The best chicken marinade is yours with only 5 ingredients and 10 minutes. With the great tastes of lemon, garlic, butter, and spices, this easy chicken marinade is perfect for chicken breasts but works great with chicken tenders or any skin-on chicken like drumsticks or thighs.
Introduction
Let's all agree that chicken can be relatively tasteless, and a marinade is a perfect solution to this lack of flavor and some tenderizing. And marinating, if you plan right, will not add much time.
This chicken marinade recipe was our standard for grilled chicken breasts when the kids were young. The components are always in the house, so there is little thinking ahead.
We have used this recipe for about 45 years, and it remains one of our favorites. It is the perfect easy summer dinner, served with sides of veggies, like corn on the cob and grilled baby potatoes.
Just an FYI, marinate is a verb meaning the action, while marinade is the noun referring to the liquid.
🥣How to make this chicken marinade recipe
- Add the butter cut into chunks in a non-reactive saucepan over medium heat.
- Add all other ingredients.
- Bring to a boil.
- Remove from heat and move ¼ of the marinade to a small bowl to be used during cooking.
- Allow cooling for 10 minutes before adding chicken.
🍋Ingredients
The ingredients are not fancy. Yes, you could use freshly squeezed lemon and crushed garlic, but that makes for too much work for this summer laid-back summer recipe.
- Lemon Juice- 6 tablespoons of juice or the juice of 3 medium lemons.
- Butter - use real butter with or without salt.
- Garlic - 6-8 garlic cloves crushed, 2 tablespoons of crushed or minced garlic, or ¾ teaspoons of garlic powder
- Seasoning Salt and Pepper - Loweys or other seasoning salt and a little black pepper.
👨🍳How to cook marinated chicken
Once your chicken is marinated, it is time to cook it—generally, that will be on a grill. It is not that hard, but see the recipe list below if you need more details on specific details.
- Prepare the marinade per instructions and reserve a small amount to brush on during grilling. Be sure to let it cool some before adding the chicken.
- This marinade works great on any chicken—like drumsticks, thighs, or tenders. We use it for skinless boneless chicken breasts. Pick breasts of about the same size. Do not brine due to the salt in the marinade. Cooking instructions for other than skinless boneless chicken breasts can be found in the "Reference Posts" below.
- If the chicken breasts are over ¾ inch thick, they should be thinned with a meat mallet or heavy pan to help even out the cooking times.
- Marinade for 20-30 minutes—maximum of 3 hours.
- Preheat the grill to a grill surface temperature of about 450°. Clean and oil well.
- Place the chicken over direct heat. Flip every 5 minutes. After the first two flips, brush with the reserved marinade with every flip. Grill to 165° internal temperature—18-22 minutes usually.
- Instead of the grill, you can bake in an oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional for about 25 minutes to 165°.
📋Reference Posts
Grilled Chicken Thighs on a Gas Grill
Quick & Easy Grilled Chicken Tenders on a Gas Grill
Roasting Chicken Breasts in the Convection Oven
Guide to Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill
Chicken... To Rinse or Not To Rinse?
❓FAQs
Yes, but you need to be very careful about surface temperature. And, of course, times will vary. On most charcoal grills, you will need to adjust the venting.
To "bloom" garlic, you just cook it separately for a brief time. Just get some butter or other liquid bubbling and add the garlic for 30-60 seconds. It is not to "cook" or brown the garlic, but it brings out the flavor a lot more and makes it less "raw". I will almost always do it on stovetop recipes that use raw garlic; in crockpot recipes, I don't bother.
No. Once it is used, the marinade should be considered contaminated and discarded. If you want to brush on some of the marinade during cooking, you must reserve a small amount before marinating the chicken.
As little as 15 minutes gives excellent flavor, but 30 minutes to 3 hours is preferred. If over 1 hour, please refrigerate for food safety.
Over 3 hours is not recommended because the acid in the lemon juice may damage the chicken. You should not marinate overnight.
Sure, other chicken marinade recipes use things like thyme, rosemary, other herbs, and spices for various flavors. Some soy sauce and brown sugar will add different flavors.
If you use fresh lemons, adding some lemon zest is always good. If you don't have fresh garlic, use ¾ teaspoon garlic powder.
You can use extra virgin olive oil instead of the butter and vinegar for the lemon juice, but I don't recommend either—what can beat lemon, garlic, and butter?
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Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
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Simple pantry ingredients.
In a medium-size non-reactive saucepan, melt 6 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons (about 6-8 cloves) minced or crushed garlic and bloom for 1 minute. Add 6 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Lowrey's (or other) seasoning salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Whisk together and simmer over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Remove 2-3 tablespoons and reserve for later brushing during grilling.
Using Chicken Marinade
I have included instructions for skinless boneless chicken breasts. This amount of marinade works well for 2 to 4 breasts depending on size. Other chicken like drumsticks, thighs, or tenders also will work well with this marinade, but cooking instructions will be different—links in the post.
Trim the skinless chicken breast and pat dry with paper towels. If the chicken is over ¾ inches thick, flatten some with a meat mallet in a zip-top bag to avoid splatter.
Add chicken breast, stir well, and ensure the breasts are coated with the marinade. Marinade for 30 minutes to 3 hours, but as little as 15 minutes will give good results. A one-gallon zip-top bag also works well for marinading. If marinading longer than 1 hour, please refrigerate for food safety.
Preheat the grill for 10 minutes on medium-high heat for a surface temperature of about 450°. Clean well and oil grill grate well.
