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Grilled Chicken Breast

Chicken breasts are marinated in a flavor packed chicken marinade, then grilled to tender, juicy perfection! An easy chicken breast recipe that the entire family will love!

Grilled Chicken Breast on a white cutting board
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Chicken breasts that are marinated in a flavor-packed marinade, then grilled to tender, juicy perfection! This is an easy chicken breast recipe that the entire family will love.

I use this grilled chicken breast for my fantastic Grilled Chicken Burgers!

Make sure to make your very own Chicken Marinade for this recipe! A great pairing for this would be some Grilled Veggies! Or why not learn how to make the incredible Creamy Mushroom Tarragon Chicken?

Grilled Chicken Breast on a white cutting board

Grilled Chicken Breast

Chicken breasts are one of the most dependable and reliable cuts of meat there is. Requiring only some good temperature management, chicken breasts are a simple, delicious, and cheap source of protein.

However, just because chicken breasts are simple doesn’t mean that you can’t make them that little bit more special.

Why not try improving its flavor with some delicious ingredients and then grilling it over high heat to make a juicy, smoky, and flavorful chicken breast instead?

Grilled Chicken Breasts ingredients in small bowls

Grilled Chicken Breast  Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

• Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

• Chicken marinade

• Chopped parsley

Grilled Chicken Breast in a bag with marinade

How To Make Grilled Chicken Breast

• Prepare your marinade according to the recipe instructions

• Place one chicken breast inside a large plastic zip-top bag

• Use the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin, and pound until the meat is ½ inch thick and repeat with the remaining chicken breasts

• Place the chicken pieces into a large zip-top plastic bag and pour the marinade into the bag, covering the chicken completely

• Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 2-3 hours, occasionally turning to make sure all areas of the chicken are marinated

• Preheat the grill and, when the grill is hot, brush and oil the grill

• Remove the chicken from the marinade and place it on the hot grill

• Brush with the marinade from the container and then discard the marinade

• Move the chicken out of the flame if there are any flare-ups

• Cook the chicken, occasionally flipping, until the meat reaches 165 Fahrenheit on an instant-read thermometer

• Remove from the grill, let sit for 5 minutes and then serve, garnished with fresh parsley

Grilled Chicken Breasts in a line on a cutting board

What To Do If The Chicken Is Burning Before The Inside Is Finished Cooking?

Cooking chicken breasts can sometimes feel like a race against time – you want to get those gorgeous, delicious grill marks, but you also want to ensure that the inside of the chicken completely cooks, all while avoiding accidentally burning those grill marks and blackening the chicken.

Thanks to the flattening step of this recipe, the meat should be suitably thin and easy to cook quickly, which should help you to achieve a quick-cooking chicken breast with nice grill marks, but what should you do if this is still doesn’t work?

If you are struggling with accidentally over or under-cooking the chicken, try and flip the chicken repeatedly while it is on the grill.

This is a great trick to help ensure that the meat doesn’t overcook on the outside while still giving the interior time to come up to temperature.

However, if you are finding that the inside of your chicken is still raw while the outside is becoming charred, you just need to turn your heat down a little bit. If it is too late and the chicken is already too blackened, move the chicken off of the heat on the grill and give it time to cool, allowing the heat to move into the center of the chicken breast.

From there, try re-adding the chicken back to the flame and allow it to cook slowly and more evenly; hopefully, the outside shouldn’t get too blackened before the interior has a chance to finish cooking.

Grilled Chicken Breast sliced on a cutting board

What To Do If Pounding The Chicken Thin Makes Too Much Of A Mess

This recipe, like many others that use chicken breasts, has you pound a chicken breast completely flat to help facilitate more even cooking. By pounding it nice and flat, there is basically no difference between the inside and the outside of the chicken breast, resulting in a more even cooking time, as well as a crispier exterior.

However, pounding a chicken breast is a little bit messy, to say the least.

Chicken juices flying everywhere, plastic wrap and your meat mallet getting messy and disgusting – how do you keep the mess down?

For starters, you can either contain your chicken breast in a Ziploc-style bag or wrap it multiple times in plastic wrap. This helps to keep all of the juices totally contained and stop them from splashing all over the place.

You can also use something larger and wider than a meat mallet, such as big stainless steel or cast iron frying pan. The added size of the pan will help to contain any of the splashing juices and make a bit less of a mess.

Finally, you could also not flatten the meat at all but instead, butterfly your chicken breast.

To butterfly, you just make a cut about halfway up the chicken breast while pressing down on the breast with your other hand. With a slight sawing motion, cut through the chicken breast, but stopping just before you slice through the whole thing, allowing you to open the chicken breast like a book and get a similarly thin cut of chicken breast, perfect for the grill.

Looking for more delicious Chicken Breast recipes? Try these out:

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Pan Fried Chicken Breast

The Best Chicken à la King

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

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Chicken breasts that are marinated in a flavor-packed marinade, then grilled to tender, juicy perfection!

Grilled Chicken Breast

Chicken breasts are marinated in a flavor packed chicken marinade, then grilled to tender, juicy perfection! An easy chicken breast recipe that the entire family will love!
Grilled Chicken Breast on a white cutting board
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Calories
258
Author
Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients
 

  • 4 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
  • 1 batch chicken marinade
  • chopped parsley to garnish

Instructions
 

  • Prepare the marinade according to the recipe instructions.
  • Place one chicken breast inside a large plastic zip-top bag.
  • Use the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin and pound until the meat is 1/2-inch thick. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.
  • Place the chicken pieces into a large zip-top plastic bag. Pour the marinade into the bag, covering the chicken completely.
  • Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 2-3 hours, turning occasionally to make sure all areas of the chicken are marinated.
  • Preheat the grill. When the grill is hot, brush and oil the grill.
  • Remove the chicken from marinade and place on the hot grill. Brush with the marinade from the container then discard the marinade.
  • Move the chicken out of the flame if there is a flare up at any time!
  • Cook, watching carefully for flare-ups, until the meat has reached 165°F.
  • Remove and let sit for 5 minutes, then serve. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

Recipe Notes

  • This will also work on chicken pieces with skin as well

Nutrition Information

Calories: 258kcal, Protein: 48g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 145mg, Sodium: 262mg, Potassium: 836mg, Vitamin A: 68IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 11mg, Iron: 1mg

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

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