Grilled Chicken Breasts
A simple marinade ensures juicy, moist, tender, and flavorful chicken breasts every time. Leftovers can and should be used in different ways all week long!
Servings: 8 People
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Lemon Garlic Chicken Marinade
- 8 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 pounds)
Fresh Tomato Salsa to Serve (optional)
- 1 cup red cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup yellow cherry (or teardrop) tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 shallot (minced)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt (or to taste)
- freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Make the marinade and pour it into a large shallow container. Add the chicken breasts, turning to coat them well with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate from 12 to 24 hours.
- Just before grilling, if making the salsa, roughly chop the red and yellow cherry tomatoes and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the olive oil, shallot, basil, thyme, and salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade and pat them dry with pepper towels. Discard the remaining marinade.
- Heat the grill to medium high. Carefully oil the grill rack.
- Grill the chicken, turning once about halfway through the cooking time for simple grill marks on each side. Or, turn the chicken every two minutes or so a total of three times, so that you achieve cross-hatch grill marks (turn the chicken breasts a quarter turn as you flip them), until the chicken is cooked through, an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Remove the chicken from the grill to a cutting board and let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving, sliced or whole. Serve with the tomato salsa if desired.
Notes
There should be no traces (or only the barest faint traces) of pink inside when the chicken is done, and an internal thermometer should read 165 F when an instant-read thermometer is inserted at the thickest part. If you are cooking chicken thighs instead (and those would also be delightful with this marinade), let the internal temperature come up to 170 or 180 degrees.
Variations:
Garlic Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts: Replace the minced shallot with two cloves of garlic - here's how to mince garlic very finely.
Roasted Garlic Grilled Chicken Breasts: Instead of the minced shallot, use several cloves of roasted garlic in this marinade. Just smush it all up and blend it into the marinade. The roasted garlic adds a soft smoky garlic flavor.
Herbed Grilled Chicken Breasts: Add ¼ cup minced herbs (such as basil, thyme, sage, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and chervil) to the marinade. You can be more liberal with herbs like basil, parsley, and thyme, but use a lighter hand with stronger herbs like oregano or rosemary.
Nutrition
Calories: 3387kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 399g | Fat: 172g | Saturated Fat: 32g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 19g | Monounsaturated Fat: 104g | Trans Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 1161mg | Sodium: 3825mg | Potassium: 8199mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 2931IU | Vitamin C: 262mg | Calcium: 287mg | Iron: 19mg