5 Healthy Marinades for Chicken
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Say no to boring chicken with these Healthy Chicken Marinades! Quick, easy and made with minimal ingredients – they’re paleo, keto, Whole30 and delicious!
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Click here to read my policy and more about affiliate links. This post was originally shared in 2018 but has since been updated.
Do you ever meal prep something, and after 2 days of eating it, feel SO bored with whatever you’ve made? Yeah, me too.
That’s why I came up with these 5 Healthy Chicken Marinades! These easy chicken marinade recipes will make your meal prep a breeze, and give you something new + exciting to have for lunch or dinner every day.
From Lemon Garlic to Soy Ginger, each marinade is loaded with flavor and helps to lock in moisture so your chicken stays juicy and delicious. They are super easy to make on the grill, air fryer, or oven.
Tyler’s tips for chicken marinades
- Marinate for at least 30 minutes: This is the perfect amount of time for the chicken to soak up the flavor. Certain ingredients will break chicken down, like lemon juice or pineapple juice, so we don’t recommend marinating for more than 24 hours.
- Use a meat thermometer: We love this instant-read thermometer for checking the internal temperature after cooking to make sure your meat is cooked thoroughly! Chicken should be heated until 165° internal temperature.
Want more marinades? Check out this post on 4 Healthy Salmon Marinades! You can use them on chicken, too!
Supplies needed for a Healthy Chicken Marinade
The base of these chicken marinades are:
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- … and of course chicken breasts
It will also be helpful to have:
- garlic powder
- citrus juicer and a citrus zester
- balsamic vinegar
- coconut aminos
Cilantro Lime Chicken Marinade:
My favorite chicken marinade is probably this Cilantro Lime chicken marinade, it’s got a little zip from the lime juice/zest and the smooth cilantro is delicious with it.
We love to get our chicken from ButcherBox. Learn more about why we love it in this ButcherBox Reviews Post.
Lemon Garlic Chicken Marinade:
If cilantro isn’t your thing, this Lemon Garlic Chicken Marinade is super tasty too (we also like a spicy citrus chicken marinade)! I like it with these Spiralized Rosemary Potatoes!
Basil Balsamic Chicken Marinade:
You can’t go wrong with this Basil Balsamic chicken marinade either… if you aren’t paleo/whole30 you can even add a little honey to this, which really amps up the flavor!
Sesame Ginger Chicken Marinade:
This Coconut Aminos & Ginger chicken marinade is also SUPER delicious. The fresh ginger is just so yummy when combined with the coconut aminos and lime!
Italian Herb Chicken Marinade:
This Italian Herb chicken marinade is super light and fresh. The fresh basil + parsley give it so much flavor!
Substitutions
Chicken- You can substitute chicken breasts with chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken thighs. If you want to use one of these marinades with chicken legs, try our Baked Chicken Legs Recipe.
Olive Oil- We recommend using olive oil for marinating, but you can also use avocado oil.
Lime/Lemon Juice– We strongly recommend using fresh lime and lemon juice. The pre-juiced kind in the bottle is not as tasty!
Garlic– Swap the fresh garlic cloves for a teaspoon of dried garlic powder.
Coconut Aminos– You can sub coconut aminos with soy sauce or bragg’s liquid aminos – but the recipe will no longer be paleo. If using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, use HALF the amount – bragg’s is much saltier.
Ginger– You can substitute ground ginger with 1/2 tablespoon fresh grated ginger.
The healthiest way to cook marinated chicken breast
- Oven: Preheat oven to 425 + prepare a lined baking sheet. Lay chicken on the sheet side by side. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Grill: Heat grill over medium high heat (about 400 degrees). Cook chicken for about 7-8 minutes on each side. You can also put the chicken on skewers! Checkout these Pineapple Chicken Skewers for cook temp/time.
- Air Fryer: Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Cook at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes.
- Slow cooker: We don’t recommend cooking these chicken breasts in the slow cooker, but you can cook them for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Cook time may vary depending on how hot your crockpot is.
