Lemon Pepper Marinade and The Most Delicious Grilled Chicken
Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs Or Chicken Breasts
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Stir the chicken in the marinade so each piece is coated. Cover the bowl of chicken with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the fridge and stir the chicken around a bit more. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 10-15 more minutes.
- Preheat your grill for direct heat grilling. For this recipe, I usually just use my gas grill. Remove the chicken from the fridge and place each piece on the grill grates. Before you place them on the grill you can also lightly season them with your favorite salt and pepper based BBQ rub, or just salt and pepper. Don’t dump the marinade. You will use it to baste the chicken. Flip the chicken every 3-5 minutes, making sure to not create too much of a char. Baste each side of the chicken once with the marinade that is remaining in the bowl.
Blog Post
One of the earliest smells I remember in life is when I would walk down the street during the summer as a kid. It seemed several houses would always have the grill going, and the unique, delicious smell of grilled chicken was in the air. The smell was amazing, but a lot of the time, the chicken was unbearably dry. Chicken is light, and delicious, but a lot of people have a hard time not drying it out. This recipe will help combat this challenge, and hopefully these tips and tricks will help you out.
The cut of chicken that usually ends up drying out the most is the breast. My strongest tip for keeping chicken breast as moist as possible is to make sure your temperatures are spot on. The recommended internal temperature for chicken is 165 degrees F. Most people that dry out chicken breast cook the dang things to 170-190 degrees F. If you want moist chicken breast, make sure you pull those things off the grill to rest when they reach 163-165 degrees F.
My next tip for moist, tender chicken is my best tip. Chicken thighs. Yep. Change the cut you are using, and you will immediately notice a huge difference. Not only is thigh meat more tender, it is more temperature forgiving. For this recipe, do yourself a favor and find 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs. This can be an almost fool-proof solution to our friends that cook chicken to death. With chicken thighs, you can take them anywhere from 165-185 degrees F. Thigh meat has more fat in it, and the hotter it goes within these temperature ranges, the more it breaks down and creates a juicy result. If you want juicy grilled chicken, use thigh meat.
One of my favorite parts of this recipe, is that the chicken doesn’t need to marinate as long. A lot of recipes out there call for 8-16 hours for the chicken to marinate. This recipe only takes 30-40 mins. The marinating time is so short because of the awesome ingredients. This recipe is designed to create a nice, light flavor that will feed you even on a hot day. Fire up your grill, and enjoy these great summer flavors!