Yogurt Chicken Marinade (meal prep)

This yogurt chicken marinade and air fryer recipe is a great way to make chicken for low carb meal prep. The yogurt tenderizes the meat and the seasonings adds lots of flavor. All you need to do is marinate overnight, air fry the chicken pieces and then freeze for for another day.

You may also like this keto flank steak marinade recipe.

I use a lot of chopped chicken breast in my low carb recipes. I often buy rotisserie chicken from Costco, chop it all up and store in baggies in the freezer. However Costco is not close to my house so today I thought I’d try this yogurt chicken marinade and make my own meal prep chicken.

I was quite pleased with the outcome and this recipe made it very easy for me to make my own chopped chicken for all the low carb recipes I make for this blog. I love having this cooked meat on hand so I can make soups, stews, casseroles, etc. And it’s a great high protein ingredient to use in my recipes.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

Below you can see the basic ingredients I used which were boneless, skinless chicken breast, fresh lemon and lemon zest, plain Greek yogurt, olive oil, salt, black pepper, onion powder, fresh garlic cloves and paprika.

• chicken – I used boneless, skinless chicken breast because that is what I prefer. You could also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs or tenderloins. You could probably use this marinade on other types of meat like turkey, pork or beef though I have not tried it yet.
• lemon juice and zest – II love the lemon zest because the citrus adds a bright flavor to the marinade. However if you don’t have fresh lemons, you can just use bottled lemon juice.
• plain Greek yogurt – I like Greek yogurt because it’s thicker than regular yogurt and clings to the meat. You can use any kind of plain yogurt you want. Whether it be nonfat or full fat.
• fresh garlic and spices – I love this combination of seasonings as it adds flavor but it’s not overpowering so you can use the chicken in all kinds of recipes. I like fresh garlic but you can substitute with garlic powder. Remember 1 clove of garlic equals ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder.

How to make yogurt chicken marinade and air fryer chicken.

You can make this marinated chicken two ways. If you want them to be whole filets you can marinade them whole. Or if you want to cut them up into cubes you can marinade them as cubes to maximize the flavor. Below you can see examples of both ways. I personally prefer the cubes.

Step 1: Add the chicken (whole or cubed) to a large ziplock bag or marinating container. In a small bowl mix the Greek yogurt with the spices, lemon juice, zest and olive oil. Then spoon over the chicken and mix to get the marinade all over the chicken.

This is easy to do in a baggie but you can do it in a marinating container like I have below. I’ve made this both ways. Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight or at least refrigerate for 4 hours.

Note you don’t have to air fry this marinated chicken. You can also grill, pan fry it or bake it the oven. But I find it’s easiest for me to air fry it. In the summer I want to try to put the cubes on skewers and grill them for an easy summer dinner.

Step 2: When ready to cook, spray the air fryer basket with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the marinated chicken breasts or cubes out in the basket in an even layer. Cook for 10 minutes flipping half way if keep the breasts whole.

If using the cubes or very thick breasts, you may have to cook for 5 extra minutes. Depending on the size of the air fryer and how much chicken you make, you may have to cook more than one batch. When the internal temperature of the meat using a meat thermometer reaches 165°F it is cooked.

Step 3: When the yogurt marinated chicken breast is done, let it rest a few minutes before eating or meal prepping. I like to place 1 cup of the cubes in each freezer safe bag and store in the freezer. I use it in soups, casseroles and other recipes.

To use them just let them thaw and reheat in the microwave, air fryer or in a pan on the stove. If using in another recipe, there is no need to reheat, just thaw it first.

If you make the whole filets, you can cut them into strips or cubes or package them whole and freeze for another day.

And that is all there is to it. Below you can see how I meal prep the air fried chicken cubes. As I mentioned before I use them in soups, stews, casseroles, stir fries, etc or any chicken recipe.

Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card and nutritional information.

I have also made this juicy yogurt marinated chicken recipe with the whole filet and then I cut them into cubes last you see below. I prefer cubes because I add the bite size pieces to other recipes. So you can also do this with the whole filets.

Below I made my keto broccoli cauliflower chopped salad for lunch and add the chicken cubes to up the protein content of the meal. It’s a good low carb, high protein salad for lunch or even dinner.

Use this chicken in these keto recipes.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes that I use the frozen chicken cubes with.

• keto chicken pot pie soup
• keto cheesy Mexican casserole
• low carb buffalo chicken quesadillas
• low carb cauliflower crust pizza
• or try any of these 35 keto recipes that use rotisserie chicken

I hope you liked this easy keto yogurt chicken marinade and get a chance to use in your meal prep. This is a great way to make a keto or low carb diet easier. And these chicken pieces are a good way to add more protein to your dishes. Enjoy.