Grilled Chicken Flavored with Lemon and Fresh Herbs

This Lemon Herb Grilled Chicken is simple to prepare with just a handful of ingredients for a tasty, nutritious meal! Bursting with flavor from zesty lemon juice, plenty of garlic, and fresh thyme!

This lemon herb grilled chicken has been a staple in our kitchen for more than a decade, and here’s why. It features fresh, easy-to-find ingredients that result in incredibly flavorful chicken! The marinade boasts a delightful blend of olive oil, tangy lemon juice, lots of garlic, and fresh herbs! This marinade also doubles as a delicious salad dressing!

Reasons to Love this Recipe

• Super flavorful, adaptable, and quick to prepare.
• Just 5 simple ingredients that you likely already have on hand!
• This marinade is also excellent with steak, fish, or shrimp and works as a salad dressing too.
• Perfect for weekly meal prep served over rice, with roasted veggies, or in a salad.

Ingredients Required

This straightforward lemon herb chicken calls for only a few ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen already! Here’s what you’ll need:

• chicken – this recipe uses 2 pounds of boneless chicken thighs (bone-in is fine too), but boneless skinless chicken breasts or even chicken wings can also be used.
• olive oil – this is key for infusing flavors into the chicken and preventing it from sticking to the grill. A good cold-pressed organic olive oil will enhance the flavor without needing to be costly.
• lemon juice – about 2 lemons are needed for a bright, fresh flavor. Feel free to add some lemon zest as well for an extra zing!
• garlic – you can opt for fresh chopped garlic or minced garlic from a jar.
• fresh herbs – fresh thyme and rosemary bring a wonderful taste to the chicken marinade, but you could also use dried thyme, dried rosemary, or dried oregano.
• salt + pepper – essential for seasoning the chicken and enhancing flavor.

How to Prepare Lemon Herb Chicken

1. Create the marinade. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, fresh herbs, salt, and pepper until fully combined.
2. Prepare the chicken. Put chicken in a shallow dish or a 1-gallon sealable bag, and pour most of the lemon herb sauce over it (I always recommend saving a bit of the sauce to brush on the chicken while grilling!).
3. Marinate! Refrigerate chicken and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, but no more than 2 hours (lemon is quite acidic and can alter the chicken’s texture if left too long). When ready to grill, remove the chicken, shake off the excess marinade, and throw away any leftover marinade.
4. Grill and serve. Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium heat, brushing oil on the grill to prevent sticking. Grill chicken for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until it’s thoroughly cooked and no longer pink (fully cooked chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees). Once done, take the chicken off the grill and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Helpful Hints and Tips

• Let the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes, but not longer than 2 hours since the lemon juice’s acidity can make the chicken mushy if over-marinated.
• Always add a little oil to the grill or grill pan to keep the chicken from sticking.
• If grilling isn’t an option, bake the chicken at 400 degrees F for 22 to 28 minutes, until fully cooked.
• The internal temperature of the chicken should be 165 degrees to guarantee it’s cooked thoroughly without being dry.
• Reserve a bit of the marinade (before it contacts the chicken) to brush on while grilling for added flavor.
• This delicious lemon herb marinade also makes a great salad dressing!

Serving Suggestions

Preparation and Storage

Leftovers can be kept in a sealed, airtight container for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. I love incorporating this leftover chicken into my salads for easy lunches! You can also freeze these chicken pieces for up to 4 months and thaw them in the refrigerator overnight before reheating. If you’re using chicken that has already been frozen and then thawed, it’s best not to freeze it again.

Additional Chicken Recipes

I hope you enjoy this Lemon Herb Grilled Chicken! If you love it as much as we do, please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using #eatyourselfskinny! I adore seeing your tasty recreations!