3 Ingredient Easy and BEST Grilled Chicken Marinade

Want the juiciest chicken recipe ever?? Then you’ve got to make this 3 ingredient chicken marinade. It’s the most simple combination of garlic and herbs, a hint of buttery-melt-in-your-mouth flavor and then that pop of the champagne vinegar. Which is a must if you haven’t ever tried using different vinegars.

Last summer we were crazy busy trying to move and I needed some fast and easy dinner recipes. On a whim I bought a bottle of Champagne vinegar and whipped up a lazy, 3 ingredient chicken marinade that ended up being the best chicken marinade EVER. In fact, I even caught a short little video of the process so scroll down and check out a blast from the past in our old house.

(PS, fun fact! Did you know we write our blog posts an entire year out? So right now it’s September 2022, and I’m sitting at the counter of the rental house we finally found after the most insane summer. Did you follow that story? Talk about stressful chaos! I wonder, by the time this recipe goes live, will we have found our future home and be getting ready to settle in? I can’t wait to see where life takes us so leave a comment if you want an update!

Chicken Marinade Ingredients

You can’t get any more simple than just 3 ingredients for the most delicious chicken marinade! This is all you will need:

• Olive Oil – the base of the marinade and helps the chicken stay moist and juicy
• Champagne Vinegar – this can be hard to find sometimes, but it really is the best flavor for this marinade
• Kinder’s Buttery Steakhouse Seasoning – we buy ours at Costco, but I’ve seen it at Walmart and Smith’s, and of course there is always Amazon

The measurement for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to Make a Grilled Chicken Marinade?

I like to throw all three of the ingredients into a shallow baking dish and to whisk it all together. Then place the chicken breasts into the marinade and give them a flip to coat both sides. Then let it marinade in the fridge.

You can also use a ziploc bag to marinate the chicken. Just whisk all the ingredients together in a glass measuring cup and pour the marinade over the chicken in the bag and let it sit in the fridge until you’re ready to grill.

Can Other Types of Vinegar Be Used?

The best substitute for champagne vinegar is Asian rice vinegar. White wine vinegar or sherry vinegar are also good substitutes.

Red wine or apple cider vinegar are ok substitutes but they are less sweet and pack bolder tangy vinegar flavor.

Can Other Cuts of Chicken Be Used?

You can absolutely use this marinade on chicken thighs, wings, or drumsticks.

How Long to Marinate Chicken

Marinating chicken for even just 15 minutes can add so much flavor to chicken. I have found the sweet spot for this marinade is from 2-6 hours. For the best f

One Pan 10-Minute Sticky Mexican Chicken

This one pan sticky Mexican chicken recipe only needs 6 simple ingredients and you’ll be eating the most flavorful chicken dinner in just 10 minutes! I love the combination of the citrus from the lime, a hint of sweet from the honey to counteract the spicy seasoning. It’s a perfectly balanced chicken recipe!

I love quick and easy chicken recipes! Chicken tends to take over in the quick dinner category which is funny because ground beef is actually faster to cook, but alas, here we are. Ok, so I’ve fallen in love and I need everyone to join me. I love this sticky Mexican chicken recipe and I really think it will be your back pocket recipe as well.

Where This Recipe Came From

This recipe started with a dying lime.

It was breathing it’s last few wispy breaths from the fruit basket I detest and I just knew that it was time for a little cpr. With only 6 ingredients I busted out dinner in just 10 minutes and now I can’t stop using the Mexican chicken in everything from tacos to rice bowls, and salads to soups, plus everything in between.

I really think the key is to use either our homemade taco seasoning or the Kinders brand, which I buy at Costco. I wouldn’t recommend the little taco seasoning packets as they don’t boast as much flavor. But if you must, the recipe will still be delicious.

