All Purpose Greek Marinade Recipe
If you want the authentic taste of Greek food, but you want to create it at home, then you will truly appreciate my All Purpose Greek Marinade. The lemony herb concoction will have you thinking that your food came from a Greek restaurant.
As someone who spent their early childhood growing up in Greece, I find this marinade’s flavor to be the most authentic. It tastes like home. And the best part is that you probably already have these ingredients in your home.
And whatever you choose to grill with this marinade, it’s extremely easy to make, and you most likely already have all of the ingredients on hand. Trust me – this is the Greek Marinade that you’re looking for. I love using it to marinate different meats, seafood, vegetables, and just as a salad dressing. It goes great with absolutely everything.
Ingredients you’ll need:
To make this all-purpose Greek marinade, you’ll need freshly squeezed lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil – I like to use robust olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, dried oregano, and dried thyme. All the ingredients are mixed well together and poured over the meat, seafood, or vegetables to give that authentic Mediterranean flavor.
How do you marinate meat, seafood, or vegetables
- Prepare your meat, seafood, and vegetables by cleaning and cutting into smaller pieces if desired.
- Put each food item into its own separate bowls or freezer bags. Add enough marinade to each bowl or bag to cover the meat, seafood, or vegetables completely.
- Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking. I like to grill or smoke my food for the most enhanced flavors.
Substitutions:
- You can substitute fresh thyme for dried thyme. Just make sure to give the thyme a quick chop so the flavors can spread evenly into the marinade.
- You can use fresh mint as a substitute for dried oregano. Fresh mint goes great with meats, potatoes, or any other vegetables that you’d choose to marinate.
- I’d recommend not to use imitation (bottled) lemon juice. The freshly squeezed lemon juice would give that authentic Greek flavor and make whatever you choose to marinade have 10 times more flavor.
- You can add about 2 tbs of plain Greek yogurt, but I find adding it unnecessary. It strays away from the traditional marinade, and it adds unnecessary dairy.
FAQs
The short answer is yes! You can make this all-purpose Greek marinade ahead of time. Even though it comes together quickly in less than 5 minutes, you can always mix the marinade ahead of time, store it in an airtight container and leave it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
The shortest time to marinade everything is 30 minutes and up to an hour. But, the longer you leave the marinade, the better the flavor would get:
– For different meats such as chicken, pork, or beef, you can leave them in the marinade overnight or for up to 24hours.
– Seafood soaks the flavors much quicker and needs to be marinated shorter – 20 minutes for up to 1 hour.
– And lastly, vegetables can be left in the marinade for 20 minutes up to a day.
Absolutely! This all-purpose Greek marinade can be drizzled into different salads. In fact, I used this all-purpose marinade for my Mediterranean Farro Salad.
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Have you tried this recipe?
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If you enjoyed this recipe, then you may also enjoy my one skillet Mediterranean Pasta recipe. Don’t forget to tag me @RosalynnDaniels if you decide to make this recipe. Also try signing up for my newsletter, for monthly recipe ideas.
Original post date 6/4/2019
I use this on everything!
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