How To Make Greek Lemon Herb Marinade

This is the simplest marinade on the site and the one with the least room to hide. Olive oil, lemon, garlic, dried oregano, salt. Five ingredients, no sugar, no soy, nothing to mask a tired bottle of oil or oregano that lost its scent two years ago. It is the backbone of souvlaki and it works on nearly everything.

Equipment

Nothing exotic. A Large Capacity Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl with Scale and a stainless steel whisk are enough, though the whisking matters, this is an emulsion and it will separate if you just stir it. I mince the garlic with the Professional Chef Knife Set with Leather Case rather than pressing it, since a press turns garlic bitter in a marinade this bare. For skewers over fire, a tabletop propane grill is enough, and a silicone basting brush set handles the reserved marinade at the end.

Ingredients

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, about 2 lemons
1 tablespoon lemon zest
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tablespoons dried Greek oregano
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, to help the emulsion hold
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Ingredient Selection

Use an olive oil you would happily dip bread in. It is more than half the volume and there is nothing else here to carry the dish. Dried Greek oregano rather than fresh is not a compromise, it is the correct choice, Greek oregano is dried on the stem and the drying concentrates exactly the resinous quality this marinade needs; fresh oregano tastes greener and thinner in it. Crush it between your palms as you add it to wake up the oils.

Zest the lemons before you juice them, in that order, and always with unwaxed fruit if you can get it. The zest carries the aromatic oils, the juice carries the acid, and the marinade needs both.

Method

Mise en Place

Zest, then juice: Zest the lemons first, then juice them. Doing it the other way around is unpleasant.
Mince the garlic: Fine mince by knife, not a press.

Build the Emulsion

Start with the acid: Whisk the lemon juice, zest, mustard, salt, and pepper together in the bowl.
Stream in the oil: Whisking constantly, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream. It should thicken and turn opaque. Dumping the oil in at once gives you two layers that will not season the meat evenly.
Finish with the herbs: Crush the oregano between your palms as you add it, then stir in the thyme and garlic.

How to Marinate

Reserve a quarter cup before the meat goes in, that is your dressing for the finished plate.

Chicken breast or thigh: 2 to 12 hours. Past 12 the lemon starts to firm the surface unpleasantly.
Pork loin or shoulder for souvlaki: 4 to 24 hours.
Lamb leg or shoulder: 4 to 24 hours.
Firm white fish and shrimp: 15 to 30 minutes only.
Halloumi, vegetables, mushrooms: 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Refrigerate throughout, and use glass or plastic rather than metal. Note that olive oil solidifies in the refrigerator, this is normal and it will loosen as the meat comes up to temperature.

Serving and Application

For souvlaki, cut the meat into roughly one-inch cubes before marinating so the surface area works for you, and thread onto skewers leaving a small gap between pieces so the heat circulates. Grill hot, turning every couple of minutes. Chicken to 165°F, pork to 145°F with a rest, lamb to 130°F to 135°F for medium-rare, all checked with a digital meat thermometer.

Spoon the reserved marinade over the meat off the heat, along with more lemon. Serve with warm pita, tzatziki, tomato, and red onion.

Popular Variations

Yogurt Enriched Greek Lemon Herb Marinade

Yogurt-enriched: Half a cup of plain Greek yogurt whisked in gives a thicker cling and a gentler tenderizing action, better for chicken breast.
Red wine vinegar version: Swap half the lemon for red wine vinegar for a sharper, more rustic result closer to some mainland versions.
With honey: A tablespoon of honey helps the exterior char, useful on lamb.

Make Ahead, Storage and Food Safety

The marinade keeps a week refrigerated in a sealed jar. Because it contains raw garlic suspended in oil, treat it the way you would any garlic-in-oil mixture: keep it refrigerated rather than on the counter, and do not stretch it. Oregon State University Extension's guidance on herbs and vegetables in oil is the relevant reference, and it is stricter than most people expect.

Marinade that has held raw meat is not a dressing. Boil it a full minute first, or use the portion you set aside.

History

Souvlaki, from the Greek for "little skewer," is one of the oldest continuously prepared dishes in the Mediterranean; skewered grilled meat appears in the archaeological record of the Aegean well before the classical period, with firedog stands from Bronze Age Santorini among the frequently cited evidence. The specific combination of olive oil, lemon, and oregano is a product of what grows abundantly and cheaply in the same landscape, which is generally how enduring marinades come about. This same trio, under the name ladolemono, is used as a finishing sauce for grilled fish across Greece.

References

Related Guides

This marinade shares its logic with a good vinaigrette, and the full set is in Easy To Make Salad Dressing Recipes. The same lemon-and-oil treatment applied to fish is the natural next step, and How to Fillet Sea Bass covers getting there. For a raw herb sauce built on the same restraint, see How To Make Pesto Genovese.