Fall-off-the-bone tender chicken and roasted potatoes in a garlicky lemon sauce make one of the best (and easiest) one-pan chicken dinners you’ll ever eat: Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes.
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Greek Lemon Chicken – super easy and so flavorful
When it comes to chicken dinners, this easy Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes is up there with other favorites, like Italian baked chicken and potatoes, one-pan hot honey chicken and potatoes, and chicken souvlaki.
This one is super easy to make, packed with delicious flavors, and the buttery soft potatoes are just out of this world – very similar to the potatoes in my Greek slow roasted leg of lamb.
Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes can be served on it’s own but is also great alongside some Italian garlic broccoli, spanakorizo, stewed green beans with tomato sauce or a Greek salad.
Featured Comment
One reader, Marie, commented: “My love for Greek Chicken came from my hometown of Chicago, where I grew up on the wonderful Greek restaurants that served this wonderful, flavorful dish.
This recipe is very detailed but easy to make and has all the ingredients for my favorite Greek Chicken dish. Truly an authentic mouth-watering experience!
If I could give it more than 5 Stars, I would!! ★★★★★”
Recipe Ingredients
All ingredients for this recipe are shown in the pic below and special notes are made in this bulleted list to assist you.
- Chicken. I recommend using bone-in skin-on chicken thighs for Greek Lemon Chicken. The skin becomes perfectly crisp and helps keep the chicken super juicy. If the thighs have too much overhanging skin, give them a trim before using.
- Potatoes. I prefer to use Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe. Their texture holds up particularly well to the roasting process.
- Lemon. Lemon is a key ingredient in this dish and many other Greek dishes, like my lemon rice, so I suggest using fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
- Marinade. I’m using a blend of dried thyme, dried Greek oregano, Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, and garlic for the marinade. It’s easy to make and so much better than any store-bought marinade! If you can’t find Greek oregano, you can use Sicilian or Italian oregano.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
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How to make it
- To a blender, add 8 cloves of garlic, 3/4 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon of Greek dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, 2 teaspoons of fine sea salt, and 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and blend until smooth. In a large bowl or in a sealable bag, place 8 large chicken thighs and pour the marinade over the chicken and mix to incorporate. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and set the rack to the middle level. Peel and cut 5 medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes into large chunks. Soak the potatoes in cold water or give them a quick rinse to remove some of the starch making sure to dry them before using. Pour half of the used marinade on the potatoes and use your hands to thoroughly coat them and spread them out into an even layer.
- Place the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes, skin side up, and drizzle the remaining marinade on the chicken.
- Bake the chicken in the oven for 10 minutes then turn the heat down to 375°F and continue to bake for another 45-55 minutes or until the chicken reaches at least 185°F internally when checked with a thermometer. Note: if the potatoes are still a bit hard, transfer the chicken to a plate covered with tented foil, raise the oven temperature to 425°F, and return the potatoes to the oven and cook until tender and brown. Allow the chicken to sit lightly tented with foil for 10-15 minutes before serving so the chicken and potatoes reabsorb the pan juices. Garnish with fresh oregano and lemon wedges and enjoy!
Top tips
- Overcrowding. While this is meant to be a one pan dish, if you don’t have enough room in your pan, use two baking dishes instead. You want to avoid overcrowding the pan to most effectively roast the chicken.
- Broiling the chicken. If you find your chicken thighs aren’t browned enough, place under the broiler for the last few minutes to crisp up the skin, but watch carefully to prevent burning.
- Let it sit! While it is tempting to immediately dig into Greek lemon chicken and potatoes, it will be far better if you allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes. This allows the chicken and potatoes to reabsorb the delicious pan juices.
More Greek-inspired one-pan meals
If you’re a fan of Greek flavors, give these other awesome recipes a try!
Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 8 cloves garlic
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Greek dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Remaining ingredients
- 8 large chicken thighs overlapping skin trimmed
- 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes peeled, cut into large chunks, and soaked in water then dried
- 1 sprig fresh oregano optional, for garnish
- 5 slices lemon optional, for garnish
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Instructions
- Blend the marinade ingredients until smooth. Place the chicken along with all of the marinade in a sealable bag and refrigerated for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 425°F and set rack to the middle level.
- Add the potatoes to a baking dish and pour half of the used marinade on top of them. With your hands, thoroughly coat the potatoes with the marinade. Spread the potatoes out into an even layer.
- Place the chicken thighs on the top of the potatoes, skin side up.
- Drizzle the remaining marinade onto the chicken. Bake the chicken for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 375°F and continue to bake for another 45-55 minutes or until the chicken reaches at least 185°F internal temp when checked with a thermometer. Note: If the potatoes are still a bit hard, simply remove the chicken pieces to a plate and tent with foil. Raise the oven temp to 425°F and return the potatoes back to the oven and cook until tender and brown.
- Let the chicken sit lightly tented for 10-15 minutes before serving so that the chicken and potatoes will reabsorb the juices. Serve with garnish of fresh oregano and lemon wedges. Enjoy!
Notes
- Use two baking dishes if you can not fit everything in one. Avoid overcrowding to more effectively roast the chicken.
- If needed, broil the chicken during the last few minutes to crisp the skin.
- If the potatoes are still firm, remove the chicken pieces and place them on a plate, covering them loosely with foil to keep warm. Increase the oven temperature to 425°F, then return the potatoes to the oven and roast until they are tender and golden brown.
- Let the chicken sit for 10-15 minutes before eating. This will help the chicken reabsorb all the pan juices.
- Leftovers can be saved in the fridge for up to 3 days and can be reheated in the oven or microwave.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Delicious. The marinade is so good that I will make it again just to taste those potatoes
Just made this dish and it received rave reviews. Made according to recipe but baked the dish at 375 for about 90 minutes. Half way through I added about a half cup water. End result looked just like your photo and there were just enough drippings to sop up with Italian bread!
We’re so happy you enjoyed, Alicia!
This is an incredibly scrumptious recipe, also easy and economical! I used an immersion blender for the marinade as I don’t have a blender, and added a bit of chicken broth. Used fingerling yellow potatoes sliced in half lengthwise that I soaked in a bowl of boiling water for about a half hour before draining and adding to the marinade to ensure they were done at the same time as the chicken. The chicken skin browned and crisped up beautifully without needing the broiler. Thanks for the keeper recipe! My husband stomps his feet when he eats something particularly delicious and he was doing a lot of stomping during Sunday dinner tonight, lol 😂
LOL So happy to hear that!
I made this today and it was delicious! Minimal prep work and extremely flavorful; will do again. Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed!
I have fresh greek oregano growing. How would I substitute the fresh for the dried oregano in this recipe?
Hi Felicia, when replacing dried herbs with fresh herbs in a recipe, you can scale up at a 1:3 ratio. So for 1 part dried, you’d use 3 parts fresh since dried herbs are stronger than fresh.
Love this recipe! So easy but truly delicious. I have served it to guests and they loved it too.
Just be sure the potatoes are totally cooked. That’s the only thing I messed up one time. And even then it still was pretty good 😁
I love this dish and make it every month or more. Have been making it for about 35 years. It’s just delicious anytime of the year
So glad you enjoyed!
I cut the potatoes into thin slices so that they cooked at the same time as the chicken. I also added a can of artichoke hearts during the last twenty minutes of roasting for extra flavor. So delicious!
My family loves this dish today I used drumstick s and it was delicious. I have a question in your cookbook you used a whole cut up chicken but the first time I saw this recipe you said to use thighs which I have done dozen times except today.All and all I love your recipes and the cookbook. Have a beautiful day. Jean
Hi Jean, thanks so much for buying the cookbook! Which recipe are you asking about because the Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes (the one you commented on) is not in the cookbook. The Italian Baked Chicken and Potatoes recipe is in the cookbook.