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Best Chicken Marinade for Quick, Easy & Delicious Grilled Chicken

By Michelle Marine

on Jul 10, 2018, Updated Oct 24, 2023

5 Comments

If you’re looking for the best chicken marinade, here you go! We’ve been using this quick, easy, delicious, and healthy grilled chicken marinade for a long time and I know you will love it. Made with yogurt, garlic, fresh herbs, and a hint of citrus, it’s perfect for hot summers and beyond.

Best Chicken Marinade for Quick, Easy, & Delicious Grilled Chicken

I’ve shared this recipe on the blog before. You can find it here in my recipe for Greek Panko Chicken Sheet Pan dinner. But it is also delicious as a stand alone recipe for simple grilling. In today’s installment of Tuesdays in the Garden, I’m sharing this the best chicken marinade for delicious grilled chicken! If you haven’t tried it yet, you must!

Today, my gardening friends and I are sharing our favorite farm to table recipes using ingredients we’ve grown ourselves. My chicken marinade recipe features garlic and fresh herbs from my garden. If you don’t want to use fresh herbs, you can use dried herbs, but since it’s so easy to grow your own kitchen herbs, I really encourage you to try growing a kitchen herb garden. There are lots of options for growing herbs in your kitchen even throughout the winter. And it’s so worth it to be able to snip your own fresh herbs in the dead of winter.

Let’s make this easy chicken marinade!

To make the marinade, all you need to do is mix all ingredients in a glass bowl, or a ziplock baggie if you prefer. I use organic whole milk yogurt. You could use a lower fat yogurt if you want, but there are a lot of health benefits to whole milk yogurt, so I recommend using it!

Fresh herbs result in the best flavor, but you can also use dried herbs if you want. And finally, the recipe calls for lemon juice, but I know from experience that lime juice works just fine in this recipe too. Lemon and lime aren’t always interchangeable, but they both work in this recipe.

Tools I used to make this recipe:

I have found that having the right equipment makes all the difference when you’re cooking, even when you’re making something as simple as this best chicken marinade. Through a lot of trial and error, I’ve come up with a list of indispensable kitchen tools. I’m not a person who wants all the kitchen tools, but I have a core set of a few things that I use almost every day. Here’s a few of them! The following links are affiliate links which means I earn a small commission should you make a purchase.

• Microplane – I’ve tried a lot, but this one is the best! I have it in green. 🙂
• Garlic press – I’ve also tried a lot of garlic presses, and this is hands down my favorite.
• Nesting bowls – be careful when choosing nesting bowls. I like these best because they don’t chip and break like others I’ve used in the past.
• Meat Thermometer – You’ll want a meat thermometer to test doneness!
• Chicken Pounder – also helpful for consistent grilling times

Chicken grilling tips

Want perfectly grilled chicken every time? Make sure to follow these tips! I can guarantee we’ve done each and every thing wrong over the years and have learned a lot about the proper way to grill amazing chicken.

• Pound boneless skinless chicken breast to get them the same thickness. The unevenness of chicken breasts makes the challenging to grill.
• If you use a gas grill, make sure you have enough fuel in the grill so you don’t run out mid-grill.
• Rub a little oil on the grill before adding chicken so it doesn’t stick.
• Cover your grill by lowering the grill  lid while the chicken is cooking, or use a foil pan upside down to help keep the heat on your chicken while it’s grilling.
• Use a thermometer to make sure you chicken is thoroughly cooked to 165 degrees.

Continue to Content

Yield: 1

Best Chicken Marinade for Quick, Easy & Healthy Grilled Chicken

Print

Quick, delicious, and healthy chicken marinade perfect for grilling.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup Whole Milk Plain yogurt
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon, plus zest if you want
• 1 tsp REAL salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 TBS finely chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dry)
• 1 TBS finely chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dry)

Instructions

1. To make your marinade, simply combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and stir well.
2. Add chicken and cover with marinade.
3. Refrigerate until ready to grill - a minutes of 30 minutes, but up to 24 hours!

Notes

Marinate chicken in fridge for at least 30 minutes, but up to 24 hours.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 429Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 2444mgCarbohydrates: 23gSugar: 14gProtein: 10g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram tagging @simplifylivelove! I love to see your photos!

Want more farm-to-table recipes from SimplifyLiveLove?

Greek Panko Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner

Roasted Farm-to-Table Veggies & Kielbasa

Farm-to-Table 15 Minute Beef & Zucchini Skillet Dinner

Creamy Roasted Garlic Salad Dressing

Tuesdays in the Garden

And now it’s time for recipes from my friendly and amazing Tuesdays in the Garden bloggers. I’m looking forward to trying each and every idea. From homemade muffins to raspberry chicken marinade, to cucumber salad, to chicken and tomato nachos, and growing your own tea garden, I love all of these delicious ideas! Please click on each link to check out the recipes.

From Jami @ An Oregon Cottage – Honey Sweetened Blackberry Muffins

 Diane @ Homemade Food Junkie – Grilled Chicken with Raspberry Marinade

Shelly @ Frugal Family Home – Easy Cucumber Salad

Patti @ Hearth and Vine – Tomato Chicken Nachos

Angie @ Angie Freckled Rose – 5 plants you need to grow an herbal tea garden