Bobby Flay's Secret Ingredient To The Perfect Chicken Marinade

Finding the perfect chicken marinade can feel a bit like finding the perfect life partner. It just may never happen. Unless you find a matchmaker like Bobby Flay. The celebrity chef and TV personality recently snuck onto the set of "The Rachael Ray Show" and grabbed a camera man for a trip to Whole Foods to share a few tips with viewers about efficient grocery shopping (seen on the official website). And, in the process, he let slip a big secret about making the ideal chicken marinade.

"Here's my secret weapon, alright?" Flay said to the camera, leaning in conspiratorially. "But you have to promise not to tell anybody. It's Greek yogurt." That's right, Flay uses good ol' plain yogurt to marinate chicken, in particular using it as a step for fried chicken, saying it makes the meat incredibly moist and provides tons of flavor. 

Although this is not the first time the grill god has been a wee bit secretive. Flay slyly opened a new burger joint in Las Vegas in April — it comes ahead of an Italian restaurant (inspired by his travels to the Amalfi Coast) that is also expected to open soon in Vegas' famed Caesar's Palace Hotel (via Eater). Just what will he reveal next? 

Greek yogurt can give chicken the zip it deserves

It probably comes as no surprise, but Flay is totally right — Greek yogurt is a real flavor booster. While plenty of fried chicken recipes (like this one on YouTube from Ina Garten) call for a buttermilk-based marinade, Greek yogurt is a great, easy-to-find substitute that will give your dish the same zip. As Healthline points out, Greek yogurt is strained more than its plain Jane regular yogurt counterpart, making it thicker and tangier — and perfect for giving your chicken moisture and added flavor.

In Bobby Flay's fried chicken recipe at Food & Wine, he offers more on his Greek yogurt-based marinade. It gets thinned out by a little whole milk, then kicked up a notch with some added spices that get poured over the chicken cuts. By the time the meat is ready to cover in flour (after refrigerating overnight), all those flavors will have been soaked up, so much so that Flay recommends rinsing the chicken and discarding the marinade. He gifts "Rachael Ray Show" fans another gift in this clip while discussing his Fried Chicken with Tabasco Honey recipe, namely when to use a "wet hand" and a "dry hand" to dredge your chicken. 

Sure, Flay may not be giving away the secret to happiness, but he sure is going to help you make some great fried chicken — and that's pretty close.