Tzatziki Chicken Skewers
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Greek-inspired grilled chicken with tzatziki sauce is an easy meal to cook on the grill or over a campfire! Many of the components can be prepped ahead of time so that the meal comes together without any fuss.
Bite-sized pieces of chicken and vegetables, grilled and blackened to perfection over a fire, and prepared using just a stick—what’s not to love about skewers? They’re a perfect no-fuss meal that pairs great with warm summer nights, cold beverages, and an uncontrollable desire to fiddle around with the fire.
Whether you are cooking over a campfire or just grilling in the backyard, these Chicken Tzatziki Skewers are a great recipe to try out. The bright and tangy tzatziki sauce can be made ahead of time, the quick marinade for the chicken really makes the flavor pop, and the skewers can get assembled in virtually no time.
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How to make grilled chicken with tzatziki sauce
Get the fire ready. Especially at a campsite, you will want to get your campfire going an hour before starting so it has a chance to burn down to embers. You don’t want to cook over open flames.
Making the Tzatziki Sauce: To make the tzatziki sauce, combine Greek yogurt, minced mint, garlic, and cucumber. Add in some lemon juice and salt, and it’s done. You can either do this well in advance, or you can do it while the chicken is marinating.
Building the Marinade: Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt together in a bowl or resealable baggie. Cut your chicken into bite-sizes, add to the marinade, and toss to coat. Set aside for 30 minutes (minimum) and up to 2 hours (maximum)
Assemble the Skewers: Chop up your assorted vegetables into small bite-sized pieces. We really recommend grouping like ingredients together on the same stick. It might look prettier to alternate, but each ingredient might have different cooking times. So put all the zucchini together and all the tomatoes together. That way, as each fully cooks, you can take them off one by one. We like to brush the vegetables lightly with olive oil. The marinated chicken is already covered in oil, they can just go right on the stick.
Grill! From here, it’s all about grilling the skewers over direct/indirect heat. Once you place the skewers, try to leave them in position until they form a light char and naturally “release” from the grill. If you get flare-ups, move the pieces around to avoid coming in direct contact with a flame.
Tips & tricks
- When we are cooking on a grill or over a fire, our preferred cut of chicken is always thighs. They are rich, flavorful, and very forgiving if you happen to cook them a little too long. For a recipe like this, we opt for skinless, boneless thighs to make prep work easier. However, you can absolutely do this recipe with breast meat. Just be aware the margin of error between perfectly cooked and overcooked will be narrower.
- While you can grill any type of vegetables you like, we opt for those that have a little structure to them, like zucchini, tomatoes, and red onion.
- Buy flat metal skewers. They’re so worth it! If you have to use wooden skewers (like we did!), be sure to soak them in water for 20 minutes to keep them from burning.
- Use heat-resistant gloves. The only downside to the metal skewers is they do get hot. So if you need to reposition or rotate them, you will want to use a pair of heat-resistant gloves or tongs.
- Make ahead whatever you can: tzatziki sauce, mix the marinade ingredients together and store in a small jar, and pre-cut the chicken.
- Don’t let the chicken sit too long in the marinade (more than 2 hours). The acid from the lemon juice will start to toughen the meat if it stays on too long.
- Group like ingredients together on the skewers to account for different cooking times.
- Serve these skewers with rice, pilaf, couscous, or grilled pita bread. They would also be great with a dollop of spicy skhug (or zhogh) sauce.
Other grilled skewer recipes
- Pineapple Chicken Kabobs
- Campfire Grilled Ratatouille Kabobs
- Grilled Chorizo Kebabs with Chimichurri
- Grilled Gyro Kebabs
- Get 33 more kabob recipes here!
Tzatziki Chicken Skewers
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, (about 2 pounds) cut into 1” pieces
- 2 small zucchinis, (or 1 large) sliced into 1/4” moons
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 pound cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup prepared tzatziki, store-bought or recipe as follows
Tzatziki Sauce
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- ½ cucumber, seeds removed & chopped fine
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic powder, and salt together in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Set aside for 30 minutes (up to 2 hours) to marinate, tossing occasionally.4 tablespoons olive oil, 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- To make the tzatziki (can be made ahead): Remove excess moisture from the chopped cucumber by blotting with a towel. Place the cucumber, Greek yogurt, mint, garlic, and salt in a small bowl and mix to combine.1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cucumber, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, 4 cloves garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Cover & store in your cooler if making ahead of time.
- Prepare a grill or campfire for grilling.
- Thread the chicken and vegetables onto skewers.8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, 2 small zucchinis, 1 red onion, 1 pound cherry tomatoes
- Once the grill is ready, place the skewers on the grill grate and grill, turning every few minutes so all sides cook evenly. The chicken will need to cook 3-5 minutes per side, and the veggies will need roughly 10-12 minutes.
- Remove skewers. Serve with tzatziki for dipping. Enjoy!
Loved Loved Loved this chicken skewer recipe! The only thing I changed was using my own tzatziki recipe which has the same base ingredients as yours (different measurements) then I add lemon, olive oil, a couple pinches of cayenne (I like a little heat in mine), and either a sprinkle of oregano or greek seasoning, sometime I use a little dill just depends on what flavor I’m going for and we eat it with some flat bread. While camping I do grill on skewers, but I also cook this recipe at home and just cook the chicken in an iron skillet and I roast the vegetable in the oven on 500 degrees with some olive oil and mediterranean seasoning. Anyway it’s a wonderful camping meal with a glass of wine by the camp fire. Thanks for sharing.