It’s juicy, mouth-watering grilled chicken – mediterranean style! A simple marinade is packed with flavor and chicken thighs grill up to perfection. Top it all off with a tangy dill sauce and you have the perfect healthy grilled chicken for your next BBQ!
An easy mediterranean chicken marinade
We love the marinade in this recipe because it adds complex mediterranean flavor with just a few ingredients.
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- A few seasonings
That’s it!
Also, you don’t have to marinate the chicken for hours or overnight. Simply marinate the chicken while you get the sauce ready and you’re good. You can baste the chicken with the marinade while cooking for extra flavor.
An option for baked mediterranean chicken
We love the smoky flavor that the grill adds to this chicken, especially paired with the tangy dill sauce. But if you don’t have a grill or can’t grill right now, we’ve provided baking instructions in the recipe notes.
What to serve with this mediterranean chicken
If you’re looking for something to serve with this recipe, here are some ideas:
- Grilled or roasted veggies (we grilled some artichoke hearts and olives with the chicken)
- Cauliflower rice or regular rice
- Grilled cauliflower steaks
- A simple green salad with olives, cucumber, etc.
As a bonus, the sauce in the recipe can usually go with the side dish as well! It should make enough so you can drizzle some on your whole plate if you wish :).
The perfect keto mediterranean chicken
Did we mention that this is the perfect low-carb grilled chicken recipe? Make a big batch for your keto meal prep or just amaze your friends with a flavorful chicken dinner. Either way, enjoy this chicken with a keto friendly side like those noted above and you’ll be set!
Your turn to try this mediterranean grilled chicken
Fire up your grill and get ready to enjoy some easy mediterranean flavor! With a quick prep and cook time, it’s a simple grilled meal your family will love. Throw some veggies on the grill too for a complete meal.
If you try this recipe, be sure to take a pic to share on Instagram and tag us @realsimplegood. We love to see what you’re making!
Mediterranean Grilled Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
For the marinade:
For the sauce:
- 3/4 cup avocado oil
- 1 egg
- 1 lemon, juice of
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, (or sub 2 tsp dried)
- 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Equipment
- Grill
Instructions
- Make the marinade by combining all of the marinade ingredients in a shallow dish or zip-top bag.
- Place the chicken in the marinade and toss to coat. Set aside while you prep the sauce.
- Place all of the sauce ingredients in a pint jar or a 1 or 2 cup pyrex measuring cup. You want a container just wide enough for your immersion blender.
- Place the immersion blender at the bottom of the container. Start blending while holding the blender at the bottom. Don’t move the blender from the bottom until the sauce begins to emulsify and thicken. Once it starts to thicken, slowly move the immersion blender to the top until all of the oil is completely mixed in. It should result in a medium-thick sauce (slightly thinner than mayo). Taste the sauce and add more dill if desired and blend again.
- Prepare your grill to medium-high heat. Once the grill is hot, place the chicken thighs on the grill to cook.
- Cook chicken for 4-6 minutes per side, or until cooked though in the center. Baste chicken with remaining marinade on both sides while cooking.
- Serve chicken topped with sauce. Enjoy.
Notes
- Instead of grilling, you can easily bake the chicken thighs. Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Follow the steps above to marinate the chicken and make the sauce. Place the chicken on the sheet pan and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the chicken pieces.
- Nutrition facts are an estimate provided for those following a Ketogenic or low-carb diet and do not include the topping/serving items for this recipe. See our full nutrition information disclosure here.
So is the egg raw? I would be afraid to do this unless the chickens were from local farmer.
Yes the egg is raw. You can omit the sauce if you are worried about eating this. However, all eggs sold in the US are pasteurized so you have little to worry about. You can do your own research on this and do whatever you’re comfortable with.
Can this be done with boneless chicken breasts instead of thighs?
Yes it can, you’ll just need to increase the cooking time.
My husband told me twice during dinner last night that it was “fantastic.” Easy to prepare, too!
Put sweet potato slices on the BBQ with the thighs & they finished at the same time. Served it with an arugula (from our garden) & roasted chickpea salad.
It’s a keeper!
We’re so glad you and your husband enjoyed it! Thanks for giving our recipe a try and for coming back to share how it went! 🙂
I don’t have an immersion blender. I have a Nutribullet though. Will that suffice?
I honestly don’t know if the sauce will emulsify in a Nutribullet. We’ve done it in a regular blender by adding in all the ingredients except the oil and starting the blender. Then, you slowly pour in the oil (very slowly) while the blender is running.
I had my immersion blender out & ready, but ended up using my small wire whisk, in my one cup Pyrex. Worked great!
I had this last night and wowowow. It was amazing!! We do not have a grill so I used the oven baking instructions and it was perfect. The sauce was a little runny than I expected but I popped it in the fridge while the chicken finished baking and it was a perfect consistency after that. We will be making it again next week to use up the leftover sauce.
Wonderful! We are so glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks so much for coming back to share! We really appreciate it!
Chicken was so delicious! Really good, robust flavor even though I only marinated it for a short time (15-20 mins). Didn’t make the sauce since we didn’t have dill but will definitely try it next time.
So glad you liked the chicken Kate!
I tried to make the sauce twice but could never get it to thicken. How long should it take to thicken? The immersion blender and liquid got hot both times so I stopped since it didn’t seem like it was going to work.
It should actually only take a few seconds to start to thicken. Are you using a jar that is just slightly bigger than the immersion blender? The blender should just fit in the jar and you need to hold the blender at the bottom of the jar for 5-10 seconds to start. You should see it start to emulsify and thicken quickly and then just slowly move the blender stick up and down in the jar to get everything to thicken. Also, can you verify that you’re using the exact ingredients as noted in the recipe?
Thanks. It’s good to know it’s supposed to be quick. I used all of the listed ingredients in the small container that came with the immersion blender. I assume the issue was either because the avocado oil is older (Im close to the bottom of a Costco container) or because I used lemon juice from a jar since we’re out of lemons. Will try again when I have fresh avocado oil and a lemon.
I’m so sorry, after reading your response and going back through the recipe again I realized that the recipe was missing the key ingredient – 1 egg. I really apologize for this, I’m not sure how it got left out. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and we hope you love the sauce when you do make it :).