Yogurt marinated roasted chicken

random picture of tandoori chicken on skewers

One of my favorite dishes is Chicken Tikka Masala.. a flavorful Indian dish with a tomato based sauce.  I'm intrigued by the sauce, but even more so the tandoori chicken.. tender chicken breasts cooked in a Tandoor oven at over 500 degrees (really, 600+ i think) very quickly and they are extremely tender.  The secret? The breasts are marinated in a spice mixture with plain yogurt. The yogurt coats the chicken, adhering the spices to the surface, the lactic acid in the yogurt tenderizes the meat and creates a delicate tang and as a bonus, keeps the meat moist while cooking... best part? Use fat free Greek yogurt and .. you guessed it.. it's a FAT FREE marinade.

Are there other fat free marinades out there?  Yea, lots.. use some vinegar or an acid like lemon juice, pineapple juice, orange juice.. etc.. (acid = tenderizer but wet meat doesn't particularly grill, bake or broil well without really patting it dry with paper towels) and some spice mixture (sugar, salt, seasonings etc.  the sugar will aid in browning, maybe too brown, so be careful... and the salt can cause the meat to be really salty if you marinate too long.. also be careful, unless you're making jerky!).  I've used this many times to marinate steaks and chicken.. sometimes even adding a bit of oil for some reason (the recipe calls for it, but causes some real flare ups on the grill!) This liquid marinade does an excellent job of flavoring meats especially the longer you leave it.. even overnight.  The problem can be texture.. I dont' love the texture of meat marinated like this.. yes, the meat is tender, but at the same time, the acid kind of "cooks" the meat so the longer you marinate it, the more rubbery it can become..  weird. Plus.. I HATE grey meat (steak) and the liquid can prevent the Maillard Reaction (that beautiful brown sear you get on meat) from occuring.. if it doesn't look good.. it probably won't taste good, in my eyes.

slightly charred.. yum

So, recently I said to myself... self, if you love tandoori chicken so much, why don't you try marinating your chicken breast in yogurt and grilling it.. yes, the grill doesn't get as hot as the tandoor oven, but if i preheat it long enough, I can get it pretty hot.. so i tried.  AMAZING!!!  I am impatient, and only allowed the chicken to marinate in my yogurt/spice mixture for about 30-40 minutes.  I used Fage Greek yogurt and our local Greek restaurant  seasoning (Symeons) and just mixed a bunch together until the yogurt was a nice orange hue.. I placed the chicken and the yogurt mixture in a large ziploc bag and just let it hang out for a while.  When they were done marinating.. or when I got hungry.. I just placed the yogurt covered chicken on a wire rack set over some foil on a baking sheet and roasted them in a preheated 425 oven for about 25-30 minutes.  If they're not beautifully golden, place them under the broiler for a few extra minutes to crisp them up.  They get all golden and slightly charred..

yogurt marinated oven roasted chicken

wonderfully crunchy, moist and tender, slightly seasoned (my fault.. longer marinade time is a must.. )

I have been playing around with seasonings.. upstate chicken bbq (poultry seasoning, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and yogurt), curried chicken (sweet curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, yogurt), bbq chicken (salt, brown sugar, ground red peper, ground thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika.. or a basic bbq seasoning with yogurt), even fajitas (cumin, salt, pepper, lime juice and yogurt) my point is, this marinade is very versatile..

oven roasted

Why am i so excited about this?!  this is an easy way to make chicken that isn't bland and boring.. and it adds very little extra calories to the finished product.. great if you're using the 21 Day Fix  (1 red, 1/2 blue) or if you're taking steps to eat healthier! (um, maybe then I'd remove the skin too.  :))

On a side note.. I'm not very good at food photos yet.. I'm a work in progress, so I hope that with time, my food will look as good as it tastes!