Easy Lemon Garlic Chicken Strips

These lemon chicken strips marinate in a lemon garlic sauce that gives them a wonderful, tangy flavor, and are easy to make!  On bamboo skewers they quickly become a favorite for kids, and they’re great for a grill or even an open fire. The lemon garlic marinade also helps to protect them from freezer burn, so they’re a great dinner to have ready and thaw when it’s dinner time, or even freeze before you go camping.

The fun part about a recipe like this is that it’s less about solid ratios for cooking, and more about personal preference.  Use the measurements in the recipe as a general guideline, and have fun.  For me, that means extra garlic and spice, as I really like the flavor, but the lemon alone will still bring out a great taste.  The marinade also keeps the meat juicy, so it’s a little easier to avoid dry chicken.

If frozen, the marinade will help protect the chicken or turkey from freezer burn. To defrost it quickly, put the bag into a large bowl of water. If you have the space, a bowl of water in the fridge will defrost slower, but keep everything at safe temperatures while you’re at work for the day.

Kebabs and skewers are an easy summer treat! When cooking with skewers, always soak them for 10 – 15 minutes before grilling.  You can prepare these either way, but the skewers were a big hit with the kids who enjoyed eating them right off the stick. Be sure to cut the meat thin enough that it cooks quickly, but not so thin that you can’t fit it on the skewer.

Oh, and one more tip – something I did wrong in the pictures below.  When cooking on skewers, try to start the skewer on the small end of the meat, not the fat end.  Most people have a tendency to put the point of the skewer closer to the heat, so the smaller tip will burn and cook more than the rest. Turning the meat around the opposite direction helps avoid this problem.

Let’s cook!

Ingredients for Easy Lemon Garlic Chicken Strips:

• 1 to 1 ½ lbs skinless, boneless chicken or turkey breasts or thighs
• ¼ cup of plain yogurt
• 2-4 TBSP of lemon juice
• 2 TBS olive oil (or any cooking oil)
• Fresh rosemary or thyme
• 2 Garlic cloves (just laugh, you know you’re going to double that)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Cut the meat into even strips, about two inches thick, and place them into a bowl or gallon size freezer bag. For thick breasts, consider slicing them in half first.  Pour the yogurt, lemon juice, and oil over the chicken strips.

Step 2: Finely chop the garlic, and add in the rosemary and salt. Fresh herbs will always have more flavor, but feel free to go with what you have on hand.  It’s a marinade, so ‘too much’ isn’t really a risk here.  I use maybe a ½ tsb of each flavoring.

Step 3: Add the seasoning to the chicken, and mix well.  The marinade needs to sit for a while, anywhere form an hour to overnight.

Step 4: Soak the skewers for 10-15 minutes.  A cookie sheet with edges makes an easy soaker for long sticks!  Push the skewer through the meat, starting at the thinnest point.

Step 5: Grill over medium heat, about 5 minutes per side.  You may want to brush extra marinade onto the meat before cooking, but most of the flavor should happen during the rest phase.

Enjoy!