8 Easy Chicken Marinades That Grillers Swear By

As summer swings into gear, so does our love for outdoor entertaining, and for many of us, this means firing up the grill. Burgers and hot dogs are always an option, but for hosts wanting something a little more elegant without breaking the bank, chicken is a perennial favorite — it's affordable, easy to work with, and almost everyone likes it.

A favorite way to add flavor to grilled chicken without a lot of work is to marinate it. By giving your chicken a good soak in a marinade, you not only ensure the chicken is seasoned all the way through (not just on the surface), but you also give it extra moisture to ensure it stays juicy even after cooking. It's also a wildly versatile technique — great marinades for chicken are more varied than you might think. So whether you're trying the technique for the first time or are looking for a change of pace from your standby recipe, you have plenty of easy, flavorful, and often surprising options to choose from. 

Here to share some of their favorites are Sam Martin, professional butcher at Edenmoor; Joanne Gallagher, co-founder and recipe developer at Inspired Taste; Isaac Bernal Carbajo, executive chef of the representation of Spain to the United Nations; Jorge Thomas, founder of Swaledale Butchers; and Ashley Lonsdale, chef in residence at ButcherBox.

Most of us associate marinades with liquid ingredients such as oil and vinegar, which may be why we overlook one of our experts' favorite marinade bases: plain yogurt. Isaac Bernal Carbajo likes to make a marinade with yogurt flavored with garlic, paprika, and cumin. "The yogurt helps tenderize the meat slightly and creates a wonderful surface texture when cooked on the grill," he said through a translator. Jorge Thomas makes his yogurt marinade with plain Greek yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice.

You can make yogurt marinades with other flavor profiles as well, and Ashley Lonsdale likes to vary her yogurt marinade with different flavorings. "I love to use a simple yogurt marinade, which easily accommodates a range of spices like classic curry components — cumin, coriander, turmeric — or chili powder and smoked paprika," she said. If you want to lean hard into Indian flavorings, make a classic chicken tandoori – whose traditional marinade includes plain yogurt and a bold lashing of spices. Besides being a great partner to a range of flavors, yogurt in a marinade improves the texture of grilled chicken, making it tender and moist on the inside, with an attractive brown crust on the outside.

Want to make a marinade for grilled chicken, but don't have time to look or shop for a recipe? You might have a flavorful, ready-to-use marinade already waiting in your refrigerator. And if you've already shopped for standard cookout components or regularly treat yourself to charcuterie boards, you almost certainly have it — just look for that jar of your favorite pickles in the fridge.

"If you're a fan of pickles, don't dump your pickle brine!" Ashley Lonsdale said. "Leftover pickle brine is a smart and economical marinade that adds sweetness, tenderizes, and seasons meat all at once. It's a single-ingredient marinade that requires no preparation but yields delicious, juicy chicken." A secret to pickle brine's power is its acidity: the vinegar in the brine (or less commonly, acidity from natural fermentation) breaks down chicken tissue, making it softer. This also helps the tissue absorb the marinade better, making the cooked chicken moister. The final flavor of your marinated chicken will depend on the seasonings used to make the pickles — so choose the best-tasting pickles you can for this one.

Marinated, grilled chicken is a near-perfect dish for lazy summer entertaining — despite being easy and convenient to make, it feels fancy. This may be because it's a force multiplier for flavor — a simple marinade plus flames and smoke create a flavor profile that's more than the sum of its parts. And the fact that some of the best marinades have only a few common ingredients adds to the magic.

An example of this is one of Ashley Lonsdale's favorite simple marinades — an easy mixture of miso, honey, and butter. With its combination of sweet, salty, umami, and buttery flavors, it's a rich marinade that packs a punch. Lonsdale likes it with skin-on chicken thighs, an already succulent cut that maintains its juiciness even after long cooking. "The sugars in the honey and miso will caramelize and darken the skin, adding layers of flavor that taste much more complex than the effort," she said.

Soy sauce is a cornerstone ingredient in East Asian cuisines for a good reason: it's economical, keeps well, and adds umami depth to everything it touches. It's a favorite ingredient in grilled meat dishes such as chicken teriyaki, where it lends both color and flavor. Soy sauce is also super versatile, and cooks working outside Asian traditions also rely on it as a pantry staple, using it in everything from salad dressings to ice cream toppings.

