This is such a great Chicken Marinade – it infuses chicken with savoury flavour as well as making it extra juicy! Particularly great for chicken breast though it can be used for any cut.
Use it for a quick 30 minute marinade, though it’s even better if you can leave it for longer!
Chicken Marinade
99% of the time I use this chicken marinade, it’s an emergency eek, gotta do something with that chicken before it goes off! type situation.
And therein lies the beauty of this marinade. It’s the quick-fix for any cut of chicken, and there’s tons of substitution options so you can make it anytime without having to run out to the shops.
It’s savoury with a hint of sweet, and makes the chicken extra juicy which is especially great for chicken breast.
This chicken marinade is sensational for grilled chicken!
Loads of substitution options
Here are the ingredients for the chicken marinade. I’ve listed some of the obvious alternatives here, but there’s actually substitutions for every single ingredient – even soy sauce (just use salt and water, that’s a basic brine mix).
Don’t you wish there were more recipes as flexible as this where I could still guarantee a great outcome??😂
What chicken to use?
This marinade will work for any cut of chicken (bone in or out, skin on or off) though it’s especially good for chicken breast because it’s a fast acting flavour injector that adds juiciness into this lean cut of chicken.
How long to marinade chicken?
3 hours to overnight is best. But for chicken breast or boneless thigh, even 30 minutes is effective – you’ll be surprised how much extra flavour you get from such a quick marinade!
Cooking options?
You’ll see that I cook it on the stove in the recipe video below, and it’s ideal for stove, BBQ or broiler/grill because you’ll get lovely browning on the chicken.
If you want to bake this, it’s best to finish it off with a blast under the broiler/grill to get some colour on it. Because colour = flavour, especially for a marinade like this!
How to serve it
Because the chicken sucks up the marinade and makes it extra juicy, you’ll find a good amount of juices pools on the plate as the chicken rests which sort of serves as the sauce. Plus the chicken itself is loaded with juiciness so you’re not going to be missing a sauce here.
Make up a mighty chicken salad, or serve it for dinner with a side salad. It’s pictured below with a Strawberry Spinach Salad that’s coming on Wednesday. One of the best new salads I’ve tried in a while!
Otherwise, try making a big batch of Lemon Potato Salad, Coleslaw, Broccoli Salad or Macaroni Salad that you can keep in the fridge and serve up for days. I’m fond of these because they’re the type of salads that are even better the next day, and the next! ~ Nagi x
My all time Top 5 favourite chicken marinades
It was a hard call, but here’s my Top 5 6…
Greek Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki – long time reader favourite!
Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken – the flavour in this is outrageously good
Chicken Shawarma (Middle Eastern) – the smell when this is cooking is unbelievable!
Marinated Thai Chicken (Gai Yang) – you will seriously think you’re in Bangkok…
Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce – skip the skewers and just use whole chicken pieces!
Honey Soy Chicken – the glossy serving sauce is the cherry on top
Or browse all Chicken recipes (there’s loads more chicken marinades!)
Watch how to make it
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A great Chicken Marinade (great grilled or pan seared!)
Ingredients
- 700g / 1.4 lb chicken breast, tenderloins or thigh (Note 1)
Chicken marinade (subs Note 3):
- 2 tbsp honey OR brown sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil (or any oil)
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano (or rosemary, thyme, minced herbs)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper , ground
Garnishes (optional)
- Finely chopped parsley
- Lemon slices
Instructions
- Recommended: Pound breast to even thickness using a meat pounder, rolling pin, or fist. OR cut large ones in half horizontally to form 2 cutlets (steaks) for each.
- Mix marinade in a ziplock bag (or container in which chicken fits snugly). Add chicken.
- Marinate 3 hours to overnight, though even 30 minutes is effective. (Note 2)
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, and cook chicken per times below until deep golden (see video). If browning too quickly, lower heat.
- Transfer to serving plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 3 minutes before serving, garnished with parsley and lemon slices if desired.
Cook times:
- Whole breast and boneless thighs: 3 – 4 minutes each side (internal temp 165F/75C)
- Cutlets and tenderloin – 2 minutes each side
Recipe Notes:
- Brown sugar – sub 2 tbsp white sugar, 1.5 tbsp honey, maple syrup
- Soy – any normal, all purpose soy or light soy good here, or tamari, mushroom soy sauce. If you have sweet soy or kecap manis, skip sugar. Dark soy sauce not recommended (label will say “dark soy).
- No soy? Dissolve 1 tsp salt in 4 tbsp water, then use in place of soy sauce.
- Only got DARK soy? Use 2 tbsp then add 3/4 tsp salt and 3 tbsp water instead of 5 tbsp soy sauce.
