Perfect Grilled Chicken Breasts - tender, juicy, delicious grilled chicken breasts that are perfect every time!
When you think of summer, you think of firing up the grill, right?
It's only natural- grilling goes with summer like peanut butter goes with jelly.
But the other thing that is kind of synonymous with summer grilling??
DRY.
CHICKEN.
Chicken is one of the easiest things to fall flat on the grill.
It can be dry, rubbery, and inedible- but it doesn't need to be!
This recipe for perfect, juicy, never-dry chicken couldn't be any easier.
We're using a few simple ingredients you probably already have on hand to make sure your chicken doesn't dry out on the grill- it's still perfect and flavorful even the next day in salads!
Table of contents
How to Marinate Grilled Chicken
One of the most important things to do to make sure your chicken never dries out, for juicy, tender, and crave-able grilled chicken is marinate your chicken before grilling.
Marinating your grilled chicken should not be skipped - it helps lock in tons of flavor and chicken's natural juices so you're not stuck with dry grilled chicken.
- Poke holes in the chicken with a fork or knife.
- This allows the marinade's flavor to sink in to the chicken better.
- Keep marinating chicken in airtight container.
- Food safety is incredibly important when cooking chicken - keep your chicken refrigerated until use.
- Refrigerate marinating chicken for at least 2 hours.
- Chicken marinade will flavor your chicken after about 2 hours in the marinade - you can grill after just two hours and still have tons of flavor.
- Refrigerate marinating chicken for up to two days.
- Chicken can be left in an airtight container in the refrigerator while marinating for up to two days.
- For extra juicy chicken, grill in foil pouch with marinade.
- Making a foil pouch for your chicken breasts in a little extra marinade and sealing it up before throwing it on the grill will give you incredibly juicy and tender chicken.
- Don't use leftover marinade.
- Food safety, yo.
- But really - don't use the marinade your raw chicken has been in on other dishes to cut the risk of cross contamination and salmonella.
Grilled Chicken Marinades
There are a ton of easy ways to infuse flavor in your grilled chicken marinade - try some of these amazingly delicious Grilled Chicken Marinade ideas!
- Asian Grilled Chicken Marinade
- Swap Italian Dressing for a sesame soy dressing and add scallions, garlic, ginger, and a dash of sriracha to the marinade for a delicious Asian Inspired twist!
- Teriyaki Grilled Chicken Marinade
- Swap the Italian dressing for 3 cups teriyaki sauce or teriyaki coconut aminos (for a keto swap) + 1 onion, sliced, and sesame seeds.
- Greek Grilled Chicken Marinade
- Use 1 cup olive oil, 1 cup white wine vinegar, 2 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp dried oregano, and the juice and zest of 1 lemon for your marinade.
- Cajun Butter Grilled Chicken Marinade
- Use 1-2 cups cajun butter (sold as an injectable marinade often) instead of soy sauce and Italian dressing. Add bell peppers and onions for even more flavor - grill with chicken for an all in one cajun grilled chicken dinner!
- Sweet Chili Grilled Chicken Marinade
- Swap Italian dressing for 1 cup soy sauce + ½ cup sweet chili sauce, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp sesame seeds, and 1 tbsp ginger for a delicious sweet and spicy grilled chicken marinade!
How To Freeze and Reheat Grilled Chicken
While I prefer fresh grilled chicken, sometimes you'll have leftovers you can't get to right away - or want to prep meals ahead of time.
These tips will help you freeze and reheat grilled chicken without drying it out.
Does Grilled Chicken Freeze Well
Grilled chicken freezes really well with a couple of tips and tricks:
- Don't cut up chicken before freezing.
- If you're grilling whole chicken breasts, don't cut them up when freezing to keep the surface area open to freezer burn less.
- Freeze chicken breasts individually to "set".
- We want to prevent chicken from sticking together in the freezer - since chicken frozen solid together will thaw a lot less evenly.
- To freeze individually, place on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Pop chicken breasts onto parchment paper and freeze until "set" - about 3-6 hours in the freezer.
- When chicken has initially frozen, remove from baking sheet and add to ziploc or vacuum sealed bag and freeze up to one month.
- Remove any extra air from container or bag when freezing.
- To prevent freezer burn, be sure to remove as much extra air in the bag as you can.
Other Delicious Grilled Recipes You'll Love:
If you love this delicious, juicy, never-dry grilled chicken recipe be sure to check out my other favorite grilled dishes!
Simply click the links below to find the easy printable recipes of my favorite grilled dishes.
- The Best Smoked Chicken Recipe
- Sweet Chili Asian Salmon Burgers Recipe
- The Best Grilled Corn on the Cob Recipe
- Spicy Grilled Flank Steak with Lime
- Spicy Grilled Watermelon
- Perfect Grilled Souvlaki
- The Best Grilled Chicken Strips
- The Best Garlic Grilled Flank Steak Recipe
What To Serve With Grilled Chicken
If you're looking for delicious dishes to serve with grilled chicken check out some of our favorite sides below:
You can find our entire side dish recipe index here.
