A simple and flavorful grilled chicken recipe, my Indian spiced yogurt marinade tenderizes lean meat to create a juicy end result your whole family will love.
Let’s be real: boneless, skinless chicken breasts can get boring when eaten night after night. Since they are naturally lean, they have a tendency to dry out quickly if not prepared properly.
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To ensure a juicy, tender chicken breast, I love creating quick and easy yogurt marinades. Acting as a natural tenderizer, the acidity in yogurt is my secret weapon to perfect chicken every time.
Similar to lemon juice, it helps break down the proteins in the meat which results in a moist and flavorful end product.
We always have plain yogurt on hand for smoothies, tzatziki, cucumber raita and more so I love using it to throw together a quick marinade. Speaking of raita, this Indian Spiced Grilled Chicken is best served with a cool and creamy yogurt sauce on the side. In fact, I love whipping up the raita while the chicken is marinating.
If you don’t love Indian flavors, feel free to use any of your favorite spices. This would be ideal for my All Purpose Lebanese Spice Blend or you could head to Mexico and add smoked paprika, cumin, and lime juice.
The options are endless…fire up the grill and enjoy.
Your fork is waiting.
Indian Spiced Grilled Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 6-ounce chicken breasts (boneless skinless)
- 1 cup plain low fat yogurt
- 4 cloves garlic (grated)
- ¼ cup juice of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger (minced)
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in a large resealable plastic bag or glass dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together marinade: yogurt through cayenne. Pour over the chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight.
- Pre-heat the grill to high and spray with non-stick cooking or grilling spray.
- Grill chicken breasts 6-8 minutes per side, turning once, or until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Notes
Nutrition
Want more satisfying summer dinners? Head over to my Pinterest board for more grilling recipes!
Delicious! I baked them and they were juicy and tasty!
Oh great idea!
Getting ready to grill, should I scrape off marinade or just slap the grill it on coated?
I remove most of it. :)
I love grilled chicken so I tried your recipe for a different flavor. It was delicious. We all loved it. It’s nice to try a different cuisine. I’ll be making it again.
So happy to hear! Let me know if you try any other recipes!
I have made at least 3 times . I have to increase red chili a bit and add a small amount of cumin/coriander. Very delicious. My husband is a picky eater who is from India.????
Oooo good idea on the chili increase!! So glad you enjoy! Im glad he approves. :)
First time visitor, thanks to Pinterest! These look yummy! Your right boneless skinless chicken breasts do get boring, and this is a great way to change it up a bit. Will have to add this into my dinner rotation one night to get out of the same ol’ same ol.
Three cheers for pinterest! So glad you found me!! Let me know what you think of the chicken. :)
Just cooked this last night and it was amazing! Had some left over marinade so I may go back and cook more it was so good!
Oh I’m so thrilled to hear it!! Yay!!
Definitely have a new follower :) Funny enough, they didn’t have the garam masala so I had to do a quick google search on making it and while it may not taste exactly like the garam masala out of a bottle, premade, it still tastes great!
I had to get each of the spices individually (cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pepper) and that was actually a lot of fun! Getting the chance to smell each individual spice was a treat. I’ll have to try this again with the real garam masala.
Oh my gosh I’m SO impressed!!!! Good for you making your own! Ironically, just today I made my youngest baby food with zucchini and garam masala!
I love your recipes ! Can I make this in my 7 quart crockpot and double the amount of chicken and if so, do I double the ingredients too !!
Thank you
Hmm…I bet this would be great in a slow cooker!!! yes to both!
this looks delicious.. love indian flavours. definitely will be making a similar marinade tonight for dinner, thanks liz for another great idea!
Thank you!! So glad you enjoy!
I bet a platter full of this doesn’t last long. Looks more than delicious. Thanx for the link to your blended spice. I had to pin that.
I hope you enjoy it Carol!
Beautiful dish, love the flavors.
Thank you so much!
This looks like a fabulous dinner!
Sounds FAB- I absolutely LOVE Indian food!
Me too!!
I need this on my grill ASAP! I love grilled chicken and a yogurt marinade sounds amazing! Your all-purpose Lebanese blend? I need to make POUNDS of it and put it on all the things! I especially love the idea of making a sando out of the grilled chicken with tzatziki sauce! MMMM!
You are so sweet Julia!! Thank you for all of your kind words!!
OMG, this looks SO good Liz! I have a post all scheduled for next week that talks all about my favorite way to marinade chicken…and it’s with yogurt too! Can’t wait to try this with the Indian spices!!
There is nothing better than yogurt marinades!!! Great minds!