Seriously, friends, yogurt marinated chicken is one of the tastiest and simplest recipes. EVER!
It’s one of those savory low carb chicken recipes with a deep warm flavor you’ll crave again and again because yogurt amplifies this chicken marinade recipes juicy potential, and the combination of herbs and spices in this is absolutely delectable.
That’s why it’s the marinade for keto chicken tikka masala and butter chicken recipes!
This succulent yogurt marinated chicken is one of those low carb dinners that you’ll want to make again and again!
Looking for more keto chicken recipes? Check out my Asian chicken marinade, Mediterranean chicken marinade, or my chicken curry.
What I Love About This Yogurt Marinated Chicken
There are SO many reasons to love this yogurt marinated chicken, including the fact that it:
- Works with any part of the chicken, so nothing goes to waste.
- Moist, juicy, and tender, thanks to the yogurt!
- Layers of yummy flavor
- Really easy to make. Just mix, marinate, and grill!
Recipe Notes
Not much to it! Just a few simple tips and tricks before I set you on your way:
Ingredient Notes
Yogurt – Full fat yogurt is what you’ll want here — I prefer to use keto greek yogurt (such as Fage), as it’s lower in sugar, and significantly tangier (there’s less lactose left is this yogurt as it goes through an additional straining process).
Chicken – Our favorite chicken for this marinade is bone-in, skin-on — the higher fat content of chicken with the skin on makes for a more flavorful bite.
Spices – This recipe calls for Garam Masala which is an Indian spice mix utilized in many Indian and South African dishes. It’s a delicate blend of peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, and a few others.
Topping – Chopped cilantro finishes this recipe a burst of fresh flavor to complement the marinade.
Cooking Tips
Marinating your chicken for an extended time period is the key to this recipe. At a minimum, you’ll want to let it sit three hours but overnight is best.
It’s also important to put marinade under the chicken skin if you’re leaving it on — this is an awesome recipe with or without the skin but the marinade must reach the chicken under the skin if you leave it on.
Letting your chicken rest when it comes off the grill is equally important. When meat cooks, all the succulent juices are forced into the top of the muscle fibers. Cutting it immediately allows all that juice to flow right out, resulting in a dryer piece of meat.
(Here’s all the science behind the resting of cooked meat.)
Can You Freeze This?
You can freeze the chicken after it’s been prepared and cooked, but yogurt doesn’t freeze well as it tends to separate — so don’t freeze the marinade.
Serving Recommendations
This yogurt marinated chicken goes wonderfully with all your favorite Indian food recipes! Here are some ideas:
- Serve it with naan (try my keto naan if that’s more you style), and additional yogurt.
- Over a bed of rice, or low carb rice such as cauliflower or broccoli rice.
Recipe Variations
Changing the flavor of your yogurt marinated chicken is as easy as tweaking the recipe for the marinade. To give you a few ideas:
- Try using lemon juice instead of lime for a lemon chicken marinade vs. the lime chicken marinade below.
- Add some heat and turn this into a spicy chicken marinade with some red pepper flakes or a little jalapeno juice. I wouldn’t suggest going fill chipotle chicken marinade here, as you want to keep it authentic to its current flavor profile.
- Add more spices! Indian food is full of so many wonderful spices, so don’t be shy when adding in your faves — cumin, curry, and coriander are a few delicious options — think butter chicken spices here and have fun!
More Keto Chicken Recipes
Grocery store shelves are stocked full of pre-concocted chicken marinade recipes, but why go that route when homemade is SO MUCH BETTER?! Here are some of my go-to healthy chicken recipes
- Lasagna Stuffed Chicken
- Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken
- Greek Chicken Salad
- Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken
- Curry Chicken Salad
Yogurt Marinated Chicken
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Chicken + Marinade
- 1 Cup Greek Yogurt full fat
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro chopped
- 1 Lime Juiced
- 1/2 Lime Zest
- 3 Cloves Garlic chopped
- 1/2 Tablespoons Garam Masala
- 1 Whole Chicken* (about 5 pounds) cut into 8 pieces
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the marinade ingredients.
- Lay chicken (1 whole) cut into 8 pieces in a casserole dish or baking sheet.
- Spoon marinade over the chicken, and rub to cover. Be sure to add marinade under the skin whenever possible.
- Place in the fridge for 3 hours - overnight.
- After marinated, remove the chicken from the container and scrape off as much of the marinade as possible. Place chicken on a clean plate.
- Heat your grill to medium-high heat.
- Clean the grates and brush them with vegetable oil.
- Add chicken to grill and cover.
- Cook on each side for about 7 minutes -- this will vary depending on how thick your chicken is and how hot the grill is -- you'll know your chicken is done once the internal temp has reached 165 F.
- Use a fresh pair of tongs to remove chicken from the grill and place it on a clean plate.
- Loosely cover with foil for 10 minutes before slicing.
- Serve with chopped cilantro, peanuts, more yogurt, and enjoy!
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Lindsey's Tips
- Chicken. This marinade works with whatever part of the chicken you're cravings. Our favorite to use in bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs. We also enjoy skinless chicken breast for a lighter meal.
Really great!!Thanks for the fantastic recipe
Hi Cara! I’m so happy you enjoyed it as much as I do! ?
Seriously, this is the only chicken marinade I ever want to use again! I can’t believe how juicy the chicken is… it’s fall-off-the-bone kinda good! Thanks so much for the idea!
Absolutely! SO glad you liked it, Hazel. Enjoy! 😄