Find our BBQ style sides here.
Recipe FAQs
Grilled chicken can be stored for up to four days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Perfect Grilled Chicken Breasts
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Perfect Grilled Chicken Breasts
Delicious, never-dry juicy and flavorful Perfect Grilled Chicken Breasts are perfect for cookouts and picnics - or even chopped up cold for a sack lunch salad, wrap, or sandwich!
Ingredients
- 6 chicken breasts
- 12 oz Italian dressing
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Put chicken breasts in a large zip bag and cover with Italian dressing, garlic powder, and soy sauce.
- Gently squeeze the air out of the bag.
- Shake bag so all the chicken is covered with dressing.
- Place the bag in a bowl and refrigerate overnight.
- Pre-heat and clean grill- rubbing ½ an onion on the hot grill cleans and flavors the grates.
- Remove chicken from bag with marinade.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook chicken on medium high heat until 165 internal temperature, about 15 minutes.
- Enjoy when hot, or refrigerate and use for s sack-lunch.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 345Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 102mgSodium 1480mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 0gSugar 6gProtein 38g
Linda
Thanks for sharing the recipe, will give this a try. Sounds wonderful .
C.M.
If the previous poster does not like ad, just exit the site. She doesn't have to make rude comments, especially she doesn't have to pay a cent for this recipe. Thank you for posting this recipe and tips. I'll try it this week.
Ann
Courtney, can't wait to try this grilled chicken recipe. I was wondering if you would share the name of the Italian dressing you are using - I've not seen a dressing that resembles yours, but it looks yummy! Thanks & keep posting~
Courtney ODell
Hi Ann! I just grab the cheapest store brand bottle for Italian Dressing - I usually shop at Kroeger and grab their in-house brand!
Kerry
So many helpful hints that really worked well (especially the foil pouches)! Thank you for the delicious recipe- made it tonight--best chicken I've had in a long time... And I love the alternate marinade ideas- looking forward to trying those another night. Thank you again.
Linda S Gartrell
Thank you for your recipe. I am going to try it today!
As far as ads go.. I have no problem with that. I have a website, it's part of doing business. Julie, please keep that in mind when making comments.
I will say that it seems that many recipes I pull up, I get 3 pages of "life stories" that I have to read before I get to the actual instructions, which drives me a little batty. I think a brief comment that is light hearted, or humorous is good, but pages upon pages.. just too much. LOL.
Glad you have your recipe and brief notes about it.. some of us just want to know how it works, that it's yummy and appreciate the time one puts into putting the recipe on line.
susan hussey
This sounds so yummy. I'm going to make it tonight. Thanks for the recipie!!
Annette
I'm trying to diet and always looking for new chicken recipes. I can't wait to try this in a foil wrap. Thank you!
Shelley
This has some great info on grilling chicken! Thanks! Can’t wait to try this marinade in a foil pouch. ??
Julie
Could your site have any more ads? Awful and unusable. Will never be back.
Courtney ODell
Hey Julie,
Do you know how much time and money goes into running a site like this? Just expenses run into the thousands of dollars a month (hosting a website, paying for software that displays recipes, paying for share buttons, image storage, ingredients for recipes to develop, tech support, etc etc etc...) so while I understand nobody loves ads, I have them in my site because this has become a fulltime job, and as such, I made the choice to make money from this project for my family.
If you don't like ads, there are a ton of subscription sites - or recipe ebooks - that charge upfront instead of making money off putting up free content with ads. I don't add them lightly - but I believe everyone should be paid appropriately for their work, and that includes my own site.
Mari
Mari * 08/05/18
Hi Courtney :
Good answer, I just loved your recipe which
I’m Trying it out today since my grilled chicken
is always dry. I didn’t pay attention nor noticed
the advertisement. Thank u so much
Mari
T
Hi. I never comment. NEVER! And everything I cook bombs terribly even when I follow the recipe. This was absolutely delicious. Amazing. Everyone loved it. Only had Ken’s creamy Italian in the house only had 20 min to marinade. Thank you so much! They all wanted more abs there wasn’t any. That never happens. This is not a fake comment. I am the worst cook. I don’t even like half the food I make. Thanks for the win. I’m thrilled.
Cynthia
Hi Courtney,
Thank you for explaining why so many blogs have a lot of ads. I support your rationale & wish you continued success. I will continue to read your recipes & posts.
Jamira
Well that was very rude after this lovely woman took the time out to give us a delicious recipe and grilling tips. Thank you and I will be trying it later on today in a Caesar salad. Quick and not too heavy for summer. Can’t wait ?
Cathy
What do you do with the soy sauce?
Courtney ODell
Add it in the marinade with the salad dressing 🙂