BBQ Chicken Breast
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This easy Barbecue Chicken Breast Recipe is delicious and simple to make! Learn how to make BBQ chicken that stays juicy and tastes amazing!
One of the best things you can make on the grill is juicy BBQ Chicken. Sweet, savory, and delicious – it’s the perfect meal during the summer or year round.
We love grilling up a ton of BBQ chicken for a family dinner or to serve on top of Strawberry Salad or Corn Tomato Avocado Salad. It’s light, fresh, flavorful, and easy to make!
This Barbecue Chicken Breast is simple and quick, only a few ingredients and 20 minutes for perfectly juicy chicken everytime!
Tyler’s tips for the best BBQ chicken
- Wait to apply BBQ sauce until halfway through grilling. BBQ Sauce has sugar in it, which can quickly burn over high heat. To avoid this, begin to grill the chicken, then brush on the BBQ sauce so you can still get the yummy flavor and browning without your chicken getting burnt. We love a homemade BBQ sauce.
- Add a dry rub (or simply salt and pepper) before cooking the chicken; this will help the barbecue sauce to adhere to the chicken and adds additional flavor.
Ingredients
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR BBQ Chicken
To make Whole30– Find a Whole30 friendly barbeque sauce. We like this one.
Baking in oven – You can bake the chicken in the oven at 400° for 20-25 minutes if you don’t have a grill.
Chicken– You can use chicken thighs or chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts. This marinade would also be good on a drumsticks or wings!
We love this instant-read thermometer for checking the internal temperature to make sure your meat is cooked thoroughly!
How to make BBQ Chicken Breast
- Preheat the grill to high heat (about 400 degrees). Mix your dried spices and season the chicken breast on both sides.
- Grill on high heat for 5 minutes, then flip and grill for another 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and baste with BBQ sauce on both sides. Grill for an additional 5 minutes on each side to get a nice glaze with a good sear.
How do you know if your chicken is done? You can check the internal temperature of chicken to make sure it’s cooked thoroughly, it should be at 165!
Can you cook this chicken on the stove? Yes! You can pan sear the chicken for 7-8 minutes on each side.
Can you bake this chicken in the oven? Yes you can! Bake the chicken on a lined baking sheet at 400 for 20-25 minutes.
Can you cook this in the instant pot? We wouldn’t recommend it, but you can cook it for 11 minutes on sealing, pressure cook.
For crockpot directions, we like this Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken.
What temperature do you cook the best bbq chicken at?
It’s best to cook BBQ chicken at medium high heat, about 400 degrees. Once you’ve added the BBQ sauce you can lower the heat.
Storage
Storing: You can keep this barbecue chicken breast in the refrigerator for up to 5 days – it’s great for meal prep!
Freezing: We wouldn’t recommend freezing this grilled chicken. Reheating frozen chicken can make it bouncy and unappetizing.
Reheating: If you are going to reheat leftovers, we recommend putting it in the toaster oven or in a pan on the stove rather than microwaving it.
What do you serve with homemade bbq chicken breast?
- Our favorite way to serve this BBQ grilled chicken is with a salad. Above, it’s photographed on our Spinach Strawberry Salad
- Balsamic Mushrooms and Healthy Coleslaw
- Peach Salad with Goat Cheese
- Vegetable Kebabs or Grilled Veggies in Foil or Parmesan Corn
- Green Beans Almondine and Lemon Basil Risotto
Love chicken? If so – here are some of our other favorite healthy chicken recipes!
Other healthy grilling recipes:
Looking for other grilling recipes? Check out these 40+ Healthy Grilling Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy grilling cookbook.
BBQ Chicken Breast Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to high heat (about 400 degrees)
- Mix together your dried spices and season chicken breasts on both sides.
- Grill the chicken on high heat for 5 minutes, then flip the chicken and grill for another 5 minutes on the opposite side.
- Reduce the heat on the grill down to medium heat.
- Baste the chicken with BBQ sauce on both sides and grill for an additional 5 minutes on each side to get a nice glaze with a good sear.
- The chicken should be cooked to 165 internal temp.
- Pull the chicken off the grill, let it rest for 2 minutes, slice & enjoy
sounds delicious, will cook these in my Ninja x
My husband and I made this recipe using our new grill tonight, it was delicious and so easy!
So glad you liked it, Caroline!
For the substitutions, like cooking it in the oven, would you apply the same method of cooking it for ten minutes then putting the bbq sauce on it?
Yes! That’s what we would recommend