So if you have a bottle of soy sauce around, you already have the base for a simple but flavorful marinade for grilled chicken. And because soy sauce brings so much to the table, you don't need much else to create a memorable marinade — some of our experts' favorites include only two other ingredients. Jorge Thomas adds fresh ginger and honey to soy sauce for a teriyaki-adjacent marinade, and Isaac Bernal Carbajo makes his with soy sauce, honey, and garlic. They're not only tasty, but take only a minute or two to put together.

Something about Greek cuisine feels summery, no matter which of its many dishes you're enjoying or the time of year you're tasting them. So it's not surprising that grilling experts turn to a combo of quintessentially Greek ingredients — lemon juice and olive oil — for their chicken marinades.

Starting with a base of these two ingredients, you can make your marinade as plain or fancy as you want. "Greek-style marinades with lemon, garlic, olive oil, and herbs are another great option because they add plenty of flavor and keep the chicken juicy," Joanne Gallagher said. Isaac Bernal Carbajo also uses this combo, with fresh thyme as his herb of choice — but for those in a hurry, he recommends something even simpler. "For those seeking something extremely simple, olive oil, lemon, and salt is one of the best marinades for grilled chicken," he said, explaining that besides adding flavor, the lemon tenderizes the chicken while the olive oil helps promote even browning on the grill.

Among the simplest chicken marinades you can use may also be one of the best — and one many cooks and eaters would never expect. "A popular restaurant marinade ingredient that surprises people is mayonnaise," Ashley Lonsdale said. "It helps skin crisp up, promotes browning, and delivers nonstick properties to any protein. Slick it onto chicken breasts before grilling for excellent grill marks and flavor."

When you consider the main ingredients in mayonnaise – eggs, oil, and lemon juice or vinegar for flavoring — it's not surprising that it works well as a grilling marinade. The acid in the lemon juice or vinegar helps flavor and tenderize the chicken, and the oil and eggs contribute to browning. You can amp up the flavor by coating your chicken pieces with seasonings such as paprika or garlic powder before slathering them with mayo. Let your mayo-covered chicken rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before grilling — and enjoy the compliments.

We love the aroma and taste of coffee, but it rarely makes appearances outside of sweet drinks and desserts. This is a shame, since its nutty, roasty aroma can also be a good addition to savory dishes. The old-school Southern favorite red-eye gravy is a rare example of a savory coffee preparation — a simple mixture of coffee poured into a pan of ham drippings and simmered. And intrepid grillers and pitmasters have also incorporated ground coffee into barbecue rubs to good effect — its warm, toasty notes amplify the smokiness from the grill.

For this reason, cold coffee is the secret ingredient in one of Isaac Bernal Carbajo's favorite chicken marinades. The coffee provides so much flavor that you don't need much else for a tasty marinade — so there's no need for an extra trip to the store or a lot of hunting through your spice rack. "Mix cold coffee, olive oil, and black pepper," Bernal Carbajo said. "The coffee adds depth and roasted notes without overpowering the flavor of the chicken."

Once upon a time, thirsty people would think nothing of swigging down a glass of cold buttermilk on a hot day. Order a glass of buttermilk in an American restaurant today, and you'll probably just get a long, hard stare from everyone within earshot. While buttermilk is no longer a breakfast table staple, it's still a respected workhorse in many kitchens. Bakers love the tang and heft it lends to cakes and biscuits, and cooks rely on it for classic dishes such as buttermilk fried chicken, where the buttermilk helps keep the chicken tender while making the crust crispier.

And according to Sam Martin, it's also a great base for a grilling marinade. "Buttermilk, garlic, and smoked paprika work great on chicken, lamb, or pretty much anything!" he said. The buttermilk makes meat moister and more tender, and the wonders of garlic and smoked paprika need no explanation. So if you have an open carton of buttermilk that you bought for a recipe and are wondering what to do with the rest of it, this easy marinade is your answer.

Our experts also offered useful tips to help you get the tastiest grilled chicken, regardless of which marinade you choose. First, plan ahead: Your chicken will need time to soak up all the flavors from your marinade. But how much time will depend on how big your pieces are. According to Ashley Lonsdale, a whole chicken will benefit from an overnight marinade, as will bone-in pieces, while chopped, boneless pieces can be ready in as little as 1 hour.

But with some marinades, less time may be better. "When a marinade contains highly acidic ingredients such as lemon juice or vinegar, I prefer not to exceed 12 hours, as the surface of the meat can develop a mealy texture," Isaac Bernal Carbajo said. And while a bit of honey or sugar can make marinades tastier and foster better browning, avoid super-sweet, sticky marinades, which can burn before the chicken is cooked or stick to the grill. If you like sweet, sticky glazes, brush them on near the end of cooking.