A simple homemade marinade is the secret for perfect 🍗🎉👏🏻 Grilled Balsamic Chicken! Common pantry ingredients including balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and Italian seasoning combine to form an all-purpose chicken marinade that ensures super flavorful, juicy, and moist chicken! AMAZING tasting chicken doesn’t get any easier than this! Serve it for a quick, healthy, weeknight dinner or at your next summer barbeque!
Easy Grilled Balsamic Chicken Recipe
- If you’re looking for perfect grilled chicken every time, this is your new go-to grilled chicken recipe!
- The balsamic grilled chicken marinade is simple yet flavorful, it uses common pantry ingredients, and it seals great flavor and moisture into the chicken.
- I like to think of this recipe as an all-purpose grilled chicken recipe, similar to my Grilled Lemon Chicken, where everyone cleans their plate and the flavors are just nice – not boring, but not spicy – and kids and adults alike love this chicken!
- The marinade is also great for Grilled Pork Chops, too.
- When I grill I like to make sure to make enough that we have planned leftovers so I grilled 3 pounds of chicken breasts. My family tends to eat more chicken when it’s grilled compared to any other preparation so I plan ahead and make more than I know we need for that meal.
- You can halve the recipe if you don’t need as much chicken but it’s great for leftovers to have on hand for sandwiches, salads, just to nibble on for a high-protein snack, or freeze it.
- Whether you want to make this all-purpose grilled chicken for Memorial Day, graduation parties, Father’s Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, for a casual summery weeknight dinner, or an impromptu backyard bbq, it’s going to be a hit!
- No grill? No problem! You can bake it or make it using an indoor grill pan.
Ingredients in Balsamic Chicken Marinade
To make this all-purpose chicken marinade, you’ll want to combine the following and then add the chicken:
- Balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil
- Light brown sugar
- Worcestershire sauce
- Low sodium soy sauce
- Lemon juice
- Dijon mustard
- Dry seasonings: Italian seasoning, garlic powder (or garlic cloves), kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
- Chicken: I used boneless skinless chicken breasts although you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs. If the chicken is not of uniform thickness, you need to pound it.
- Optional fresh herbs for garnishing: Parsley, fresh basil, cilantro, oregano, rosemary, thyme, or others you have on hand.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Balsamic Grilled Chicken
- To a large ziptop plastic bag (or large bowl), add all the marinade ingredients, then add the chicken, seal the bag, and squish the chicken around (or toss and flip in the bowl with the balsamic marinade).
- Place the chicken in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours. I aim for 2-3 hours and then let it sit at room temperature for about 15 mins before you grill it.
- When you’re ready to grill, preheat your outdoor gas grill to medium-high, oil the grates, and when the grill is hot, add the chicken. Discard the excess marinade, although there isn’t all that much.
- Cook for about 5-6 minutes on the first side, and about 4-5 minutes on the second side. Grilling time varies by the thickness of your chicken and how hot your grill is.
- Always cook chicken to 160F as measured by a digital meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes, to allow the internal temperature to come up to 165F before slicing, optionally garnishing with fresh herbs, and slicing, and serving.
See the recipe card section below for oven-baking, using an indoor grill pan, and storage info for leftover chicken.
what to serve with grilled chicken
A simple little salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze, maybe a drizzle of lemon juice or extra virgin olive oil, that’s perfect. But feel free to serve it with your favorite salad, pasta salad, grilled veggies, and more.
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Grilled Balsamic Chicken
🍗🎉👏🏻Common pantry ingredients for this all-purpose chicken marinade that ensures super flavorful, juicy, and moist chicken! AMAZING tasting chicken doesn't get any easier than this! Makes for a quick, healthy, weeknight dinner or serve this at your next summer barbeque! See Notes below for Grill Pan or Oven-Baking Techniques.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ to cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to a uniform thickness (boneless chicken thighs may be substituted)
- Fresh herbs, optional for garnishing such as parsley, basil, mint, cilantro, etc.
Instructions
- To a large ziptop bag, add all the ingredients through and including the chicken, seal the bag, and squish the chicken around to evenly coat it. Alternatively, you may use a large mixing bowl for marinating the chicken, flip it around well, and seal it with plastic wrap.
- Place the chicken in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours. Tips – While 1 hour is fine, it's the bare minimum. I personally aim for 2-3 hours because that's realistic for how much planning ahead I usually can do. This isn't the type of marinade you'd want to let sit overnight though because it's fairly acidic which isn't great for the chicken texture.
- When you're ready to grill, oil the grill grates to prevent sticking, and preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Tips – Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter about 15 minutes prior to grilling (basically while the grill is preheating) because it will cook more evenly. For nice grill marks, make sure your grill has been properly preheated and that you're not starting with a cold or lukewarm grill.
- Place the chicken on the grill, discard the marinade, close the grill lid, and grill for about 5 minutes. Tip – Be VERY careful controlling the heat output and temperature of your grill. It's better to go lower and slower so take care that your grill isn't too hot.
- Flip the chicken and grill for another 4-5 minutes. Flip one last time, cooking for just a minute, or until the chicken is done. Chicken is done when it reaches 160F, allow it to rest on a plate for 5-10 minutes, the internal temp will rise to 165F, which is the safe consumption temperature.Flipping/Sticking Tip – If the chicken is sticking and doesn't want to flip, give in another 1-2 minutes. When protein is closer to being done, it will flip/release easier than when it's raw.Cooking Tips – Because all grills vary, temperatures vary, the thickness of the chicken varies, etc. grill your chicken for as long as necessary, until it's done. The minutes per side are just estimates, but you need to watch your chicken, not the clock.
- Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes to lock in the juices before optionally garnishing with fresh herbs; or sprinkle red pepper flakes for more heat, and/or add salt and pepper to taste. Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Stats: Not every drop of the marinade will be used and that’s where a large portion of the calories/fat are coming from (olive oil, brown sugar) so in a practical sense, the caloric and fat consumption will be less than indicated while the protein stat should remain unchanged.
Grill Pan: Preheat your grill pan over medium-high to high heat over your stove burners. Make sure you open your windows or ventilate your area. Indoor grilling is smoky business! When the grill pan is preheated properly, grill the chicken for about 5-6 minutes on the first side, flip, and grill for about 5 minutes on the second side. Because your stovetop will never get as hot as an actual grill, indoor cooking time on a grill pan may likely be longer. Always cook chicken until it’s done, which means 160F; rest it for 5-10 minutes off the heat so the internal temp rises to 165F, which is the safe temperature to consume chicken.
Oven Baking: Preheat your oven to 400F, place the marinated chicken pieces in a 9×13-inch baking dish or casserole dish, discard the marinade, and bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is done. Flip once midway through baking for more even cooking. Chicken is done when the internal temp has reached 165F. Baking time will vary based on how hot your oven runs, how thick the pieces of chicken are, etc. so make sure to cook it as long as necessary in your oven.
Storage: Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or as desired; or just eat cold from the fridge.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 388cal, Carbohydrates: 11g, Protein: 49g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 0.03g, Cholesterol: 145mg, Sodium: 950mg, Potassium: 957mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 92IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 47mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Very good grilled chicken
Thanks
This is the best chicken I have ever grilled. The marinade had the best flavor and the ingredients were everything I had on hand. 5 stars and above
Thanks for the 5 star review, Cheryl, and it’s wonderful to hear this is the BEST chicken you’ve ever grilled! That’s such high praise – thank you!