Healthy Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Recipe Is the Fresh, Light & Fabulous by Sarah Amona

Anything that's Mediterranean just seems to be fresher and taste better, right? This easy grilled Mediterranean chicken recipe is marinated in Mediterranean flavors, seasoned with Mediterranean herbs and then topped with Mediterranean ingredients. How can this healthy chicken recipe not be good?

The chicken is marinated in a mixture of olive oil, rice vinegar, fresh garlic, red onion, black pepper, fresh lemon juice, basil and oregano. The chicken is grilled and then topped with a plethora of fresh Mediterranean ingredients like kalamata olives, cucumbers, feta cheese and tomatoes. 

If you don't want to grill the chicken, you could cook it in a skillet. With all the goodies on top, this is a complete meal – maybe just add a glass of wine. You could also serve the chicken sliced as a salad with all the fresh Mediterranean ingredients on the side (as pictured). 

Cuisine: Mediterranean
Prep Time: 20 minutes plus 6 to 10 hours to marinate
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes plus 6 to 10 hours to marinate
Servings: 4

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 slices red onion
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped or torn fresh basil leaves, rubbed between your fingers to activate flavor
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves, rubbed between your fingers to activate flavor

Chicken 

• 4 (6 ounces each) boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped grape tomatoes (I cut mine in half on the bias)
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumbers
• 12 pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
• 1 tablespoon sliced or chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 thin slice red onion, chopped
• 2 ounces crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Here's how to make it: 

1. Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a gallon bag (if you’d like you can place them all in a blender first to help bring out the flavors). Add the chicken to the bag and seal. Use your hands to massage the chicken through the bag and make sure the breasts are evenly coated with marinade. Place the bag in your refrigerator and allow the chicken to marinate for 6 to 10 hours, turning the bag once or twice to make sure the chicken is evenly coated by the marinade.
2. Preheat the grill until hot (ours was set at a medium temperature). Remove the breasts from the marinade and sprinkle with a bit of salt to taste. Transfer the chicken breasts to the hot grill. Cook through, flipping as needed. Ours took 10 to 15 minutes to cook, but depending on your grill, cooking times may vary.
3. For the topping, combine the olive oil, rice vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and black pepper. Stir together until well combined. Add the tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, fresh basil, red onion and feta cheese and stir until well coated.
4. When the chicken breasts are finished cooking, divide the topping evenly over the breasts and serve.

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