Grilled Chicken Marinade

In our attempts to recreate The Gyro House chicken for gyros at home (to save time and money of going there) we stumbled on our new go-to marinade for grilled chicken. It not only works for gyros, but for salads and wraps, and with many side dishes.  It's a combination of probably 6 or 7 different recipes I found online, some advice from a friend, and some trial and error but I think I have it to the point where I can share it.



Getting ready to make the marinade with the new measuring cups my mother-in-law bought me.  I normally just eyeball a LOT of my homemade recipes so I started with the low end measurement of what I thought I usually used and added up.  Good news is, I guessed the measurement right on most of the ingredients.  Score!

Grilled Chicken Marinade

3-4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half width-wise* (or butterfly them)
1/4 c. Olive oil
2 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tbsp Minced garlic (5-6 cloves)
1 tbsp Tahini
1 tbsp Red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Brown sugar
1/2 tsp Curry**
1/4 tsp Mustard powder
1/2 tsp Coarse ground pepper

Mix the marinade ingredients together well and then add chicken breasts making sure they're coated.

Place all of the ingredients in a plastic freezer bag and remove as much air as possible when closing the bag. Alternatively, leave all the ingredients in the bowl and then cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic wrap touches the chicken.  Just pull off a piece of plastic a bit larger than you'd need and press it down on the chicken starting in the middle and working to the sides.  Tuck it into the side a bit.  You can cover the bowl with a second piece of plastic wrap if you'd like.  Having it touch the chicken removes the air and allows them to marinade better. (I've tested this so trust me.)

*Cut the chicken by placing your hand on top of the breast and carefully cutting the breast in half like you are going to butterfly them, but you just cut all the way through.  Hey look, YouTube link on how to butterfly a chicken breast.

**Even if you don't like curry, put the curry in.  Trust me.  You can cut the amount down, but DO NOT cut it by more than half (1/4 tsp curry).  Robert is not a fan of curry.  In fact, he has often proclaimed loudly how much he HATES it - but he keeps telling me to put more curry into the marinade. So really, trust me. I've tested this out too.