The Best Chicken Marinade Recipe makes chicken extra juicy and flavorful. This savory marinade makes grilled chicken mouthwatering!
The Best Chicken Marinade Recipe
When we were newly married, we lived near Dean's brother, his wife, and two kids. We were living in an apartment, going to college full-time, and working crazy hours to pay the bills. We were poor little college students and would love when Deron and Sarah would invite us over for dinner. Their go-to meal was grilled chicken in a delish marinade. They knew how much we loved it so we ate it almost every time we had dinner at their home.
So I had to ask her what was in this amazing chicken marinade recipe. It is beyond simple! I decided to tweak it and add a few more flavors to make it extra tangy and zesty.
This Grilled Chicken Marinade Recipe is made with extra virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper. You have such a variety of seasonings in this marinade.
The extra virgin olive oil keeps the chicken extra moist and juicy. The fresh lemon juice and balsamic vinegar break down the fibers in the chicken to make it tender. The soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce give it a salty depth of flavor. The brown sugar adds some rich sweetness and gives the chicken a nice crust when grilled. All of the ingredients work together in such harmony to make the perfect chicken marinade!
The key is to let the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes. Pierce the chicken breasts with a fork all over to ensure the marinade can seep into the chicken to make it juicy. An idea marinating time is 4 - 5 hours.
To grill the chicken, set your grill at medium heat. Allow it to preheat before adding the chicken. To keep the chicken from sticking, brush a bit of oil on the grill. Cook for about 5 - 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the chicken breast. The chicken needs to reach 165 degrees to ensure that it is completely cooked through.
Use whatever types of chicken you prefer -- chicken breasts, thinly sliced chicken breasts, chicken tenders, or chicken thighs. Chicken tenders and thinly sliced chicken breast will cook much quicker than thick chicken breasts so watch carefully.
The Best Chicken Marinade Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. Chicken Breasts Tenders, or Thighs
- ⅓ - ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil depending on preference
- 3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
- 3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 Garlic Cloves minced or ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Pepper
- Garnish:
- Fresh Parsley
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Pierce chicken breasts with a fork all over. Place in a large Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over chicken.
- Let marinate for at least 30 minutes. 4 - 5 hours is ideal.
- Preheat grill to medium heat. Brush grill with oil to prevent sticking.
- Place chicken on the grill. Cook for approximately 5 - 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of chicken. The internal temperature of the chicken should reach 165 degrees.
- Remove chicken from grill and let rest for 5 minutes.
Nutrition
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Happy Cooking, my friends!
OllieG
Echo several of the 'best ever' comments, that was a truly great recipe. First time I've commented on a recipe. If I could give it 6 or 7 stars, I would!
Jeff Nordeen
Very yummy and only marinated the chicken for 30 minutes. The sodium is way too high at 1200 mg per serving. Is that a real? Or just based off the ingredients? Will make again it didn't taste too salty
Bee
This marinade is absolutely perfect! It truly makes the chicken delicious!
Maria Ade
Can the chicken marinate for more than 5 hours? say overnight? Want to try it but want to know if it's ok to marinate longer.
Madeleine Rose
I am also wondering the same thing...
Anthony
I only was able to marinate for 30-45 minutes and my wife said it was the best chicken breast she has had in a long time, and must have said "wow! this is good" about 5 times. I also use a digital thermometer to make damn sure that it does not get overcooked which is part of it. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Beth
Can I marinade this overnight or will the lemon juice "cook" the chicken if I marinade it that long?
Heather
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I look up recipes all the time to change up our food and to find recipes that are really tasty. I marinated the chicken for about 5 hours and it was cooked by my family while I was at work. When I reheated it, I was absolutely amazed how tasty and tender the chicken was. Thank you again!!
Bridgette
This recipe was delicious!! I did chicken breast tenderloins in a grill pan on the stove. Didn't have any balsamic vinegar, used red wine vinegar instead. Marinated them about 45 min. Came out browned on the outside and super juicy on the inside, and fall apart tender!!! Loved this so much, can't wait to try other cuts of chicken and use balsamic instead!
Valentina Silva
What if I don't have balsamic vinegar, leave it out or sub with something else ?
Jodie Main
This chicken marinade is absolutely fabulous! Think it's the combination of balsamic vinegar along with the citrus of the lemons that really stands out on the tongue. We devoured a huge platter of chicken thighs that marinaded in this for three hours at last weekend's Mother's Day BBQ and I'm looking forward to grilling up some chicken breasts tonight. By far one of the best marinades for chicken that we've ever come across and there's a lot of 'em out there. Thank you so very much for sharing!
Jodie Main
Okay, attempting to update my original review of this wonderful marinade recipe. Wanted to add that we've made this over and over in the past month or so and can testify that Myers lemons work beautifully with this recipe. Grill up a batch of chicken thighs over the weekends using this recipe and then don't have to cook during the work week. Quick and oh so tasty!
Lisa
SO GOOD!!!! The neighbor came over to find out what smelled so good!
Jen
Another Arizonan chiming in to say, “Wow! This was delicious!” I used honey instead of brown sugar (I don’t feel like I can Lee it longer than ten minutes here before it hardens so I don’t even buy it anymore) but I made the rest according to recipe exactly. I had about 2 hours of marinade time and it was delicious! Definitely saving this one. Thank you!
Esther Cates
So so good! It is now my go to marinade for chicken. Perfect for eating as a main dish or dicing up in salads, making chicken salad, and even good on tacos!
Emiliano
I did this recipe and had every ingredient at home. It’s one of the best, if not the best I have tasted to date, for chicken. I cooked them in a little infrared oven and the thighs came great. I made a mistake on the salt by using tables spoons instead of teaspoons but it was like one of those experiments mistakes that end up discovering something good. The salt level was great maybe because I didn’t have much time to marinade.
Sarah
How do you think this would be with shrimp? We want to make chicken and shrimp kabobs, but I'm not sure if it would translate to shrimp. Curious if you've tried it!
Melissa
SO GOOD! I made it with shrimp, I've never tried it with chicken. I subbed the lemon juice for fresh orange juice. It was delicious!