Chicken Souvla Recipe (Cypriot Charcoal Spit Chicken)

Souvla is not a bigger souvlaki. It is a different technique with a different result: pieces of meat the size of a fist, threaded onto a long metal spit, turning slowly over embers that have been allowed to die right down, for an hour and a half. Cypriots consider getting this right a serious matter.

Chicken souvla is the everyday version, cheaper and faster than lamb or pork, and it is what most Cypriot families put on the foukou on a Sunday. It uses leg and thigh meat exclusively, because breast has neither the fat nor the connective tissue to survive ninety minutes over coals.

The seasoning is deliberately bare. Salt, black pepper, a little dried oregano and lemon squeezed on at the end. There is no marinade, no yogurt, no garlic paste. The flavour is supposed to come from the fat rendering slowly onto the coals and the smoke coming back up.

Key preparation steps

1. Cut chicken legs and thighs into very large pieces.
2. Season simply and thread onto a rotating spit.
3. Cook over low, well-ashed charcoal for about 90 minutes.
4. Rest briefly and finish with lemon and oregano.

Which cuts of chicken should I use?

Whole legs cut into large pieces, or bone-in thighs, with the skin left on. Fat and skin are what keep the meat moist over an hour and a half, and the bone slows the cooking in a way that helps rather than hinders.

Do not use breast. It dries out badly within forty minutes and no amount of basting will bring it back. If you only have boneless meat, use boneless thigh and cut the cooking time to about an hour.

How big should the pieces be?

Big. Roughly the size of a small fist, and larger than looks sensible to anyone used to kebabs. Large pieces have enough thermal mass to sit over low heat for ninety minutes and come out juicy.

This is the single thing that separates souvla from souvlaki. Cut the meat into cubes and it will be dry and grey long before it has had time to take on any smoke, which is the whole reason for cooking this way.

How hot should the charcoal be?

Low. Light the coals, let them burn down until they are covered in grey ash with no flame at all, and spread them thinly. You should be able to hold a hand at spit height for five or six seconds.

Set the spit high, about thirty centimetres above the coals. If the meat is sizzling loudly and dripping fat that flares, the fire is too hot: rake the coals apart and wait. Souvla is cooked by radiant heat over a long time, not seared.

How do I know when it is done?

The skin should be a deep even brown and slightly crisp, the meat should have visibly pulled back from the bone ends, and the juices should run completely clear. On a thermometer, the thickest part of a thigh should read 80C, higher than you would take breast meat.

Take it off, pile it on a board, squeeze over a lot of lemon and scatter with oregano and coarse salt. Five minutes resting is enough, and it should go to the table hot with pourgouri and a village salad.

What matters in this dish