July 13, 2023

The Best Grilled Chicken Marinade

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t love a DIY marinade, simply because I don’t want to spend any extra time making it. I also hate “wasting” half a cup or more of olive oil that recipes call for. I’ve tried marinade recipes in the past, and the flavor never seemed to be very impactful. I could just buy a bottle, but the price of premade marinades, that don’t use industrial seed oils, is pretty high. Which makes sense, olive oil or avocado oils are more pricey.

Up until now, we’ve settled for always using a dry rub for chicken, since it’s cost effective (I make my own) and quick. I also rarely remember to do anything ahead of time with the chicken before I grill it.

Well, we eventually got sick of chicken and needed a new spin. I love tons of flavor in my food and this marinade recipe delivered! I loved it so much, I decided it was indeed worth the extra ten minutes to make the marinade and I’ve done so about 5 more times. The only ingredient I needed to ensure that I have for this marinade is limes. All the other ingredients are common and you likely have them on hand.

grilled chicken

We usually prefer chicken thighs to breast, because they’re more moist and less expensive. Recently, I bought chicken breast by accident and used this marinade on it. I butterflied the large pieces and let it soak overnight. I could not believe how moist and soft it was! It was actually delicious, which is a bold statement for chicken breast.

One other quick notes is that it does require a kitchen tool that’s not as common. A zester is used for lemon or lime peel. It only takes a minute to zest and it’s not hard to do. Just run the fruit over the zester once, and keep rotating it (the fruit) a little bit at a time as you scrape it. No need to be perfect, though you don’t want to get too much of the white pith. You could also skip this step or buy some dried lemon peel (in the spice section).

Here are the simple ingredients used: