My 3 ingredient chicken breast marinade is perfect for grilling on a summer night. It couldn’t be more simple and you probably already have the ingredients on hand! If you are looking for the best grilled chicken marinade recipe, keep on scrolling…
What is in a grilled chicken breast marinade?
For this easy marinade recipe, there are only THREE ingredients: Caesar salad dressing, lemon juice, and kosher salt. And as with any marinade, you will also need some time for those flavors to permeate into the meat. I like to marinate my chicken in the fridge for anywhere between 2-4 hours. With the acid of the lemon juice, you can’t keep the meat in there too long or it begins to “cook” the protein. We want that to happen over a hot, smoky grill instead!
Using a salad dressing as a chicken breast marinade isn’t anything new, but the ones I’ve tried in the past have always used Italian dressing as it’s base and always seemed to be lacking in depth of flavor. I wanted to create a new salad dressing based recipe that wasn’t just mediocre. I wanted to to be AMAZING, and this is it! My husbands says it is the best grilled chicken marinade I’ve ever made 🙂
Be sure that you follow the recipe when it comes to the grill’s temperature. You can certainly preheat the grill to high, but turn the heat down to low before your put your chicken on the grill. It needs a low and slow heat to cook all the way through without creating too much char on the outside.
Step by Step Best Grilled Chicken Marinade Recipe
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Make it a Meal! What to Serve with This Recipe:
Grilled Chicken Strawberry Salad 
Grilled Romaine Lettuce with Parmesan Cheese
Grilled Chicken Breast Marinade
3 ingredient chicken breast marinade that is super delicious and simple! Perfect for summer grilling.
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients
1 cup Caesar salad dressing
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons kosher salt
5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Instructions
- Using your hand or a meat mallet, pound the thicker ends of the breasts to thin them out a bit so the meat will cook evenly. Place chicken in a large container with a lid.
- Add dressing, lemon juice, and salt. Place the lid on top and shake to coat the chicken in the marinade. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
- Preheat grill on high heat. Place chicken smooth side down on the grill, reduce heat to low, close the lid, and cook for 7 minutes. Flip and cook another 7-8 minutes with the lid closed until the juices are clear. Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Be sure to reduce your grill’s heat once you add the chicken so you don’t get too much char on the outside of your meat.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8
- Calories: 365
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 700 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 1 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 66 g
- Cholesterol: 92 mg
Keywords: easy chicken recipe, grilling recipe
Don says
This is just amazing! It is my new favorite grilled chicken recipe. Thank you.
PC says
Is there a particular brad of dressing you use? I’m not a fan of bottles dressing.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter. I usually buy a generic brand and it turns out amazing every time.