Grilled Chicken Marinade with Lemon, Garlic, and Butter

Name: Grilled Chicken Marinade with Lemon, Garlic, and Butter
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter (3/4 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 ); 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; Skinless boneless breasts or use drumsticks, thighs, or tenders. (This marinade works fine on skin.)

Recipe Table of Contents

4.50 from 16 votes

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.

Table of Contents

🍋Ingredients
🥣How to Make Chicken Marinade
👨‍🍳Cooking Marinated Chicken
📋Reference Posts
❓FAQs
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
📖Recipe
💬 Comments

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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.

My Rating

A solid 5 for us.

🍋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 Make Chicken Marinade

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.

👨‍🍳Cooking 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

❓FAQs

Can I use a charcoal grill for cooking the marinated chicken?

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.

What does "bloom" garlic mean?

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.

Can I reuse the marinade?

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.

How long can I marinate the chicken in the marinade?

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.

Can I add other flavors to the marinade?

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?

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

garlic with butter lemon juice and seasonings

Simple pantry ingredients.

adding seasoning salt to other ingredients in sauce pan

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.

moving part of the marinade to a bowl for later

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.

flattening thick chicken breast in a plastic bag with a meat mallet

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.

two chicken breasts in pan with marinade

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.

placing marinated chicken breasts on grill

Place the marinated chicken over direct heat with the lid closed for 5 minutes per side.

brushing chicken breast with reserved marinade

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.

cooked chicken breasts on blue plate next to grill

Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

📖Recipe

Grilled Chicken Marinade with Lemon, Garlic, and Butter

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Tap to leave a Rating

4.50 from 16 votes

Print Collection

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 4 servings

Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric

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.

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.

See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

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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.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition Estimate

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course : Main Course

Cuisine : American

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Originally Published May 20, 2010. Updated with expanded options, reshot photos on July 31, 2022, and a table of contents to help navigation.