Perfect Grilled Chicken Breast

This is the perfect recipe for grilled chicken breast! The chicken comes out juicy and flavorful thanks to the right grilling technique and a delicious marinade.

Grilling is definitely one of my favorite ways to prepare a lean protein – from tomahawk steak to chicken kabobs, it’s just always fun and delicious.

Chicken breast is such an easy cut to grill. They cook fast and come out super juicy and flavorful as long as you don’t overcook them.

I’m sharing an easy, basic (but delicious!) chicken marinade in the recipe below, but feel free to use any marinade you like!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

• Garlic: Feel free to use only fresh garlic, or only dried garlic powder in place of both.
• Sugar: You can skip this if you want to leave things sugar-free. You could try honey, but it burns more easily/can leave a bitter aftertaste. If you prefer brown sugar, feel free to use that.
• Lemon juice: I recommend fresh lemon juice, but if ll you have is bottled, it’s fine to use.

Note about the marinade:

If you want to use a different marinade, I have a few recipes here on the blog:

• Balsamic Chicken Marinade
• Greek Chicken Marinade
• Lemon Chicken Marinade

How to grill chicken breast

1. Start by pounding the chicken to an even thickness of ½ to ¾ inch:

Stick the chicken into a large zip-zop bag (4 to 6 quart for 2 pounds of chicken is a comfortable size) and pound it flat with either the flat side of a meat mallet or a heavy rolling pin.

2. Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl or measuring jug.

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3. Pour the marinade over the chicken in the bag. Let out extra air, then zip it close. Massage the marinade into the chicken, then refrigerate for 4-12 hours (you can do less marinating time if you’re in a hurry, see notes further down on the page).

4. Once ready, heat the grill to high heat. Grill the chicken for 2-4 minutes per side, covered, until juices run clear (see notes below for using an indoor grill).

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Resting the chicken for 5 minutes before serving is something I’d highly recommend. It’s not always possible if you’re serving a bunch of hungry people – but it does help the chicken to stay very juicy.

Recipe tips

• Marinating time: If you’re in a hurry, just leave the chicken in the marinade in the bag on the counter for 20 minutes. The flavor will be less strong, but it’s enough to yield juicy and delicious chicken.
• Bag: Make sure you didn’t pound a hole into your bag before you add the marinade! (Been there, done that…)
• Refrigerating: I highly recommend placing the bag with the chicken in a shallow dish or bowl to refrigerate – in case you have any spills, the dish will catch them.
• Tabletop grill: A tabletop/indoor grill generally doesn’t get as hot as a charcoal or gas outdoor grill. It still works just fine (I use mine a LOT! and never have any trouble). You just need to plan for a longer grilling time because you can’t cover the chicken and you’re using less heat. It takes closer to 6-8 minutes per side to grill the chicken on a tabletop grill, but the exact timing will also depend on your exact model.
• Freezer tips: You can freeze the chicken breast in the marinade for up to 3 months. Defrost fully before grilling.
• After refrigerating: If you refrigerate the marinated chicken for several hours, I recommend removing the bag from the fridge 20 minutes before grilling the chicken. This will help the chicken to come to room temperature, which makes it more tender after cooking.

Serving ideas

We love this chicken with simple sides. If we’re cooking out in the summer, I will usually make a salad of some sort – a cucumber tomato avocado salad is a family favorite, but something like a greek pasta salad or an orzo salad is also great.

Add a piece of crusty bread (no knead bread or no knead french bread homemade bread or sourdough bread – all delicious!) and you’ve got a simple summer meal.

If I’m indoor grilling the chicken, we love it over rice, quinoa, pasta… with any kind of vegetables:

• Roasted broccoli (or air fryer broccoli)
• Roasted asparagus (or air fryer asparagus)
• Sautéed green beans (or air fryer green beans)
• Sautéed zucchini (and I really need an air fryer recipe for zucchini!)

The chicken is perfect in sandwiches, it’s great for meal prep, and it’s wonderful over any kind of vegetable salad. Just a really great all-purpose recipe!

More chicken breast recipes

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Printable recipe