me, I am sorry to say, as I’ve made and enjoyed so many other recipe from this site! I did half the recipe, and opted to use the oregano instead of the rosemary. There was too much liquid in the bottom of the pan, but somehow the potatoes also didn’t cook after an hour and were crunchy (perhaps what I think are thin slices and what’s recommended are different?) in an undercooked way and not a roasted potatoes way. The chicken got no colour and broiling it after helped a bit, but burned the garlic so I had to pull it before I got a good browning. My husband hated the texture of the chicken, finding it both mushy and rubbery (I was ok with it, but it wasn’t ideal). Love the idea of the flavours but this dish just was not it for us.
Thank you for the feedback, Tori.
I had the exact same experience. I don’t think the oven temp is high enough on this recipe. And all the flavor from the broth and marinade fell to the bottom and didn’t stick to anything when it was served. And the olive flavor didn’t get mixed in being added last.
I microwaved the potatoes for 2 minutes. same for a few baby carrots. used only 2 tblsp of broth. 1 hr at 350. delicious!!!
Cooked this recipe at 360 degrees F and the chicken was only cooked to 135 degrees, so I had to turn the oven up to 400 and cook for another 15 minutes to get chicken to 165 degrees. Almost all of the broth was still left in the pan–I had hoped it would reduced to more of a tart syrupy sauce. On the positive side, I really liked the addition of the nutmeg with the herbs in the lemon sauce.
Thanks for the feedback, Linda.
Roasted the potatoes for about 20 or 30 minutes in the broth first. Then removed the broth and placed on the chicken. Worked great. Thanks to all the commenters for the extra tips.
I made this recipe and used chicken boneless/skinless chicken breasts. I loved it other than the fact that boneless/skinless can be a bit dry, especially as leftovers. The only thing that I’d like to know is the sodium content as that is not included in the nutrition facts listed. We did not serve with any sides other than some fresh steamed broccoli. We didn’t use any Kalamata olives as we didn’t have any in the pantry at the time. We also cut the garlic half the garlic, however my husband decided that it wasn’t quite enough. Thanks for putting out an amazing reipe!
Hi, Jennifer. I’m sorry that the sodium count is not available. I’ll check on this and see if we can add that via the program we currently use. With sodium numbers, it really will vary for individual taste and the kind of salt and amount used, so it is tricky.
Either parboil the potatatoes for 5-8 mins. or cover the whole dish for the same amount of time.
Simple and delicious. I’m pleased I didn’t read the comments first. Added some extra garlic cloves to the potaos.. Just wish oven temps were in celsius as well, most of the world doesn’t use it.
Thanks for the feedback, Warren. So glad you enjoyed the recipe!