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This pork souvlaki marinade recipe will help you prepare a perfectly seasoned and tender souvlaki.
Eating souvlaki was one of those things that I enjoyed back home at our city’s summer festival each year. Not only was it my mom’s favorite booth, but it always seemed to be one of the most popular food booths. It’s not surprising at all, of course, because it was delicious.
Now that I live in a different country, it has been a long time since I’ve been able to visit the Festival of the Arts and eat that wonderful souvlaki. I haven’t forgotten the extraordinary combination of flavors, though.
Fast forwarding to a couple of years ago when I first started living in Spain, we went to visit one of my aunts who lives in the province of Seville, and she served us some delicious grilled pork chops that completely reminded me of the souvlaki I had always loved eating growing up. It made me realize that making my own delicious souvlaki wasn’t out of my reach, and I asked her how she had made her pork chops to get an idea for how to make my own.
She happily told me that her marinade was just a combination of olive oil, lemon, garlic, oregano and thyme.
I was amazed by how flavorful something so simple could really be!
It turns out that the secret to making good souvlaki is having a good pork souvlaki marinade recipe. Being able to cook it over a grill only makes it better!
Want to learn how?
Here’s the pork souvlaki marinade recipe that I’ve developed and have been using, based on the ingredients in my aunt’s pork chop marinade.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon juiced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp. oregano
- 1 Tbsp. thyme
- salt to taste
- 800 g pork I used pork shoulder
Instructions
- Cube your pork into pieces that will comfortably fit onto a skewer, and place them into a bowl that is large enough to hold all of the pork easily.
- Mince your garlic and add it to your bowl, along with your salt.
- Add the juice of your lemon, the olive oil, and add in your herbs. I prefer to use fresh herbs and bruise them a little before adding them so that they'll give off more of their flavors. If using dried herbs, you can use smaller quantities.
- Mix all of your ingredients together, making sure that the meat is well coated in the pork souvlaki marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour. Several hours is even better. (I left mine overnight.)
- When you are ready to grill your souvlaki, remove it from the pork souvlaki marinade and push your skewers through the pieces of meat.
- Grill on high heat, turning occasionally until the meat is cooked through and browned as desired.
Notes
Once you have your souvlaki ready, you’re ready to serve it with pitas and/or rice. Since I’ve been having issues with wheat, I made myself some grain free pitas to serve with the souvlaki. I wish I had thought to place them on the grill before serving them. That would have made them even better!
Want to make your own grain free pitas?
I’ll share my recipe with you soon. I promise!! 🙂
Other than that, souvlaki is also good served with tzsatziki sauce (or just use greek yogurt like I usually do), cucumbers, and other grilled veggies. You can see in my pictures that I love grilling up padron peppers to accompany these sorts of Mediterranean meals.
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Souvlaki is street food in the large Greek neighborhood of Montreal called Park Extension where I spent my first 49 years. I have since moved to Indiana and have introduced my wife to this amazing dish. It’s been a while,think I’ll make some this weekend and yes it works great with pork tenderloin.
Would pork tenderloin work in this recipe?
Hi Polly,
Pork tenderloin should work well in the recipe. The marinade should help tenderize the tenderloins, which I think is important because they have less fat than a pork shoulder, which is what I usually use.
I personally like a cut with more fat in it, but I think a tenderloin would turn out well for a leaner version.
I live in Grand Rapids and love the recipe. You recreated it very well!
Hi Travis,
Thank you!
Well, I have to admit I’m a bit jealous. I haven’t been back to Grand Rapids in awhile. We made it back to the US this year, but my mom went down to Disney World to see us there because we wanted to bring my son there before he outgrows it. (Not that you can really ever outgrow Disney.) 😉
I still have other family there that I’d love to see, though.
Say “Hi” to the city for me. Hopefully I’ll be over there again soon.
I have to admit that I use Kraft’s salad dressing as my pork or chicken marinade. The sun-dried tomato & oregano or feta & oregano are all delicious.
Thanks for your comment.
Living here in Spain, those sorts of dressings aren’t readily available, but even if they were, I have gotten in the habit of making salad dressings (and pretty much everything, for that matter) myself. Not only do I find that they taste better, but it helps me avoid any unwanted ingredients in the commercial brands.
This marinade recipe is very quick and easy, so it should be an alternative that anybody can make in a matter of minutes.
Goodness, sounds so simple and delish!
Thanks, Rachel.
This is one of my favorites!
I love sweet potato and sausage, too. I think I´m going to head over and check that out! 😉
Have a great weekend.
These sound amazing and I love your olive oil bottle 🙂
This looks great. I’ll try it soon because I have some pork to use.
This is awesome! I have never done much with pork shoulder. This looks doable and so delicious. Great photos!
This sounds delicious! My husband would love this. Lovely flavor combos.
Oh my goodness Tracy this looks so delicious!! I’m totally gonna try this marinade and yes please to the grain free pita recipe. In the meantime I’ll just make your flaxseed paleo tortillas.. 😉