- Lemon – sub with less sharp vinegars like cider vinegar, white wine or red wine vinegar, rice vinegar. Or 1.5 tbsp other vinegars (normal white vinegar, balsamic)
- Worcestershire – dollop of ketchup or BBQ sauce would be a decent sub there! Say 2 tbsp, then cut down sugar. HP Sauce, steak sauce or other savoury sauces also good.
- Garlic – 3 tsp from jar, or 3/4 tsp dried garlic powder good here. Also 1/4 tsp onion powder would be nice too.
- Dried herbs – anything is the go here, go with what you like. Fresh won’t really work here, too delicate unless doing a short marinade. Exception – fresh rosemary is terrific, 1 tsp finely chopped.
- Breast and boneless thighs – bake 18 minutes at 425F/220C oven, or internal temperature is 165F/75C, followed by quick grill/broil on high to brown
- Drumsticks, wings and bone in thighs – 50 minutes at 180C/350F, basting with juices once or twice
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Reunited after a week apart! It’s only been an hour or so and he’s already so sick of the smoochy hugs 😂
Delicious! Used it on small, 5 ounce boneless chicken breasts and then did them in the air fryer: 375 degrees for 9 minutes. Perfect!
THIS is the BEST chicken marinade ever!!! Have used it often & will keep doing so 🙂
This recipe did not disappoint! Followed it faithfully and it turned out absolutely delicious!
We LOVED it!
My hub has a “food snob palate” (insert me rolling my eyes here) and he gives it two thumbs up! Definitely recommend. Can’t wait to try your other marinade formulas.
Thank you, Nagi! : )
This marinade was just perfect on every level. Loved that I had everything already on hand. This was so good that my spouse said this better be printed out and in the recipe book!
Everyone always loves this chicken. I always make it with Nagi’s macaroni salad so that leftover pasta salad can also be eaten with a hardboiled egg or two (for the folks in our family who like that sort of thing). The marinated chicken is also fabulous chopped up on a sandwich with lots of fresh greens.
This is our go to chicken and pork marinade recipe. You can’t go wrong!
I tried this and paired it with pesto pasta. 🙂 It was good. I also used gluten-free soy sauce, garlic & onion powder.
Full of flavour and very simple!
I used chicken tenderloins and cooked then on the BBQ. Turned out super soft and delicious.
Australia this was devine. Cannot believe how simple yet super tasty it was. Used chicken thighs fillets, hubby grilled on BBQ – yum yum
So delicious and easy – absolutely make sure you beat those breasts it makes the world of difference! Thanks Nagi for your amazing work
YOU ARE GREAT! THANKS
Yep! I previously commented on how I loved all your substitute suggestions, but hadn’t made it yet. I made it today and it was phenomenal! I doubled the recipe and marinated 2 pounds of chix thighs and grilled them. Now I have many meals! Chix Caesar salad, chix pesto pasta, and a really good chix sandwich on the horizon! Thanks! A definite keeper.
I made this for dinner and served the chicken as the protein for my vietnamese spring roll filled with butter lettuce, thai basil and fresh mint. So delicious!!
I made the chicken marinade tonight with breast fillets cut in half & marinated for about 12 hours. We (hubby) found it very salty. I found it tolerable. How could I fix this?
PS the chicken was very juicy & tender.
Excellent!
Loved, loved, loved this recipe. Good chance I omitted sugar and can’t eat garlic so omitted that as well (and not a fan of garlic powder). Still delicious.
This marinade was great for tenderizing some pre-frozen skinless boneless chicken breast meat that tends to be tough when cooked. It was so delicious but next time I’ll reduce the honey by half because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Thank you for sharing this!
Loved this. Subs – didn’t have any lemons so used apple cider vinegar and only had thyme for herbs. Used low salt soy as gave to toddlers. Honey instead of sugar. Used thighs. So easy and tastes great.
Wow! This recipe is absolutely amazingly yummy! My adult family gives it six stars! It was super easy but doesn’t taste that way. I cooked in the pan and prefer brown sugar than honey. The glaze on this was delicious! I only marinaded it for 20 minutes. I can’t wait to try with a longer marinade.
Lastly, wanted to add that when I try a recipe I may need to tweak, add my own flare or combine two or three different recipes. Today, was in hurry so the only thing I did do is double the sauce because we used more chicken breasts. YUMMY! Wow!
🐾 💜 LOVE YOU BOZER! .
Yummy marinade! I ended up baking it with the skin and it turned out so good. I took it an extra step and thickened the marinade with cornstarch as a sauce for a perfect meal prep with veggies!