Recipe: Yogurt Marinated Grilled Chicken with Cool Ranch Dressing
Recipe blog sponsored by Stonyfield Organic.
It’s back-to-school season and back to the chaos—you’ve got a lot on your plate. Keep dinners simple with this multi-purpose yogurt-based dressing that can be used as a salad dressing, marinade, sauce, and/or dip. Using yogurt as the base adds a tangy flavor that enhances everything you slather it on. I love to bake, cook and whip up dressings with yogurt because it adds creamy richness without the hard-to-digest lactose in regular cream.
Yogurt is lower in lactose than milk and is high in probiotics—giving a much-needed boost to digestion. My fave brand is Stonyfield Organic because it's made with the highest quality milk from small family farms.
Elyse’s Serving Suggestions and Time-Saving Tips:
Dip: Use Greek yogurt for a thicker result and serve with a plate of sliced veggies and tortilla chips for dunking. My kids are a lot more likely to eat their veggies if they get to help wash and chop them. Their favorites are carrots, snap peas, radishes and red peppers. I highly recommend picking up a set of kid-safe knives, my favorite brand is Kuhn Rikon.
Dressing: This recipe is so good drizzled on top of a taco salad. Build your bowl with any combo of romaine, avocado, tomatoes, black beans, chicken, shredded cheese, cilantro, red pepper, and nuts or seeds. If you use Greek yogurt, thin with a little water.
Marinade: Yogurt is a great base for marinating chicken, especially white meat. It keeps chicken breasts moist and flavorful even if you tend to overcook your meat on the grill (me!). Combine two pounds of skinless, boneless chicken with the below recipe and add 2 extra tablespoons of oil to prevent sticking. For best results marinate for 12 to 24 hours. Just before grilling, shake off excess marinade and sprinkle chicken with salt. Grill as you usually grill chicken. If your meat tends to stick, carefully brush the grates with oil.
Sauce: This recipe is delicious drizzled on top of tacos or rice bowls with any protein of choice: go for variety with steak, chicken, fish, black beans or tempeh. See more Power Bowl recipes and inspiration in Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow.
Recipe: Cool Ranch Yogurt Dressing/Marinade/Dip
I recommend doubling this recipe so you have enough for multiple meals. If you plan to use this also to marinate chicken, you’ll definitely want to double the below.
- 1⁄2 cup Stonyfield Organic plain Greek or whole milk yogurt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 3⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
In a pint-size glass jar, combine the yogurt, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week. If using Greek yogurt, thin with a little water to desired consistency (if serving as a dip, skip adding water, see tips above).
