Skinless boneless chicken breasts marinated in yogurt with garlic, cumin, and paprika, then grilled.
I’ve recently been cooking my way through some of the older recipes on Simply Recipes and came across this gem—Moroccan spiced grilled chicken breasts. It’s a winner!
Boneless skinless chicken breasts are marinated in yogurt mixed with a Moroccan spice mix of cumin, paprika, and cinnamon, and then simply grilled.
The yogurt helps tenderize the breasts and the marinade brings life to otherwise boring boneless skinless chicken.
What I love about this recipe is that with just the barest of preparation, you can have a delicious meal within minutes. The yogurt-based marinade is only mildly acidic, so you can leave the chicken in the marinade all day, while it gently tenderizes the meat while infusing it with the spices.
Just put the chicken in the marinade before leaving for work in the morning, come home, heat the grill, chicken is done in less than 10 minutes. Simple. Easy!
The recipe is one we adapted from a recipe in the Sacramento Bee years ago. To the original recipe we’ve added lemon juice to the yogurt and cinnamon to the spice blend.
Grilled Moroccan Chicken Recipe
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Marinating time: 2 hours
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Method
1 Marinate the chicken: Mix the marinade ingredients (yogurt, lemon juice, cilantro, olive oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt, and pepper) together in a medium sized bowl.
Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and thoroughly coat with the marinade.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator from 2 hours to overnight.
2 Grill the chicken: Heat your grill on high heat if you are using a gas grill, or prepare coals for direct heat if you are using charcoal. Allow for one side of the grill to be the « cool » side. If you do not have a grill you can use a cast-iron grill pan on your stove.
Grill the chicken breasts over direct high heat a couple of minutes on one side. Then turn them over and move them to the cool side of the grill. Cover and cook for a few minutes more, until the chicken is cooked through.
(The easiest way to test for doneness is with your fingertips. See The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat. Or use a meat thermometer, remove the meat from the grill when the internal temperature of the chicken breast reaches 165°F.)
Take care not to overcook, as chicken breasts can easily dry out.