- Instant Pot: We don’t recommend cooking these chicken breasts in the pressure cooker. However, you can grease your Instant Pot base and cook at Sealing, High Pressure for 14 minutes.
The best way to tell if chicken is thoroughly cooked is to use an internal temperature thermometer. Chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees F. Here’s a link to our favorite meat thermometer.
What to serve with Chicken Marinade Recipes
The options are really endless for these healthy chicken marinades – they will go with just about anything for a healthy and delicious lunch or dinner! Here are some recipes you can pair them with:
- Salad of your choice: We love this Spinach Strawberry Salad or Chicken Cobb Salad
- Vegetables: Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad, Lemon Parmesan Asparagus, Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Potatoes: Smashed Potatoes, Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Grains: Brown Rice or Quinoa
Simple Chicken Marinade FAQs
No, don’t wash chicken before marinating. There is no reason to wash chicken before marinating it. Washing chicken can just spread potential bacteria around your cooking surface. When you cook chicken to an appropriate temperature, it kills the bacteria that may be living on its surface.
It’s best to marinate chicken in the fridge. Chicken should really only be left at room temp for 2 hours. If chicken is left out for any longer than 2 hours, it can lead to a food safety issue, and bacteria can grow.
storage
Storing: Allow the chicken to cool and store in containers with veggies/side for meal prep. Marinated chicken will last in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. We don’t recommend marinating for more than that. Cooked chicken will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Can you freeze Marinated Chicken? Yes! You can freeze raw chicken in the marinades in a safe freezer bag, but we wouldn’t recommend freezing cooked chicken that has been grilled, as it can give it a poor texture.
Reheating: You can reheat this chicken in a pan or the microwave/toaster oven.
Other healthy chicken recipes:
5 Healthy Chicken Marinade Recipes
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
Italian Herb
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley or 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Cilantro Lime
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon lime zest
- 2 tablespoons lime juice juice of lime
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
Lemon Garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic 2 cloves
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest zest of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice juice of one lemon
Basil Balsamic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
Sesame Ginger
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In separate bowls, whisk together marinades. Pour into individual ziploc bags. Place 1 large chicken breast (about 6-8oz chicken) with each marinade. Carefully try to squeeze out air from the bag.
- If cooking immediately: Allow the chicken a minimum of 30 minutes to marinate (overnight is best for maximum flavor). Preheat oven to 425 + prepare a lined baking sheet. Lay chicken on the sheet side by side. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes + store in containers with veggies/side for meal prepping
- If grilling: Allow the chicken a minimum of 30 minutes to marinate (overnight is best for maximum flavor). Heat grill over medium high heat (about 400 degrees). Cook chicken for about 7-8 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate, allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes + store in containers with veggies/side for meal prepping.
- If freezing: Transfer the individual bags to the freezer. Lay flat in freezer. To defrost, remove from freezer 24 hours in advance + place in refrigerator. Allow to defrost + cook per directions above.
We tried the Italian Herb and Lemon Garlic marinades tonight, and they were fabulous! I need to control my sodium intake, so I was thrilled to see that there isn’t a lot of salt in them. I can’t wait to try the other flavors and start exploring all your recipes. Thanks so much for proving healthy doesn’t have to be flavorless.
This is just PACKED with great information and suggestions for the coming summer!! I’m going to enjoy grilling this year! Thank you!!!!
There marinades are absolutely amazing. I had a bunch of chicken I needed to cook so I tried 3 of them. All were so tasty and our chicken was moist and tender.
The sesame ginger marinade is AMAZING!!! So simple and flavorful!! As always, another 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I made the lemon garlic today and it’s delicious!! The recipe made enough for 2 medium sized pieces and that was absolutely perfect. I will be making this again very soon as it will pair with numerous sides so will be great for food prep!!
I also have 2 pieces currently marinating in the basil balsamic- I hope to cook that tomorrow.
