Juicy tender chicken in a mouthwatering marinade, skewered, and grilled to perfection? SIGN ME UP! This grilled chicken marinade is literally the best! This easy chicken marinade recipe is my go-to every time I grill chicken.
Chicken Marinade Ingredients
I know I’ve spoken about the lack of cold weather in South Florida previously, but I guess it’s ok because that means it’s grilling season year round. This marinade is simple, quick, and will have you marinating chicken in it AT LEAST once a week.
This marinade is a staple in our household, if chicken is going on the grill… it’s most likely being marinaded in this recipe. To be honest these ingredients came together randomly. I wanted to marinate some chicken and I just foraged around my pantry for staple ingredients to use.
The honey in the marinade gives the chicken a subtle glaze on the outside and a beautiful browned color when cooked. The soy sauce is the natural salt in the dish which helps give the chicken a rich flavor and beautiful color once cooked.
The star of this marinade is the beer. Yes, I said beer. My favorite beer to use is a Guinness stout, but we frequently use other beers like IPA’s, Wheat, etc. Honestly, this is the best way to get rid of beers you don’t like and will translate subtly into your meat. The beer helps break down and tenderize the chicken while marinating, resulting in juicy tender meat.
Vegetables
This marinade can be used with full chicken breasts and paired with a side dish. My favorite way to eat it though is on a skewer along with vegetables. You can choose your favorite vegetables, I usually use: red onion, assorted bell peppers, zucchini, and whole garlic cloves.
Cut the bell peppers and red onion into large squares, slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices, and peel the garlic and leave them whole. The whole garlics get perfectly charred and soft when grilled with the other veggies and are for sure my favorite part of the skewer.
After cutting the veggies I just put a little olive oil, salt & pepper, and toss it around to coat. Now comes the skewering!
Skewering
When skewering the chicken, you can follow any order you would like. If using bamboo skewers, make sure to soak them prior to skewering to avoid them burning on the grill. I recommend not putting the zucchini on the outside, because they tend to easily fall off the skewer when cooking due to the water releasing and them shrinking a bit. I also double up the onion pieces since they are thin.
Grilling
Place the skewers on a medium/high heat grill and grill until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. While cooking, rotate them every so often with tongs so that each side gets evenly cooked.
Once done, you’re left with beautifully charred, juicy, tender meat! Enjoy!
Looking for other grill recipes?
- Grilled Jerk Chicken Skewers
- Marinated Steak Skewers with Chimichurri
- Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers
- Fall-Off-The-Bone Dry Rub Ribs
- Marinated Flank Steak
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The Best Grilled Chicken Marinade
A marinade that incorporates honey, soy sauce, and beer, to leave you with the juiciest most tender grilled chicken. Paired with vegetables, placed on skewers, the best grilled meal!
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 1 1/2lbs bonesless skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder, or 1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 can of beer (Guinness stout or beer of choice)
Vegetables
- 3 bell peppers, trimmed, stems removed, and sliced into squares
- 1 zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 inch slices
- Cloves from 1 head of garlic, peeled
- 1 red onion, peeled, sliced into squares
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Clean chicken breast and cut into roughly 1 inch cube pieces
- In a large bowl add all the ingredients (minus the beer) and whisk together. Once mixed, pour in beer, and stir to combine. Add in chicken, mix, cover with a lid or wrap, and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours.
- While chicken is marinating, slice up all of your vegetables that are going onto the skewers. Once done, drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix to coat the vegetables.
- Once the marinade is complete, taking the skewer, layer vegetables and chicken, until the skewer is full.
- Grill until meat is fully cooked through (165 degrees) and vegetables are charred.
- Serve alone, or pair with a side.
Notes
- If using wooden skewers, make sure to soak them in water prior to grilling so they do not burn or catch fire when cooking.
- Internal temperature of chicken should be 165 degrees
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 343Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 53mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 2gSugar: 13gProtein: 20g
*Note: Nutrition information is an estimate. Values vary based on different brands and ingredients*
How could I prep this for a camp trip? Could they be frozen?
Hi Cami! I haven’t tried freezing the chicken in the marinade myself, but you can definitely do that! It can keep for up to 8 months in the freezer. I think it would be a great addition to your camping trip.
Surprised how high the carb count is. Is it the honey?
Marinade’s are tough to calculate because you discard most of it once you remove the chicken and a lot cooks off on the grill too. My nutritional calculator doesn’t account for that, just all the ingredients used in the marinade.
I made this, but marinated beef cubes instead of chicken. My entire family LOVED IT; there were no leftovers!
My husband asked that I keep this meal in rotation. Thanks for the recipe – EXCELLENT flavor.
Carolyn I’m so happy that you and your family loved the recipe! Great idea to use it on beef, I’ll have to try that!
How long is the maximum for marinating? Was thinking of doing overnight?
Hi Erin, overnight will be fine! Keep it under 24 hours, because then it can affect the texture.