I’d love to hear how you use the chicken! Reach out and share your recipes and photos on instagram @ohsweetbasil

Ingredients for Sticky Mexican Chicken

Sometimes the best recipes come from the most simple ingredients combined in just the right way. Here are the 6 ingredients you will need:

• Chicken Breasts: cut into bite size pieces, the chicken breasts can also be cooked whole if you prefer (see recipe notes for instructions)
• Taco Seasoning: we like to use our homemade recipe, but you can use store bought (we recommend Kinders)
• Olive Oil: used to cook the chicken and keep it from sticking
• Green Onions: greens only, chopped in 1″ pieces, adds flavor
• Lime Juice: adds a bright citrus flavor
• Honey: adds natural sweetness and balances the seasoning

The measurements for all the ingredients are listed in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• One Pan: the whole recipe is made from start to finish in one pa

This chicken thigh marinade is the perfect blend of mustard (2 kinds!), garlic, maple syrup, brown sugar, vinegar and seasonings. It is so simple and so good, it could be used to marinate socks!

This is one of those marinade recipes that’s wonderful on every single kind of meat you could consume — salmon, steak, pork tenderloin, chicken in all its varieties, etc. I love when when I find a fail-proof marinade recipe like that! We used to make this chicken all the time when the blog first began, but over the years you slowly start to try new things and before you know it, without even meaning to, you’ve forgotten some of the things that you love the most. 

Boy, if that’s not symbolic of life, I don’t know what is!

This chicken thighs marinade recipe is one that is simply whisked together, can easily be adapted if needed (see notes below) and works just as well marinating 30 minutes as it does for hours. But beware, not all meats can handle it the same, so check out the entire post. 

And if you haven’t already, you absolutely must take a second to pin our other marinade recipes like:

• The Best Steak Marinade
• Marinated Chicken Breasts
• Asian Steak Marinade
• Steak Fajitas Marinade
• Marinated Smoked Chicken

Family Dinners

We are about to send our first off to college in a year, another is deep in the waters of Jr High and still our caboose is entering the battlefield of the elementary school playground. If there’s one thing I know for certain it’s that family dinners are an absolute must to stay connected to one another. I would bet that it’s even life-saving for families. But with three kids at three different schools and totally different needs I can easily feel like I’m running around and never slowing down. This recipe is loved by everyone around the dinner table!

Ingredients for Chicken Thigh Marinade

The best marinades have a little salt, a little sweet, a little acid, and a little spice. This marinade recipe checks all the boxes. Here is what you will need:

• Chicken Thighs: boneless, skinless
• Dijon Mustard: pale yellow in color but bold in tangy flavor
• Stone Ground Mustard: adds texture to the marinade and the teeny tiniest bit of heat
• Garlic: adds flavor
• Dark Brown Sugar: light brown can be used, dark brown just has a richer flavor
• Maple Syrup: be sure to use the real stuff, Grade A
• Oregano or Marjoram: I used dried herbs for this recipe, but you can use fresh if you want. You’ll want to half the amount down to 1/2 teaspoon.
• Rice Vinegar: add

Prosciutto Chicken Milanese

Crunchy panko bread crumbs, creamy taleggio cheese, salty prosciutto, fresh arugula and juicy chicken breast…chicken milanese… It’s what’s for dinner!

Soooo we don’t watch TV. Like, ever. It was a decision long ago to have more productive and restful evenings instead of glued to a TV and it’s been life-changing. Until Cade was on a business trip and saw Bobby Flay’s new show. It’s been so much fun to catch an episode here or there and one day we saw a little ad for a reel he’d made about chicken milanese.

Well, I’ve been trying to sell Cade on Chicken Milanese for years but every time we’ve had it there’s been capers (Cade’s nightmare) involved. I could not wait to try this prosciutto and taleggio cheese version. I will confess, I’m making this up entirely on my own, but inspired by what he did so please don’t kill the messenger if you find his recipe and it’s different.

But more importantly!!! This is our new favorite chicken!!! It’s light and crunchy, with a perfectly juicy inside. Then there’s this beautifully mild and almost a hint of tang from the creamy, melt in your mouth cheese. All topped off with perfect balance (remember in my cookbook how I talk about salt, fat, acid, heat?) of peppery arugula and bright, acidic red wine vinaigrette. It is amazing!!!