I tried the balsamic marinade! Fantastic. I will try the other ones as well. Super easy and I loved the grilling tip. I struggle grilling chicken.
Did you remove the Asian ginger?! 🙁 I’ve been using this recipe for weeks and unfortunately can’t remember it. Would you mind sharing it again please?
It’s called Sesame Ginger!
These marinades are THE BEST! I use them weekly and just continue to love them so much. Thank you!
I am looking forward to trying all of the marinades. I would like to make a meal for my family using just one marinade for the 2.5 pounds of chicken. Would you recommend increasing each of the ingredients by 5 so there is essentially one recipe for each 8 oz breast?
That’s what I would do!
Made the ginger lime (plus garlic! Because I was looking at the wrong one when I started. Ha!) it was really yummy. I’ll be making it again. 🙂
Thanks, Rachel! Glad you liked htem!
I have used these marinades on just about every meat and have enjoyed them all
So glad you’ve enjoyed them!
We made the Asian Ginger marinade last weekend for our chicken shish kabobs and it was delicious!
I’ve used it once again since then for a quick dinner. This is a keeper and will have it in our dinner rotation.
Thanks, Jennifer! I need to try this on kabobs – that is a great idea!!
I made the basil balsamic marinade and grilled the chicken on cast iron skillet, AMAZING!!! Can you tell me if the macros are for 8oz of the marinade alone or for 8 oz of chicken?? Thanks!
So glad you liked it! The macros include the chicken + marinade but it’s not 100% accurate because you don’t eat the entire marinade (a lot gets discarded). I’d weigh your chicken and count that and then count half of whatever marinade ingredients you used if you’re counting macros. Hope that helps!
I want to make these marinades and send them to my son in the army. Its impossible for him to go and get the ingredients and has no place to store them all. So How long do these marinades stay good for? If I make enough for each one of the flavors and bottle them and send them to him will they survive the travel of 5 days? And will they stay good for about a month in refrigeration?
I’m sorry but I don’t think that will work. With fresh lemon/lime juice they may go bad if they’re not refrigerated. Have you ever heard of Tessemae’s? They make delicious dressings/marinades. You could buy them on amazon and ship them directly to them. I think that would probably be safer! Please thank him for his service!
Can’t wait to try these.They all sound delicious. I do not care for plain chicken breasts, but they are so good for me. I think I will like them with these marinades. I also do not like to cook late in the day. I can prepare these ahead of time and just roast them at night or keep several in the freezer. Thank you so much for providing these.
Thank you Bobbie! Hope these are helpful for you. They’re very easy to make and so delicious!
We’ve made the lemon garlic marinade several times now and it never fails. It’s so good and so simple! I’ll make a bunch, throw them in the freezer, and take it out on busy days when I need a low-prep meal. I’m excited to try the other marinades as well!
I’m so glad you liked the marinade, Kristina!! They’re perfect for prepping ahead and freezing 🙂
1 tablespoon of olive oil? I haven’t made these yet and they look delicious but how is only one tablespoon of olive oil enough to marinate an entire chicken beast? I was thinking more like a half a cup haha.
Yep! You really don’t need much olive oil. There are other ingredients in the marinades.
The 8oz serving size is 398 calories correct?
Hi Brittany – The calories on this actually will vary slightly depend on what marinade you use – but they’ll all roughly be around that
I’m rating this now even though I only did the cilantro lime marinade. It was so good!! Tasted so yummy and fresh. That chicken is good alone but also would be awesome in a salad or wrap with guacamole. So yummy. Can’t wait to try the rest.
Oooh that would be so yummy in a wrap!! definitely going to try that. Can’t wait for you to taste the other marinades!!
I made the lemon garlic and it was so good. I had everything in the house for the marinade, easy to put together and ready for dinner 2 hours later. Definitely now a go to receipe! My kids loved it too.!!
I saw this on Instagram last night and it inspired me to do a whole new kind of meal prep! This was so quick to do and now I have lunches for the whole week. YUM
I’m so glad you liked it Joanne!!