Place the marinated chicken over direct heat with the lid closed for 5 minutes per side.
After the first two flips, brush with the reserved marinade after each flip until you run out of marinade. Continue to cook until the internal temp of 165° is measured with a meat thermometer—about 18-22 minutes.
Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
📖The Recipe Card with Step-by-Step Instructions
Grilled Chicken Marinade with Lemon, Garlic, and Butter
Ingredients
Marinade
- 6 tablespoons butter - ¾ stick
- 6 tablespoons ReaLemon juice - juice of 3 medium lemons
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic - or 6-8 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 tablespoon Lowrey - Seasoning salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Chicken
- Skinless boneless breasts or use drumsticks, thighs, or tenders. - This marinade works fine on skin.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Simple pantry ingredients.
- In a medium-size non-reactive saucepan, melt 6 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons (about 6-8 cloves) minced or crushed garlic and bloom for 1 minute. Add 6 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Lowrey's (or other) seasoning salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Whisk together and simmer over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove 2-3 tablespoons and reserve for later brushing during grilling.
Using Chicken Marinade
- I have included instructions for skinless boneless chicken breasts. This amount of marinade works well for 2 to 4 breasts depending on size. Other chicken like drumsticks, thighs, or tenders also will work well with this marinade, but cooking instructions will be different—links in the post.
- Trim the skinless chicken breast and pat dry with paper towels. If the chicken is over ¾ inches thick, flatten some with a meat mallet in a zip-top bag to avoid splatter.
- Add chicken breast to marinade, stir well, and ensure the breasts are coated with the marinade. Marinade for 30 minutes to 3 hours, but as little as 15 minutes will give good results. A one-gallon zip-top bag also works well for marinading. If marinading longer than 1 hour, please refrigerate for food safety.
- Preheat the grill for 10 minutes on medium-high heat for a surface temperature of about 450°. Clean well and oil grill grate well.
- Place the marinated chicken over direct heat with the lid closed for 5 minutes per side.
- After the first two flips, brush with the reserved marinade after each flip until you run out of marinade. Continue to cook until the internal temp of 165° is measured with a meat thermometer—about 18-22 minutes.
- Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Use for almost any chicken, but cooking instructions for the chicken will vary. I have included only instructions for skinless boneless breasts. Drumsticks, thighs, or chicken tenders are other good choices—links in the post for cooking instructions.
- To "bloom" garlic, you just cook it separately for a brief time. Just get the butter bubbling and add the garlic for 30-60 seconds. It is not to "cook" the garlic, but it brings out the flavor a lot more and makes it less "raw". I will almost always do it on stovetop recipes that use raw garlic; in crockpot recipes, I don't bother.
- Let the marinade cool before adding the chicken.
- You can use the marinade for basting the chicken while cooking, but to do this, you must reserve some before adding the chicken to the marinade for safety.
- No brining is allowed here. There is lots of salt in the marinade already.
- Cooking on the grill or baking in the oven.
- Leftovers are wonderful on salad.
- Nutrition is calculated for marinade only. Most experts estimate that less than 10% of marinade is absorbed, so this is way overstated. But if you are on a restricted sodium diet, decreasing the seasoning salt or using a salt-free substitute is wise.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Originally Published May 20, 2010. Updated with expanded options, reshot photos on July 31, 2022, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Jaime says
Made this tonight and they were mighty tasty.
Hollee says
Had to google that, lol.
jim humphrey says
If you want to use the gas as a charcoal starter, you may get a nicer result, don't be toooo lazy. I am in the charcoal biz, lol But it IS much better!
DrDan says
Suum cuique
DrDan
Gs says
Thank you! I took the time to read a bit more about your interests and the blog. Great work, you earned a follower today! :)
Gs says
Hi,
Tried two of your recipes so easy and kids loved it. Thank you :). What type of grill you are using, charcoal or gas, brand? The pic shows uniformly packed round things under grill bar? ??
Yummy!
DrDan says
I currently use a Weber Summit with natural gas. The picture in this post is a MHP and it was also natural gas. It had a great 12 yr life span. The little round things are ceramic heat diffusers that I replace the lava rock with. I found they cut down the hot spots lot. My current Weber uses metal heat diffusers. It is very hot and can get 650 with no problem
I'm too lazy for charcoal and I was always running out of propane gas. So when we built a new home, I had natural gas piped to the deck.
DrDan
Dr Dan says
The extra one was indeed great on my lunch salad. The size of the breasts is somewhat important. I repeated this yesterday for company but I had bought the chicken at Sam's. They were huge so I ended up doing cutlets. They cook faster that way but don't have the charring I love. They were great as sandwiches.
Chris says
I like quick acting marinades like that. Perfectly cooked chicken, look how juicy on the inside and a slight char on the outside. I hope you threw an extra one on to have for leftover grilled chicken alfredo or salad. Looks great.
Christine says
Oh! I like the pic of my doggie. But, he is being a bit spoiled over there with you and mom!
Dr Dan says
Just marinade for the 10 minutes that you preheat and prep the grill. Take the marinade off the heat before putting the chicken in. It may cook slightly but not significantly.
Christine says
I can't remember how long you leave the chicken in the marinade. Last time I did this I kept the chicken on the heat in the marinade and ended up semi-boiling them after 5 minutes, the outside was stringy. Definitely not the way mom made this when we were little. Are you leaving it in the marinade just about 5 minutes or so?
Also, you forgot to mention how yummy this is as a sandwich. I love to put this on a bun with some mayo, and if I'm very adventuresome I'll add some mozz cheese.