These are THE best grilled chicken breast you will ever have in your life. The super easy grilled chicken marinade keeps the chicken so incredibly juicy that these will become the next grilled chicken breast legend.
Y’all… I. CAN’T. EVEN.
If you never thought that a grilled chicken breast could be a legend, then you were wrong, my friend. Wrong.
Summer always brings me to my happy place. Warm weather, flip flops, and grillin’. Eh- who the heck am I kidding? I live in Florida. It’s pretty much summer here 11 months out of the year, but the real summer is sometimes D-R-E-A-D-F-U-L. It’s soooooo hot.
But, no matter whether it’s a million degrees or below 32 degrees outside you can always have this amazing legendary grilled chicken breast.
How, one may ask? Well, it was most definitely raining when I wanted to grill these on our gas grill, so I opted for my cast iron grill pan (on the stovetop) instead, and O-to the-M-G.
Steps to Making the best Dang Grilled Chicken Breast:
- Marinate– I would HIGHLY suggest you marinate these overnight or for up to 2 days. Seriously. Out. of. this. world. Period. This is the BEST grilled chicken marinade. Hands down.
- Grill– you can use a charcoal grill, gas grill, or the amazing cast iron grill pan that we used for these.
The marinated chicken after marinating for 2 days ↓. Word.
Cast iron grill pan, baby. ↓
For smaller meals (like grilling chicken breast) this is THE way to go. I wouldn’t even try to grill my shish kabobs on this bad boy because there are just too many, but just grilling chicken breasts on this, my kitchen rockstars, totally just rocks.
I sliced them up for photographic purposes because they just look so dang purdy, huh? Having guests? Slice ’em up, throw some freshly chopped parsley on top and become the kitchen gangsta of your inner circle. The chopped parsley is totally optional but it totally makes it look restaurant-y for your guests. It just adds that special touch that always seems to be missing on a good ‘ol chicken breast. ;)
And seriously, do you see the inside of this grilled chicken breast? ↓ Not one dry shred of meat in there. It’s so juicy you will need some napkins for this chicken.
It’s legendary.
What We Used for this recipe to make it delish!
Note: If you don’t own an outside grill or need a backup in case the weather isn’t right I highly suggest the pan below (*affiliate link):
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Lodge Pro-Logic Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Square Grill Pan, 12-inch (it’s what we used for this recipe). Get it here: http://amzn.to/2a0Uwym.
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Best & Juiciest Grilled Chicken Breast
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4 -6 chicken breasts
This is the best grilled chicken breast you will ever have in your life. The super easy marinade keeps the chicken so incredibly juicy that these will become the next grilled chicken breast legend.
Ingredients
- 2.5lbs (4-6 large) chicken breasts
For the Marinade
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (we used white balsamic)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 small (or 2 large) garlic cloves, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
- Large handful parsley, chopped (roughly 4 "loose/heaping" Tablespoons
- salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
For the Marinade
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag add soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, brown sugar, Worcestershire, dijon mustard, dried thyme, chopped garlic, lime juice, and salt/pepper to taste.
- Seal bag tightly and shake. Open bag and add chicken. Seal tightly. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but preferably 1-2 days, flipping bag over 1-2 times a day.
To Grill Chicken
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat. When hot, grab a chicken breast (one at a time) from the bag with tongs and shake off excess marinade into bag. Add to grill.
- Grill chicken, flipping once, for 5-8 minutes on each side*, or until chicken is cooked through, being careful not to overcook. Remove from grill (or grill pan).
- Let rest 5 minutes then serve immediately.
Notes
* cook chicken according to size. Smaller chicken breasts usually take 5 min, while larger ones take about 8 min per side. ** If you want to be a kitchen rockstar and "dress" to impress then add chopped parsley to the top of the chicken before serving.
Serve with our:
This delish post contains affiliate links to our fav online store, Amazon. The links are products we use and love. Promise.
Another Reader Fav Chicken Recipe!
This is THE BEST chicken marinade EVER!!! Thanks!
Thanks Melinda! So glad you enjoyed it!
Can this be made without sugar …
Yes, it can! I would replace it with honey. Enjoy!
Even if the pic alone didn’t make me want to try this, your love and description for this chicken definitely did! The marinade sounds great.. I’m definitely going to give this a try this weekend!
Crystal let us know what you think! It’s one of our absolute favs!
This is the best grilled chicken recipe ever; so tender and flavorful. The perfect blend of ingredients. Thank you so much for sharing.
So glad you loved the recipe Carol! It’s one of our fav’s and go-to’s! :)
The recipe says to serve immediately, so would it be suitable for meal prepping ?
Yes, this can be used for meal prep!
Marinating my chicken breasts now!! Can’t wait to grill em tmrw and taste this!
I made this yesterday. It was really good! Am I missing the nutritional values?
This is the best grilled chicken! I forgot to mark this as a favorite and have used other recipes. They’ve been ok… but, now I’m so excited! It’s the Fourth of July and we get to celebrate with your awesome recipe!
I love hearing stuff like this! Glad you loved them. Hope you had a great 4th!
I love this recipe! Discovered it last month and have already made it 3or 4 more times. I even tested the length of marinating. I like 36 hours the best. And I’m now test to see how it freezes. Have several marinated breasts in the freezer…
I was blindly surfing for grilled chicken recipes when I came across yours. You totally nailed it with this dish. Everyone raved. I guess it comes down to you’re basically brining the meat, a la brined turkey, but using soy sauce as the salt component. First time, I used boneless breasts, but there was a deal on bone -n chicken breasts, so skinning those and applying your marinade again. Thanks for the recipe! Michele G.
This sounds really good. I’m looking forward to trying it. One question, though: Should the parsley be added to the marinade or only sprinkled on at the end? The picture of the chicken after marinating seems to show parsley in the marinade, but the instructions don’t mention it until the notes.
This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to make it, but is there a way to substitute the brown sugar?
I was looking for a way to add some extra flavor to grilled chicken to be used in a lettuce salad, and this recipe works perfectly for that. The only thing I’m confused about is the parsley mentioned in the ingredients. Is it meant to be added to the marinade or only sprinkled on top after it’s been cooked. It’s only mentioned in the Notes, not the Instructions, but the picture of the marinating chicken looks like there’s parsley in there.
Sometimes I add parsley before into the marinade and sometimes I don’t. Completely up to you and what you have on hand!
Did this last week on grill! Awesome! How long should these be cooked in iron skillet?.
May I know what is Medium-High heat? Is there an accurate temperature? Thanks!
Just made the marinade tonight for 2 large chicken breasts. We’ll have it tomorrow evening with veggies. and a salad. Will let you know how it comes out. I’ll put it on the electric grill. It smells lovely. I also put a bit of orange juice in it as I had a bit left over. Thanks…
My family absolutely LOVED this chicken!! We couldn’t stop eating it. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
So glad!
Hey Jen!
It’s my nephew Caleb’s 16th birthday today & he’s spending it at Myrtle Beach.
When he get’s back tomorrow, he’s coming over to my house for a cook-out.
I wanted the absolute best marinade for chicken breast. Girl, you have it, & I am going to use it!
Thanks so much for sharing!
~Angie in NC
Thanks so much Angie! You totally rock. :)
Looks amazing, can’t wait to try it out! Just wanted to mention, in your instructions, I believe you forgot to include parsley when you say what to put in the ziploc. I see it says to include in the marinade in the ingredients section of the recipe but might confuse some people since you say it’s optional to garnish with parsley when serving. I was unsure at first but then saw parsley in your marinade picture. Anyways, thank you for sharing, excited to try it!