Easy Authentic Greek Lemon Chicken Recipe (One Pan!) | Wicked Spatula (2024)

This authentic Greek lemon chicken recipe with cauliflower rice is so EASY. One simple Greek lemon chicken marinade, a skillet and 30 minutes - dinner is ready!

by Maya Last Updated on May 29, 2020 9 Comments

How often do you crave a dish like easy, authentic Greek lemon chicken? I don’t know about you, but after a tough day at work or juggling family commitments, sometimes the very last thing I want to do when I get home is spend hours in the kitchen conjuring up a a meal. It’s much easier to swing by your favorite takeout place… if only a takeout restaurant did a good paleo Greek lemon chicken recipe!

I want a recipe that is healthy, simple to prepare, and tastes great. That is where a one-pan meal saves the day. All the flavors mingle together in the pan, they take next to no time to make and there’s not much to clean up afterwards. This easy Greek lemon chicken is a winner in my book!

To make this authentic Greek lemon chicken, you just need a date with a skillet and your ingredients. This lemon chicken recipe uses a simple Greek lemon chicken marinade and makes a delicious, nourishing meal that’s packed full of flavor – without hard-to-find ingredients.

Is Greek Lemon Chicken Paleo?

Yes, you can make Greek lemon chicken paleo! Chicken naturally is anyway, but here we make it a complete meal with paleo friendly cauliflower rice.

This Greek Lemon Chicken recipe is also low carb, gluten free and dairy free. And yet, it’s pure comfort food, too. It’s bound to become a staple in your family!

Is Greek Lemon Chicken Healthy?

Yes, friends, there is nothing but wholesome goodness in this wonderful, easy Greek lemon chicken recipe. Just tasty chicken, tomatoes, artichokes hearts, cauliflower rice, seasoning and olive oil. So simple, and so yum.

How To Make Authentic Greek Lemon Chicken

• Marinate the chicken in the Greek lemon chicken marinade for about 10 minutes while you prep the other ingredients. The marinade is super simple to put together – just whisk up the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and Greek seasoning and pour it over the chicken.
• Heat your cast-iron skillet over high heat and sear the chicken thighs, skin side down for 5-6 minutes without touching. This ensures a crispy crust. Turn the chicken over in the skillet and make sure it is cooked through before the next step.
• Add some diced onion and garlic, cherry tomatoes and artichokes, and finally the lemon and cauliflower rice. We add them in the order of how long they need to cook. So, the aromatics go in first, then the veggies that are okay to get soft, and finally the cauliflower rice for just long enough to cook it without getting mushy.

TIP: I used frozen cauliflower rice to save time. You can totally make your own by simply pulsing some cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles rice!

Do I Need To Use Chicken Breast To Make This Recipe?

Not at all. To make this authentic Greek lemon chicken, I use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs.

The benefit of using chicken thighs is that the chicken stays moist and the skin gets SUPER crispy and packed full of the flavors from the Greek lemon chicken marinade. Plus, chicken thighs are usually about about a 1/4 the price of chicken breasts.

However, feel free to use chicken breasts if you want to. The searing time in the pan will be much faster with boneless chicken breasts, compared to bone-in chicken thighs.

What Goes Into Greek Lemon Chicken Marinade?

This Greek lemon chicken marinade is super easy and simple to make. All you need is:

• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Greek seasoning – or use Italian seasoning if you can’t find Greek. They are similar!

This recipe calls for marinating the chicken for 10 minutes, but feel free to do it for a few hours or even overnight if you want to. More time = more juicy chicken!

TIP: This Greek lemon chicken marinade is also fantastic for fish.

Can You Make Greek Lemon Chicken In Advance?

As a one pan dish, I probably wouldn’t make this in advance. Once it has been cooked, the cauliflower rice tends to go too soft and mushy, and the consistency deteriorates.

However, if you left out the cauliflower rice, then you could definitely marinate the chicken and pan fry it then store it in the refrigerator. In fact, if you leave out the cauliflower rice you could even freeze it and reheat to serve.

When you want to serve your frozen or refrigerated Greek lemon chicken, simply add the cauliflower rice and reheat in the oven or on the stove top.

More Paleo Chicken Recipes

This incredibly easy Greek lemon chicken recipe is packed full of flavor and nestled in a bed of cauliflower rice, so it doesn’t really need anything much to make it into a full meal.

If you want to try more easy paleo chicken recipes, here are a few of my favorites:

• Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
• Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breast
• Caramelized Lemon Chicken Piccata

Find my other paleo chicken recipes here