The BEST Grilled Chicken Breast recipe for moist, tender, and juicy grilled chicken breasts! Easy recipe for perfect grilled chicken every time!
Learn how to make perfectly grilled chicken every time that your whole family will love! This easy method comes together quickly and makes delicious, moist, tender, and incredibly juicy grilled chicken! Use a main dish with sides such as baked sweet potatoes and green beans or in salads, wraps, sandwiches, and more!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy recipe. This easy recipe comes together quickly for amazing grilled chicken. There are just a few simple steps that give you the best, most delicious results.
- Great to use in so many ways. Chicken breasts are healthy and great in many recipes. Serve with side dishes of vegetables like baked sweet potatoes and green beans or in a salad like Grilled Chicken Fiesta Salad or Grilled Chicken Strawberry Spinach Salad. Yum!
- Meal Prep Friendly. Grilled chicken makes a great protein to make ahead for easy meal prep.
How to Make the Best Grilled Chicken Breasts Recipe
Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
- Chicken breasts – I like to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for grilling to reduce prep, make them easier to serve and eat, and have more versatility for use in so many recipes and dishes.
- Chicken marinade – I’ve shared my favorite chicken marinade for years. I love it for grilled chicken breasts, thighs, legs, baked chicken, and so many chicken recipes! Made of olive oil, salt, seasonings, and liquid such as ginger ale, apple cider, apple juice, or beer, my chicken marinade adds so much flavor to the chicken. I also give another quick and easy chicken marinade option in the Recipe Variations section of the post.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Pound the chicken. Place the chicken breasts into a 1-gallon zip-top bag. I prefer to use a freezer-safe bag as it tends to be thicker than a storage bag. Use a heavy rolling pin, meat mallet, or saucepan and pound the chicken to 1/2-inch thickness. This process is key to tender chicken. The marinade flavors the chicken, rather than tenderizing as many believe.
Make the marinade. Stir together the ingredients for the chicken marinade. You can use the same ziptop bag used for pounding (if it is still in good condition) or transfer the pounded chicken breasts to a non-reactive mixing bowl, such as a glass bowl and pour the marinade over the chicken.
Marinate the chicken. Allow the chicken to rest in the marinade for 1 hour to overnight covered with wrap in the refrigerator.
Grill the chicken. Preheat the grill or a grill pan to 400º F. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator as the grill preheats. Grill the chicken breasts over direct heat at 400º F for 6 to 8 minutes. Carefully flip the chicken breasts and cook until the chicken reaches 160º F – 165º F when checked with an instant-read thermometer, about 6 to 8 more minutes. Remove from the grill and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving or slicing.
Recipe Variations
I prefer to use my longstanding favorite chicken marinade for my grilled chicken, but for a quick and easy marinade, I also use this lemon marinade.
Lemon Marinade
Combine 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons Stone House Seasoning, and the juice and zest of one lemon.
Pounding the Chicken
Pounding the boneless, skinless chicken breasts is what tenderizes them. Use what you have on hand: a rolling pin, saucepan, or a meat mallet if you have it.
Storage Tips
To store. Store leftover grilled chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To make ahead. Prepare the chicken marinade and add to the chicken in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Massage the marinade over the chicken to make sure coated. Freeze for up to 3 months. To cook, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then grill as directed. Additional cooking time may be needed since cooking for being refrigerated.
To freeze. See the to make ahead instructions above to freeze uncooked chicken. To freeze cooked grilled chicken, cool completely, portion into airtight, freezer-safe containers, and freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat to serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Boneless, skinless chicken is very lean. By pounding the chicken to an even thickness, the chicken is able to cook quickly and evenly resulting in juicy chicken every time.
The marinade adds incredible flavor to the chicken. I love to use my longtime favorite chicken marinade recipe, but I have also provided a go-to quick and easy lemon marinade that is delicious in the Recipe Variations section and the Notes.
Here’s my Grilled Chicken Breast Recipe. It is perfect for juicy, delicious chicken! I hope you love it as much as we do!
The Best Grilled Chicken Breast Recipe
Equipment
- Rolling Pin , meat mallet, or saucepan
- Grill Pan or grill
Ingredients
- 4 (4.5-ounce) chicken breasts
- 1 Chicken Marinade, or use Lemon Marinade from Recipe Variations in notes
Instructions
- Pound the chicken. Place the chicken breasts into a 1-gallon zip-top bag. I prefer to use a freezer-safe bag as they tend to be thicker than a storage bag. Use a heavy rolling pin, meat mallet, or saucepan and pound the chicken to 1/2-inch thickness. This process is key to tender chicken. The marinade flavors the chicken, rather than tenderizing as many believe.
- Make the marinade. Stir together the ingredients for the chicken marinade. You can use the same ziptop bag used for pounding (if it is still in good condition) or transfer the pounded chicken breasts to a non-reactive mixing bowl, such as a glass bowl and pour the marinade over the chicken.
- Marinate the chicken. Allow the chicken to rest in the marinade for 1 hour to overnight covered with wrap in the refrigerator.
- Grill the chicken. Preheat the grill or a grill pan to 400º F. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator as the grill preheats. Grill the chicken breasts over direct heat at 400º F for 6 to 8 minutes. Carefully flip the chicken breasts and cook until the chicken reaches 160º F – 165º F when checked with an instant-read thermometer, about 6 to 8 more minutes. Remove from the grill and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving or slicing.
Notes
Lemon Marinade
Combine 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons Stone House Seasoning, and the juice and zest of one lemon.Storage Tips
To store. Store leftover grilled chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To make ahead. Prepare the chicken marinade and add to the chicken in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Massage the marinade over the chicken to make sure coated. Freeze for up to 3 months. To cook, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then grill as directed. Additional cooking time may be needed since cooking for being refrigerated. To freeze. See the to make ahead instructions above to freeze uncooked chicken. To freeze cooked grilled chicken, cool completely, portion into airtight, freezer-safe containers, and freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat to serve.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
IT IS THE BEST! THANKS!