Grilled Lemon Chicken — 🍋🍗🙌🏻 EASY, ready in 10 minutes, and the chicken is so TENDER, juicy, and full of LEMON flavor! With grilled broccoli or your favorite veggies on the side, this is a summery dinner recipe that’s perfect for grilling season!
Table of Contents
Spring and summer means grilling season and I am always looking for flavorful marinades and recipes to keep in my repertoire that are are super easy to whisk together with ingredients we all have on hand. And this is exactly that type of marinade and recipe.
You probably have everything in your fridge and pantry to make this lemon chicken marinade because it’s as simple as lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, ginger, salt and pepper.
I do love barbecue chicken, spicy-sweet chicken, and honey mustard chicken. But I wanted to keep this lemon chicken marinade lighter, clean and fresh-tasting, and with lower sodium than barbecue sauce and other marinades have.
But of course still deliver flavorful, tender, juicy, lemony grilled chicken. And it delivers.
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Grilled Lemon Chicken Ingredients
To make the grilled lemon chicken marinade and the broccoli side dish, you’ll need:
- Chicken breasts
- Lemon juice and zest
- Olive oil
- Ground ginger
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Fresh basil or parsley (optional)
- Fresh broccoli
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 Grilled Lemon Chicken
As long as you’ve got your grill fired up, why not grill some vegetables in the same amount of time that it takes to grill the lemon chicken, which is just about 10 minutes!
- Add the chicken breasts and the lemon marinade ingredients into a zip-top bag and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour.
- Place the seasoned broccoli in a grill basket over high heat on one side of your outdoor (gas) grill and place the chicken on the other side over medium heat.
- Close grill lid and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Flip chicken, stir broccoli, close grill lid, and cook for another 5 minutes, or until chicken is done and cooked through and the broccoli is as done as desired.
Tip for Even BETTER Broccoli
Because of the lemon vibe going on in the chicken, try adding a bit of lemon zest to the broccoli before serving it. So much smoky, wonderful grilled flavor in every bite! My daughter and I fight over the last bits of broccoli, for real.
Grilling FAQs
I like to marinate my chicken overnight for the full and tenderizing effects, but if you’re running short on time, even 30 to 60 minutes will do.
Of course! I used broccoli because it’s hands down my favorite grilled vegetable, but mushrooms, zucchini, and bell peppers are all excellent choices. Cauliflower is nice when when grilled. Just note it takes a bit longer than broccoli to cook and make sure to chop the florets pretty small.
I have a few grilled vegetables recipe posts including these Grilled Vegetables with Basil Vinaigrette and Grilled Veg with Smoky Honey Mustard. Of course, the dippers are optional.
Of course! Just keep in mind that chicken thighs may require more or less time on the grill – it just depends on whether they’re boneless or bone-in, how thick they are, etc.
If you don’t have an outdoor grill, you can cook the chicken in an indoor grill pan on your stove.
Yes, the chicken can be placed in the lemon chicken marinade for an hour or up to overnight. Then, it’s just a matter of firing up the grill and cooking the chicken.
As a shortcut, I used thin-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts. Their thinner size makes for faster grilling times and much more even cooking. This recipe would be even faster with chicken breast tenders or sometimes called breast cutlets or medallions, but as it is with the thin-sliced breasts I only needed to grill them 5 minutes per side and they were done.
Many times with large chicken breasts on the grill, I struggle to keep the outside from becoming overly dark before the interior is fully cooked through but with either thin-sliced or breast tenders, you don’t have to worry about that.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
In the fridge: Let the chicken cool before storing in an airtight container. It will last up to 5 days in the fridge.
In the freezer: Grilled chicken can be frozen for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat as instructed.
To reheat: Leftover grilled chicken can be reheated in 30-second bursts in the microwave.
What to Serve with Lemon Grilled Chicken
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Grilled Lemon Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 ½ pounds thin-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts, I had 5 breasts
- 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon zest, optional
- ½ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- fresh basil or parsley, optional for garnishing
- lemon slices, optional for garnishing
Broccoli (Or Another Vegetable)
- 2 large heads broccoli, trimmed into florets
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, optional
Instructions
- Chicken – To a large ziptop plastic bag, add all ingredients except basil or parsley, seal, and smoosh around to evenly coat chicken. Place bag in fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight, to marinate.
- Lightly oil grill grates and preheat grill to high heat on one side, medium heat on another side.
- Broccoli – Place florets in a grill basket, evenly drizzle with olive oil (Tip – many times I use olive oil cooking spray because just a misting is all you need), and evenly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss with your hands to coat evenly.
- Place grill basket over the high/hotter side of the grill and place chicken on the medium heat side; discard bag with marinade.
- Close grill lid and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip chicken, stir broccoli, close grill lid, and cook for another 5 minutes, or until chicken is done and cooked through and the broccoli is as charred as desired.
- Optionally add lemon zest to broccoli, optional fresh basil or parsley for the chicken, optional lemon slices for garnishing, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Recipe is best fresh but extra will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted May 15, 2019 and reposted with updated text June 28, 2024.
I made this for a Meal Train for my neighbor who just had a baby. It was easy to have for my family and there’s and very easy and tasty. I especially like that there was a way to upsize the recipe easily.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Peggy, and that is so nice to help out a new mom in the neighborhood! I am glad you could size the recipe to suit your needs, too.
I made this as shown except using fresh ginger and it was a hit. Very fresh lemon flavor which made it a nice light entree for a hot day. I served it with okra and tomatoes, mashed potatoes, and garlic green beans. So easy!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Peggy, and I am glad to hear this was a fresh tasting hit on a hot day!
great
great
Wonderful recipe. Definitely recommend using the thin chicken breasts. Quick to make. Great lemon taste. Perfect for a dinner when it is just too hot to cook indoors. Only criticism is the ads cover up the recipe and I can’t remove when I print to get the nutrition info on the 2nd page. Also, when scrolling through recipe online too much advertising gets in way of reading recipes. Can’t you put in margin? Off to the side? I don’t even have a dog! I understand the need for advertising to run your site but too cluttered.
Wonderful recipe. Definitely recommend using the thin chicken breasts. Quick to make. Great lemon taste. Perfect for a dinner when it is just too hot to cook indoors. Only criticism is the ads cover up the recipe and I can’t remove when I print to get the nutrition info on the 2nd page. Also, when scrolling through recipe online too much advertising gets in way of reading recipes. Can’t you put in margin? Off to the side? I don’t even have a dog! I understand the need for advertising to run your site but too cluttered.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you enjoyed the recipe.
This was fantastic–love the marinade! I put a couple of lemon halves on the grill to squeeze over the broccoli. I love roasted broccoli but I think it’s even better grilled!
This was fantastic–love the marinade! I put a couple of lemon halves on the grill to squeeze over the broccoli. I love roasted broccoli but I think it’s even better grilled!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad it was fantastic! Great idea with the lemons on the grill to squeeze over the broccoli! I totally agree – love it roasted, but even better grilled :)
Yum! I’ve never included ginger with my lemon chicken but it sounds fantastic. Also loving the lemony grilled broccoli you served with it.
I loooove broccoli and this was super tasty :)
This looks amazing and I love the ginger and lemon together in the marinade! Can’t wait to try this over the weekend.
It’s perfect for spring/summertime and to break out the grill after the winter!
It looks amazing and I’m going to try it! Your photos are always so clear and gorgeous – they bring water to my mouth.