The Best Chicken Marinade Recipe

When I say this is the best chicken marinade recipe, I truly mean it. The chicken is always juicy, flavorful and delicious. Enjoy it over a salad or add your favorite sides for a healthy and yummy dinner or lunch.

Why You’ll Love This Chicken Marinade Recipe for Grilling

I’ve had this dish for about 70% of my lunches this summer, and on most nights, also for dinner. It’s quick, easy, healthy and yummy!

It’s the summer, and no one wants to slave by the stove, so a lot of my meals are quick and easy. This best ever chicken marinade recipe is so quick, and literally every time Mau and I eat it for dinner, he asks where the chicken came from.

I don’t know if he believes me when I tell him I made the marinade! 

Ingredients to Make the Quick Grilled Chicken Marinade

  • chicken breasts
  • olive oil
  • cumin
  • garlic powder
  • paprika
  • dried oregano
  • dried basil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • balsamic reduction or balsamic vinegar
The Best Chicken Marinade

The Secret Ingredient for the Best Chicken Marinade

The secret ingredient though is definitely the balsamic reduction. It brings an acidic sweetness to the chicken and round out the other herbs perfectly. Definitely do not skip this to make your chicken. 

The first time, on a whim, and then from memory because it turned out that good! F also likes it, so I’ve pressed repeat on this delicious best ever chicken marinade recipe more times than I can count.

The very best chicken marinade

How to Marinade Chicken for Grilling

Typically I grill the chicken for this marinade. I’m a sucker for those charred flavors of the grill. However, this chicken marinade would absolutely work for baked chicken as well.

The best part is that you don’t have to marinade your chicken overnight to get the flavors. Just a few minutes of the best chicken marinade and you’re ready to cook!

best chicken marinade recipe

Grilled Chicken Marinade

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2-4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken tenders (I like using the tenders, personally.)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried basil 
  • 1 tsp balsamic reduction or 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar (total game changer ingredient!)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • I like to start by tenderizing the chicken tender or breast. Pounding your chicken will make it juicier, tastier, and best of all, will help cook it faster! (If you’re using breasts, I would suggest you filet the breasts lengthwise, so you would end up with two halves.)Then salt and pepper generously and set aside.
  • Mix all of the dry ingredients together, then add the balsamic reduction or vinegar and mix with the olive oil.
  • Add your chicken and coat it in the mixture. You can let your chicken sit in the marinade for a little while.
  • Grill your chicken for 6-8 minutes on each side, and then tell me it’s not the very best chicken marinade recipe you’ve ever had!

 

Alina Orozco

Alina Orozco is a freelance writer with a weakness for hot dogs, the beach, dinner parties and DIY projects. She lives in Orange County, California with her husband, their two boys and an oversized Beagle named Benny.