Fortunately, I grew up in a big & beautiful Greek family, so chicken on the spit was a commonly made meal at our house to celebrate the weekend. Each of us played a crucial role in preparing the food and greek music was played throughout the whole house, very loudly by my dad.
Food has always brought my family together and is rejoiced at all special occasions. All of our meals are made with love, laughter, happiness and a whole lot of seasoning.
I truly believe that the key to making homemade healthy food be tasty, is seasoning and love.
Now you know a little bit about us, let's get into the recipe!
The below recipe is long and requires many helping hands, but trust me when I say it will be the best chicken you have ever tried. Chicken cooked over charcoal for hours tastes like Heaven on Earth. Just looking at the photos below makes my mouth start to water. 😍🤤
Greek Style Chicken on the Spit with Homemade Chips, Greek Salad & Tzatziki
Serves 15-20 people
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 2.5 hours
Total Time: 3 hours
CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:
5 whole chickens
Small piece of lard
6 cloves of garlic peeled
Oregano
Rock Salt
Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Lemon
Olive Oil
Charcoal
HOME-MADE POTATO CHIPS INGREDIENTS:
15-20 large potatoes peeled and chopped into chips
TZATZIKI:
1 peeled cucumber grated
1kg of Greek-style natural yogurt
2/3 head/bulb of crushed garlic
Salt to taste
Dash olive Oil
GREEK SALAD INGREDIENTS:
3 large tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
300g Dodoni Greek Feta
1 red onion
Dash olive oil
Salt to taste
CHICKEN SEASONING & SPIT INSTRUCTIONS:
Set-up your Spit Roaster/Rotisserie as per manufacturer's instructions in your backyard. Start a fire inside your spit and let the charcoal get hot for 30 minutes before putting on the chickens.
Head into the kitchen to prepare and season the chickens, but make sure at least one person is watching the fire to be safe. Prepare your chicken seasoning in a mortar & pestle, by crushing & combining rock salt, black peppercorns, smoky paprika & garlic cloves. Lightly coat the chickens with olive oil and add the seasoning you prepared to the inside and outside of the chickens.
Once you have seasoned the chickens you now have to tie them closed with some string (see photo 1 below).
Now add the chickens to your rotisserie stick, you will need two people to do this (see photo 2 below).
Attach the rotisserie stick to your spit roaster/rotisserie as per manufacturer's instructions (see photo 3 below as an example).
Have at least 1 person watching the chickens at all times. Use a spray bottle of water to put out any large fire that is causing the chickens to burn. Put the lard on a skewer and regularly rub the lard over the outside of the chickens, this keeps the chickens from drying out.
Let the chickens cook for at least 2.5 hours or until fully cooked inside. Use a thermometer to test the inside of the temperature, which should be at least 75 degrees celsius.
Have two large silver trays ready for when your chickens need to be removed.
When the chickens are fully cooked and the skin is crispy and golden, remove the rotisserie rod with the chickens on them (you will need at least 2 people to do this). Remove the chickens from the rotisserie rod and slide them off the rod onto the two silver trays. Use one hand to cut the chickens up with scissors and use the other hand to hold the chicken in place with tongs.
TZATZIKI INSTRUCTIONS:
While waiting for the chickens to cook, you can head inside to make the Tzatziki:
1. Peel the cucumber leaving some of the green skin on, this will add colour to the otherwise plain-looking sauce.
2. Place a tea towel in a medium-sized bowl, and grate cucumbers into the tea towel.
3. Once grated, squeeze as much juice as possible out of the cucumber into the bowl, by twisting the tea towel into a ball shape (You can drink the cucumber juice as it’s very nutritious).
4. Using a Mortar and Pestle, crush the garlic with a pinch of salt.
5. In a large round container, add yogurt, crushed garlic, olive oil, grated cucumber and salt. Mix well.
6. Taste the sauce, if you notice a strong yogurt flavour, add more salt. Continue tasting and adding salt until you achieve your desired flavour.
7. Place into the fridge, until ready to serve with the rest of the dish.
HOMEMADE POTATO CHIPS INSTRUCTIONS:
Now move onto the chips:
1. Peel and chop up the potatoes into medium-thick slices.
2. Start frying the chips in a deep fryer or shallow fry them in oil over the stove. TIP: Cook the chips when the chickens have 30-40 mins left of cooking, this way you will be able to eat all of the food together hot.
While you are waiting for the chickens to cook, move onto making the Greek Salad.
GREEK SALAD INSTRUCTIONS:
8. Chop tomatoes into medium sized chunks, slice cucumbers & onions and break feta with your fingers into desired size pieces.
9. Dress salad with salt and olive oil and place into the fridge with the Tzatziki.
Finished Plate 🤤😍
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