Easy Lemon Chicken Marinade - Cooking For My Soul (2024)

This easy lemon chicken marinade is simply the best! Marinating with lemon not only adds tons of flavor, but it also helps tenderize the chicken. This lemon marinated grilled chicken comes out so flavorful, moist, and juicy inside.

This lemon marinade is made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, minced garlic, Italian herb seasoning, salt, and pepper. That’s all, simple and easy!

The chicken needs to marinate for a maximum of 3 hours. You can use this marinade for chicken breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or wings. It’s very versatile!

Chicken is one of the most versatile proteins out there. By itself, it’s pretty neutral in flavor, but once you marinate it, it can be super flavorful and tender.

I love this lemon chicken marinade recipe because it is simple and flavorful. It also does a great job keeping the chicken really moist and tender.

The lemon chicken marinade is super simple – you only need 7 ingredients for the marinade itself: lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, minced garlic Italian herb seasoning, salt and pepper.

Why I Love This Recipe

• Adds so much flavor throughout the chicken. Imagine citrus-y, garlicky with aromatic herb flavors…delicious!
• The lemon juice tenderizes the chicken and keeps it juicy inside.
• It doesn’t need to marinate overnight, so I can make it for dinner whenever I crave grilled chicken. In fact, it shouldn’t marinate for more than 3 hours or it could start to break down too much (see “Marinating with Citrus” below).
• It’s versatile! Customize it by adding other ingredients to the marinade, such as fresh herbs, seasoning, mustard, or honey.
• It can be used for chicken breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings…up to you.

All About The Lemon Marinade

This is a very simple lemon chicken marinade that’s packed with lots of flavor!

The lemon juice not only provides flavor and acidity, but also helps tenderize the chicken. This works especially well for leaner cuts like chicken breast. The result is super flavorful, vibrant, juicy, and tender chicken.

The lemon garlic marinade ingredients are pretty straightforward: lemon zest, freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. All you have to do is combine all these ingredients until uniform, and that’s your marinade!

I always use a resealable plastic bag to marinate the chicken in order to ensure that every inch of the chicken absorbs ALL the flavor more evenly.

Ingredient Notes

To give you an idea, these are the ingredients I use for the lemon chicken marinade:

• Chicken breasts: Make sure to pound them to even thickness, about ½ inch thick. You can also use chicken thighs, drumsticks, or wings.
• Olive oil: For moisture and to help the lemon flavors penetrate into the thickest parts of the chicken.
• Zest of 2 lemons: Before cutting and squeezing the lemons, remember to zest it.
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice: The lemon juice adds flavor and tenderizes the chicken.
• Minced garlic: For flavor.
• Italian seasoning: For flavor. You’ll need about 2 teaspoons. You can also use fresh herbs – for every teaspoon of dried herbs, use 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs.
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper

How to Make This Recipe

This recipe basically consists of two main parts: 1) making the marinade and marinating the chicken, and then 2) cooking the chicken. The best way to cook it is on the grill or on a skillet (pan-seared), but you can also bake it.

Detailed instructions and quantities can be found in the recipe card below, as always, but here’s an overview to give you an idea, plus a few helpful tips!

1. Make the Lemon Marinade & Marinate

1. In a large resealable plastic bag, whisk all the marinade ingredients: olive oil, lemon zest, freshly squeezed lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Remember to zest the lemons before cutting it.
2. Add the chicken to the marinade, making sure it’s fully and evenly coated, and then seal the bag. Note: I like using resealable bags to ensure the delicious marinate coats every inch of the chicken.
3. Marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours, a maximum of 3 hours. Longer than 3 hours can turn the chicken tough, rubbery, or even mushy.

Prepping the chicken: Make sure the chicken breasts are pounded to ½ inch thick before adding it to the marinade. This will ensure even flavors and even cooking later on, which will also help keep the chicken moist and juicy.

Why marinate for 2-3 hours only: Lemon-based marinades are great to keep chicken tender, but when left for too long, the acid starts breaking down the proteins too much, causing it to be tough, rubbery, and even mushy. Marinate for no more than 3 hours for best results. This will be plenty of time for the flavors to develop.

2. Grill the Chicken

You can use an outdoor grill, stovetop grill pan, electric grill, or a stovetop skillet. Up to you!

1. Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes so that it’s not so cold.
2. Shake off any excess marinade. Grill the chicken for 6-8 minutes on each side, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Let the chicken breasts rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

You can also BAKE the chicken at 425 degrees F. Breasts and boneless thighs take about 20 minutes. Bone-in thighs, drumsticks, and wings take about 40 minutes in the oven.

How to get beautiful grill marks: Let the chicken cook on each side for 6-8 minutes undisturbed, and make sure to shake any excess marinade. This will allow the grill marks to develop. If you flip them too early, you’ll only get dull grill marks.

To check for doneness, use a meat thermometer and make sure it registers 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the breast. Chicken thighs and drumsticks should register 175 to 180 degrees F.

Recommended Equipment

• A large resealable bag (preferred) or a large bowl to marinate the chicken.
• Zester: I use a microplane zester.
• Lemon squeezer: It makes squeezing lemons so much easier!
• Meat tenderizer or mallet to pound the chicken to even thickness.
• Grill or grill pan: An outdoor grill, stovetop grill pan, electric grill, or skillet.

Substitutions

There are a few substitutions you can easily make for the lemon chicken marinade:

• Olive oil: rather than olive oil, you can use vegetable oil, canola oil, or any other neutral flavor oil.
• Italian seasoning: dried oregano or herbs de provence work too.
• If you prefer to use fresh herbs instead of dried herbs, use a blend of minced herbs such as rosemary and thyme. For every teaspoon of dried herbs, use 2 tablespoons of fresh herbs.

Pairing and Serving Ideas

I like to keep it simple, and pair my grilled chicken with a basic garden salad made of chopped greens, sliced cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. No dressing or anything, just a few drizzles of good olive oil, salt and pepper.

Here are a few other side dish recipes I love to serve this lemon marinated chicken with:

Recipe FAQs

The chicken comes out so juicy, tender, and ultra flavorful. I love that this marinade can be used for chicken breasts, thighs, and even drumsticks and wings. So, so good!

I hope you like this recipe as much as we do. No more boring or bland chicken!

Thank you for reading and happy cooking!

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