This is simply the Best Chicken Marinade to make any chicken flavorful and juicy. Great for baked, BBQ, stovetop, or slow cooker recipes.
Who loves a juicy piece of chicken? I’m raising both hands here! When we lived in the desert, we grilled out almost every single night. While we all love my oven-baked fried chicken – it can be nice to not turn on the oven sometimes.
So that means we ate a fair share of marinated grilled chicken. It was absolutely delicious. Check out this recipe for the absolute best way to marinate chicken. You can also use this marinade to make my Oven-Baked Chicken recipe or my Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs.
Marinating chicken is probably one of the easiest things you can do to make your chicken the best it can be. The best part is that you can use so many different flavors and spices – you could have an entirely different flavor of chicken each night of the week.
It really is as easy as whisk, toss and wait. I know, the waiting part is hard. But it makes the chicken so incredibly scrumptious. I can’t get enough.
easy chicken marinade
Here are some commonly asked questions
Why marinate chicken?
Marinating chicken is a quick and easy way to infuse all the flavors that make it juicy and flavorful. It helps to lock in the juices and make that chicken the best thing you have ever eaten before.
How much marinade do I need per pound of chicken?
The general rule is about 1/2 of a cup of marinade for every 1-1.5 pounds of chicken. You can increase this recipe as needed depending on how much you are serving. Remember though – you can’t reuse marinade for sanitary reasons. So be sure to make only what you will need and discard it once you have removed the chicken.
chicken marinade
What cuts of chicken can I marinate?
The short answer – all of it. We love to marinate chicken breasts, thighs, wings and legs. But you can even marinate a whole chicken if you are feeling ambitious. It’s so tasty.
Can you freeze marinated chicken?
Yes, you can freeze marinated chicken. Just place the prepared zip-top bag full of the chicken and the marinade in the freezer for up to 3 months. It will marinate while frozen – but at a much slower rate, so it won’t be overkill once you finally make it.
chicken breast marinade
The chicken marinade is a combination of herbs, spices, oil, and other flavors used to season and flavor chicken. It is basically a sauce used to infuse the flavors into the chicken. Unlike a rub that just adds the flavors to the outside, a marinade gets the flavors throughout along with helping to keep the chicken moist and juicy.
While many believe that the longer the chicken sits in the marinade, the better it will be. By doing that it can actually end up making the chicken tougher once cooked.
For the best result, I recommend no longer than 12-24 hours. This recipe calls for at least 30 minutes, which is just enough to prep your other dinner ingredients and get the grill hot.
The key to cooking chicken is to not try to cook it too fast, over too high of heat – which can dry it out. Also – with all of these methods – make sure the internal temp of the chicken reaches 165 degrees before serving.
BAKE – at 400 degrees for 22-25 minutes
GRILL – 5-6 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the pieces
STOVETOP – heat in a skillet over med/high heat, cooking for approx. 10 minutes on each side.
SLOW COOKER – cook on low for 6-8 hours with the marinade and juices – unless adding to another liquid in the recipe.
chicken thigh marinade
What should I marinate my chicken in?
Depending on the size of what you are marinating, you can use a casserole dish, a gallon zip-top bag, or even just a large bowl covered with foil or plastic wrap. My personal favorite is the zip-top bag because I can toss the mess when I’m done with it. Just be sure to also set the bag on a tray or in a bowl just in case the bag leaks a little.
Can this be cooked from frozen?
Unless you are cooking this chicken in a pressure cooker/Instant Pot – I don’t recommend cooking this from frozen. Please let the bag thaw first in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before cooking.
grilled chicken marinade
How to make chicken marinade
- Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, brown sugar, paprika, salt, and pepper to a medium bowl and whisk until completely combined.
- Place the chicken in a large resealable bag,
- Pour the marinade over the chicken, seal the bag.
- Place the bag in the refrigerator to chill for up to 4 hours.
- Remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and cook on the grill or in the oven.
Do I need to poke holes in the chicken before marinating it?
I see a lot of people doing this because they believe that it will help the marinade soak into the pieces of chicken. But just as I discourage people from using a fork to flip meat and chicken on the grill (because it breaks the seer and allows the juices to leak out – causing a dry result) I am also going to discourage you against poking holes before marinating. Doing so will dry the pieces out faster when they are cooking. All the juices you just infused by marinating will then leak out of all those holes while it cooks.
chicken marinade easy
Ingredients for Chicken Marinade
- fresh lemon juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- olive oil
- fresh oregano minced
- parsley minced and lightly packed
- fresh basil minced and lightly packed
- garlic minced
- brown sugar
- paprika
- salt
- black pepper
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts
chicken marinade recipe
More Great Marinades
What should I serve with marinated chicken?
The possibilities are almost endless when it comes to pairing recipes with marinated chicken. Check out some of our favorite pairings here.
chicken wing marinade
Products I love when making chicken marinade…
This marinade recipe is SUPER EASY and makes the chicken so delicious – and if you’re like me, then you probably already have some of these items on hand. I have made a list below of the things I absolutely can’t live without when it comes to making this marinade recipe.
- zip-top bags
- mixing bowl
- whisk
- lemon juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- olive oil
- oregano
- parsley
- basil
- garlic
- brown sugar
- paprika
- salt
- black pepper
If you love this easy chicken marinade recipe, you’re going to love these other recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
More Great Chicken Recipes
Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs
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Best Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano minced or 2 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ cup fresh parsley minced and lightly packed or 4 tsp dried parsley
- ¼ cup fresh basil minced and lightly packed or 4 tsp dried basil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Chicken
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 8 oz
Instructions
- Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, brown sugar, paprika, salt, and pepper to a medium bowl and whisk until completely combined.
- Place the chicken in a large resealable bag,
- Pour the marinade over the chicken, seal the bag.
- Place the bag in the refrigerator to chill for up to 4 hours.
- Remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and cook on the grill or in the oven.
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
