This Awesome Chicken Marinade for the grill or baked in the oven is so easy and has so much flavor. You can whip it up quickly in your food processor and store in the fridge or the freezer!
Grilling is a summer staple and your grilling game is going to be on fire with this easy and delicious Grilled Chicken Marinade.
Sometimes you just want to season your chicken with some salt and call it good...other times you want to step it up a notch and use an amazing chicken marinade that will add tons of flavor to boring chicken.
This marinade is so easy, and I love that it uses all fresh ingredients. No bottles of stuff with questionable ingredients and it is Whole 30 approved!
My favorite thing about this easy grilled chicken marinade is that everything gets dumped in a food processor and turned into a paste. We're keeping the lemon, orange, and onion intact and there is no need to mince the garlic or the herbs. I told you this was easy!
Another awesome thing about this recipe is that it makes enough for 3 pounds of chicken breast. Any extra you have leftover can be stored in the fridge for a later time.
HOW LONG TO MARINATE CHICKEN
You can safely leave chicken marinating in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, but since this marinade is full of citrus, I would leave it on for an hour at most. The citrus can start to break down the chicken and make it mushy.
To marinate the chicken, I spread the marinade all over the chicken, being very careful not to contaminate any leftover marinade. This means you shouldn't put the spoon back in the bowl after you spread the marinade on the chicken.
I recommend avocado oil for most recipes, but especially for this grilled chicken marinade. Olive oil is not a good ingredient in a marinade because it has a max smoke point of 325-350F, while avocado oil has a smoke point of 400F. And of course, grilling = high heat. You can read more about smoke point of oils here.
I actually didn't grill this chicken, I seared it in a skillet and then finished it in the oven at 375F. This marinade is great for grilling or baking in the oven!
This chicken is so good sliced into a spring mix salad. My favorite includes bacon, blue cheese, blueberries, and a lemon vinaigrette. You can also dice it and use it in my Keto Chicken Salad.
Chicken recipes are some of the most popular on my blog. Here are a few you should definitely try out:
Awesome Grilled Chicken Marinade
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Tip: Hitting your 20–30g protein per meal goal helps you stay full and supports muscle.
Ingredients
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 Onion, quatered
- 3 Tablespoons Fresh rosemary
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Thyme
- ½ Lemon, with skin
- ½ Orange, with skin
- ½ Cup avocado oil
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until a paste forms
- Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
- You can safely leave chicken marinating in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, but since this marinade is full of citrus, I would leave it on for an hour at most. The citrus can start to break down the chicken and make it mushy.
- If you are only using a portion of the marinade, spoon enough into a bowl and then store the rest for later, being sure not to contaminate the extra marinade.
Sherry says
Looks delicious!
I’ve been looking for something new to do with chicken ????.
Thanks for the daily recipe
Bryan says
This is completely different than any marinade or chicken recipe that I've tried before! I get tired of chicken really fast too so I like to alternate recipes as often as I can to keep things interesting. I'll be trying this out for my next meal prep
jenniferbanz says
Glad you liked it Bryan!