Turmeric Chicken Skewers With Green Olive Yogurt
Updated July 17, 2025
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Prep Time
- 25 minutes
- Cook Time
- 10 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Bamboo or metal skewers
- 1½pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 2tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
- 3garlic cloves, minced or crushed with a press
- 1½teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1½teaspoons ground ginger
- ½teaspoon ground cumin
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
- 1cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1cup pitted green olives (about 4 ounces), finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1tablespoon finely chopped cilantro or parsley (optional), plus more for garnish
- 1garlic clove, minced
- ½ to 1tablespoon lemon juice
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
- Olive oil, for garnish
For the Chicken Skewers
For the Green Olive Yogurt
Preparation
- Step 1
If using bamboo skewers, soak them for at least 30 minutes in water before using.
- Step 2
Assemble the skewers: In a large bowl, combine the chicken, olive oil, yogurt, garlic, turmeric, ginger, cumin, ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Using your hands or a large spoon, mix to thoroughly coat the chicken. Cover and keep in the fridge until ready to cook. (For a deeper flavor, marinate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.)
- Step 3
Make the green olive yogurt: In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, olives, cilantro (if using), garlic, lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more lemon juice and salt if necessary. Cover and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Step 4
Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers. Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal or gas grill, or heat a large cast-iron skillet or grill pan over medium-high. (If cooking in a skillet or grill pan, lightly coat with oil once the pan is hot.) Cook the skewers, turning once or twice, until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Step 5
Drizzle the skewers with olive oil, sprinkle with cilantro (if using) and serve hot, with olive yogurt on the side, garnished with more olives if desired.
Private Notes
Comments
I made this for the sauce. Ok, I made ONLY the sauce, and it's lovely. Says to taste for salt but the olives make it plenty salty. I grated the garlic, used less than a clove since I find raw garlic very potent. Using this on crudités, spread on good wild sourdough with garden tomatoes-its pan con tomate amplified to the next degree. Added a shake of pimente d'espelette. I find it helpful to combine yogurt/lemon/garlic first, then stir in the chunky ingredients.
This is perfect for an anti inflammatory diet, which can be difficult to find! So happy to see this.
Delicious! I cooked it under the grill in my oven and it came out very succulent.
OMG so good. I used chicken thighs, marinated for 8 hours, and turned them ever 2-3 minutes on the grill. SO delicious. The dip was perfect.
I had leftover sauce from another meal—Greek yogurt, lemon, and sumac—so I used that instead of the olive yogurt (husband doesn’t like olives). Delicious chicken and the sauce seemed to have the same bright tang as the recipe sauce is described.
I made this last night. The flavor was very good and I like the sauce (I left out the olives as I had none). However, despite oiling my grill grates beforehand, the marinated chicken stuck terribly and had to be scraped off, leaving about 1/5 of it on the grill grates. If I make it again I will broil or sauté it.