What is Chicken Milanese?

Chicken Milanese is one of the best recipes to learn when you’re starting to cook as it’s a great base which you can later experiment with sauces, toppings etc. So what is chicken milanese?

Chicken Milanese is an Italian breaded chicken which is made by first butterflying the chicken so it’s nice and thin, then dipping it in a breadcrumb and seasoning mixture to created the best breading for breaded chicken.

What Do I Need to Make Chicken Milanese?

This easy chicken dinner looks super fancy but the ingredients are actually really simple. Here is what you will need:

• Chicken Breasts – see section below for how to butterfly a chicken breast
• Flour – just regular all purpose
• Kosher Salt – adds flavor to the breading
• Black Pepper – freshly ground
• Eggs – helps the Panko stick to the chicken
• Water – blends with the egg to create an egg wash to help the breading stick
• Panko Bread Crumbs – a Japanese bread crumb that is extra crunchy
• Canola Oil – used to fry the chicken
• Prosciutto – an Italian dry-cured ham that is uncooked and unsmoked and oh so delicious
• Baby Arugula – gives a bright peppery pop of flavor
• Taleggio Cheese – semi soft cheese with a creamy texture and mild/earthy flavor, see section below for possible substitutes

Red Wine Vinaigrette

• Dijon Mustard – rounds out the flavor of this dressing so perfectly
• Red Wine Vinegar – gives the dressing that signature acid and tang
• Lemon Juice – freshly squeezed is best of course!
• Olive Oil – the base of the dressing, a good quality olive oil will make all the difference
• Honey – adds a natural sweetness to the dressing

Lemon Herb Spatchcock Chicken Recipe

If you want the juiciest chicken with crispy skin and the most incredible flavor, then you have to make this lemon herb spatchcock chicken!

When I was pregnant with our second child I was not in any kind of position to cook, eat or even think about either thing. But it was like taking a surfer away from the ocean, I was determined to make better than ever meals when I had the baby. And spatchcock chicken was strangely at the top of my list. I have absolutely no idea why I hyper-fixated on chicken, but it ended up being a blessing. It gave me something to look forward to. To decide without ever deciding that I was going to not only survive, but thrive post traumatic pregnancy.

I’m not saying that anyone who is going through something hard should just think about chicken to fix things, because again, I WOULD NOT think about chicken during that time. But maybe there’s something about positive psychology that could take us from A-B that is found in the kitchen. So without telling you what I think… yet… what is the happiest memory you have around food?

Why does food more often attach itself to happiness than sadness?

I’ll move on, I know you just want the recipe, but it’s something to think about. Is there a secret about food and cooking that might make a difference in your happiness in the midst of your trial?

What is a Spatchcock Chicken?

A spatchcock chicken is the same thing as a butterflied chicken. It is a method for cooking chicken where you remove the backbone of a whole chicken and flatten it so that it lays flat and roasts more evenly. For some reason, this little bird’s legs curled up again at the end, but otherwise it will lay far more flat than this.

Why Do You Spatchcock a Chicken?

When you roast a whole chicken, the chicken breasts sit higher and cook first and dry out while the rest of the chicken comes to temperature.

With a spatchcock chicken, everything is at the same level and roasts evenly resulting in juicy chicken breasts, thighs, legs…the whole bird!

And the skin gets so crispy and delicious! I dare say that once you spatchcock, you’ll never go back to roasting a chicken any other way.

Do You Flip a Spatchcock When Cooking?

No, a spatchcock does not need to be flipped while cooking. You roast it with the meat side up and it will come to temperature just fine without flipping.

What Do I Need to Make Spatchcock Chicken?

All you need to do is grab a whole chicken and then hit the produce section for some fresh herbs and citrus. You’ll likely have everything else you need in the pantry already. BONUS…this recipe is so budget friendly! Here is what you will need:

• Whole Chicken: a 4-5 pound chicken works best, skin on<