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I present to you the Best Grilled Chicken recipe for super juicy and extremely flavorful chicken. This chicken recipe is an absolute staple in my meal prep line up every single week. It’s just so easy to do and adds the best flavor (and protein) to any meal!
After sharing about how tender, juicy, and flavorful chicken can be, I always get the same questions. “How do you prep your chicken? What do season with? I’m always overcooking, how do I prevent that?”
And while there are a lot of simple ways to prepare good food in the kitchen, I think there are three tools necessary for a really good chicken.
- Meat thermometer
- Meat scissors
- Meat tenderizer (used to pound & make chicken breasts the same thickness)
- Ninja Foodi Grill (or alternative)
Then all you’ll need is some plastic wrap, a grill (or alternative), a tasty marinade, and you’ll be set. So get ready because you’re about to learn how to make the best grilled chicken yet!
Preparing the Chicken
- Start off by removing the thawed chicken from it’s container; run the breast under luke warm water.
- Take 2 large sheets of plastic wrap and layer them on a cutting board or countertop. You want to be sure they’re overlapping slightly as this is going to be the prepping station for the raw meat.
- Using meat scissors, trim away any excess fat from the breasts.
- Place them on the plastic wrap surface once trimmed & rinsed.
- After all the breasts there, cover the chicken with 2 more sheets of plastic wrap.
- Using a meat tenderizer (I call it a meat mallet), pound the chicken breasts until they’re all equal thickness (I aim for mine to be about ½ inch – ¾ inch thickness.
- Add thinned chicken into bowl. Pour in lime juice, then add in seasonings. Coat breasts well.
- While chicken marinades, begin prepping the grill.
Prepping the Grill & Grilling the Chicken
I want to point out right from the start that different grills will have varying ignition and start times. So please pay attention to that and find what works best with your grill!
And if you’re using the Ninja Indoor Foodi Grill (like I am), inset the grill pan, set Foodi to ‘grill’ setting, and press preheat. Living in an apartment means no “real” grill but to be completely honest, we love this Ninja Indoor Foodi Grill just as much! It’s space efficient, easier, and makes grilling our favorite foods into a weekly occurrence.
Now once everything is prepped and ready to go, it’s time to grill!
- Put the marinated chicken breast into the preheated Ninja Foodi Grill (500F), check after 5 minutes of cooking and flip using tongs.
- Let the chicken cook for another 3-5 minutes or until internal temperature measures 160-165 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken and turn off grill after using.
Alternative Method of Cooking
If you’re not using a grill and still want the same tender results, bake the chicken breasts on a sheet pan for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F in the oven! This is another efficient way to prepare chicken without the need for an additional appliance.
Ways to Enjoy the Best Grilled Chicken
Now the real benefit of making this best grilled chicken recipe is that it’s so good and easily pairs with anything. You can add it to a buddha bowl creation, make a chicken sandwich, add it to soup, top off a salad, have it in a wrap, and so forth, the options are endless!
I’ll also share some my go-to recipes that would either use chicken or you could add it on for extra flavor and protein.
The Best Grilled Chicken
Equipment
- Ninja Foodi Indoor Grill
- Meat Pounder
- Meat Thermometer
- Meat Scissors
- Plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 4 medium sized chicken breasts, I buy mine from Costco
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon basil
- ½ tablespoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
Start the Grill
- **Different grills will have varying ignition and start times** If you’re using the Ninja Indoor Foodi Grill (like I am), inset the grill pan, set Foodi to ‘grill’ setting, and press preheat.
Prepping the Chicken Breasts
- Start off by removing the thawed chicken from it’s container; run the breast under luke warm water.
- Take 2 large sheets of plastic wrap and layer them on a cutting board or countertop. You want to be sure they’re overlapping slightly as this is going to be the prepping station for the raw meat.
- Using meat scissors, trim away any excess fat from the breasts.
- Place them on the plastic wrap surface once trimmed & rinsed.
- After all the breasts there, cover the chicken with 2 more sheets of plastic wrap.
- Using a meat tenderizer (I call it a meat mallet), pound the chicken breasts until they’re all equal thickness (I aim for mine to be about ½ inch - ¾ inch thickness)
- Add thinned chicken into bowl. Pour in lime juice, then add in seasonings. Coat breasts well.
Grilling the Chicken
- Put the marinated chicken breast into the preheated Ninja Foodi Grill (500F), check after 5 minutes of cooking and flip using tongs.
- Let the chicken cook for another 3-5 minutes or until internal temperature measures 160-165 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken and turn off grill after using.
Notes
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved, something that you think it might need, or just say hi!
The Feta Ranch Turkey burgers were fabulous! Easy to make, healthy and flavorful ingredients—will be adding these to my weekly menu rotation!
This grilled chicken was exactly what I was looking for to add into my week day meal prep rotation! The lime juice + spices used are the perfect blend to give the chicken flavor and just enough spice to be added into sandwiches, salads – really anything without overpowering the other ingredients you are using. I will be making again and again!
On our outdoor gas grill we cooked for 8 min on high and then flipped and did 7-10 min on medium and they turned out perfectly tender.
Thanks for the review, Alexi!! Really helpful to know cooking times for an outdoor grill too.