37 Grilled Chicken Recipes to Make Again and Again

By Food & Wine
Updated June 05, 2020
Chicken is wonderfully versatile, and especially delicious on the grill. In this roundup, we’re celebrating some of our favorite ways to cook it outdoors, from chicken thigh yakitori and Peruvian chicken skewers to jerk chicken. Read on to find out how to make them, and more of our best grilled chicken recipes.

Related: More Chicken Recipes
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Baja-Style Rosemary Chicken Skewers

Credit: © John Kernick
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Chicken thighs are perfect for the grill because they stay nice and moist. Skewering them with rosemary imparts a lovely herbal flavor.

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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Grapefruit Glaze

Credit: Karen Mordechai
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Simply prepared yet special, these chicken breasts are grilled and basted with a bitter, tart, and sweet glaze.

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Big Bob Gibson's Chicken with White Barbecue Sauce

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Chef Chris Lilly butterflies a whole chicken, smokes it, then dunks the bird into a vat of tangy white barbecue sauce. Home cooks can grill pieces of chicken until crispy and nicely charred, then serve them alongside Lilly's terrific white sauce.

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Tunisian Chicken Kebabs with Currants and Olives

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Susan Feniger’s sweet-and-tangy marinated chicken skewers are flavorful enough to eat on their own, but they're even better with the chunky currant-and-olive relish.

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Coconut-Curry Grilled Chicken

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To amp up the heat, use more Serrano chiles.

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Thai Grilled Chicken with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

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Cilantro stems get in the act in this recipe; they’re pureed with the leaves, jalapeños, garlic, fish sauce, and sesame oil to make a flavorful coating for grilled chicken. The dipping sauce, which also contains cilantro, is a classic Thai sweet-and-sour sauce.

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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Thyme

Credit: © Ben Dearnley
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A mixture of red-pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, and olive oil serves as a spicy marinade for bone-in chicken breasts. If you prefer spicier chicken, increase the red pepper or leave the breasts in the marinade for an hour or two.

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Garlicky Lemongrass Chicken

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This spicy lemongrass paste is also wonderful rubbed on pork tenderloin or any firm, white-fleshed fish, such as snapper, sea bass or halibut.

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Tomato-and-Cilantro-Marinated Chicken Shashlik

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Grating tomatoes is a quick way to create the juicy puree that becomes a tangy base for a super-simple marinade.

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Spicy Apricot Wings

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An apricot-based sauce brushed on these chicken wings before grilling gives them plenty of flavor; extra sauce is good for dipping.

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Grilled Red Curry Chicken

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Roasting a whole chicken takes about an hour, but cut out the backbone and flatten the bird and it will grill perfectly in 30 minutes. Melissa Rubel Jacobson rubs the chicken all over with a very simple, Thai-inspired mix of red curry paste, coconut milk and brown sugar.

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Herb-Marinated Chicken Skewers with Harissa

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Andres Barrera briefly marinates chicken in herbs and cumin before skewering and grilling it; then he serves it with a cool chickpea puree and fiery harissa. His harissa is a knockout, scented with toasted and ground cumin seeds, coriander and caraway seeds, but jarred harissa also works.

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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Sautéed Mushrooms

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Before grilling chicken, Francis Mallmann tucks orange zest and just-picked oregano under the skin. The fresh flavor is amazing with the crispy, smoky bird.

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Grilled Chicken with Sweet Mustard Barbecue Sauce

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A sweet mustard glaze gives John Currence’s grilled chicken a crisp coating. The juicy marinated birds are also delicious without the glaze. The chickens need to marinate overnight so plan accordingly.

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Lemongrass-Cilantro Chicken with Honey Dipping Sauce

Credit: © Petrina Tinslay
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Pings (simple grilled dishes), like these juicy grilled chicken breasts, are very popular all over Laos. Bruising the lemongrass is an essential step that helps release its flavor into the marinade, which can also be used for fish or pork.

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Herb-Basted Grilled Chicken

Credit: © Nicole Franzen
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Basting chicken with a bundle of rosemary and thyme sprigs adds wonderful flavor while keeping the meat juicy.

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Grilled Chicken and Corn with Jalapeño-Lime Dressing

Credit: © Con Poulos
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To both maximize his grill and take full advantage of summer's exceptional produce, chef Dan Kluger combines grilled corn, grilled scallions and grilled chicken in a bright, spicy jalapeno-lime vinaigrette.

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Grilled Chicken Thigh and Cucumber Salad

Credit: © Con Poulos
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Chef Michael Symon’s grilled chicken thigh and cucumber salad comes together in just a few quick steps.

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Grilled Chicken Thighs with Pickled Peaches

Credit: © John Kernick
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Pickling fresh peaches and then charring them on the grill adds extra flavor to this arugula salad with crispy grilled chicken thighs.

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Grilled Chicken with Nectarines and Chanterelles

Credit: Con Poulos
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Paired with tart and tangy nectarines and earthy chanterelle mushrooms, this chicken dish is perfect for summer. Spatchcocking the chicken, or removing the backbone and cracking the breast bone, helps ensure even cooking on the grill.

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Grilled Chicken with Chimichurri

Credit: Victor Protasio
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The secret to this perfectly juicy grilled chicken recipe from chef Anthony Endy of The Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort is twofold: One, let the chicken sit in the aromatic citrus-and-herb brine for 24 hours, and two, once your coals are hot, keep the bird moving on the grill.

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Grilled Chicken with Coconut Rice and Chile-Lime Sauce

Credit: Greg DuPree
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At Cantinho do Aziz, a family-owned Mozambican restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal, chef Jeny Sulemange prepares a grilled coconut chicken that’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which she serves with a truly addictive addictive coconut rice.

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Rice Noodle Salad Bowls with Grilled Lemongrass Chicken

Credit: Greg DuPree
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Like summer rolls and banh mi sandwiches, Vietnamese rice-noodle salads—called bun in Vietnamese,)—can feature many wonderful things, like these flavorful grilled lemongrass chicken skewers.

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Grilled Chicken with Grapes

Credit: Greg DuPree
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Best New Chef Katianna Hong works with nearby vineyards to get some of the components of this grilled chicken dish, made with fresh grapes, raisins, grape leaves, and verjus.

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Rosemary Chicken with Corn and Sausage Fricassee

Credit: © Con Poulos
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For juicy, flavorful chicken, chef Nina Compton soaks her drumsticks in a simple brine for 45 minutes before grilling. This is her summer version of the dish, which changes throughout the year: She uses butternut squash and mushrooms in the fall and fresh fava beans, English peas and fiddlehead ferns in the spring.

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Garlic Grilled Chicken

Credit: Julian Broad
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Instead of spatchcocking, a process that involves splitting a whole chicken along the backbone to get it to lay flat, chef José Catrimán splits the chicken through the breast. This helps the bird cook more quickly and evenly, giving you juicy, perfectly cooked light and dark meat.

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Piri Piri Chicken

Credit: Jennifer Causey
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Short wooden skewers are both the cooking tool and the serving utensil for these fiery chicken skewers. This riff on the piri piri marinade balances the heat of fresh chiles with sweet bell pepper, garlic, and a splash of tangy red wine vinegar.

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Shawarma-Style Chicken and Mushroom Kebabs

Credit: Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling Heather Chadduck
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Starting over hot coals and finishing over low heat mimics the crispy-juicy results of shawarma, kebab, and al pastor shops around the world. After marinating, some of the chicken pieces may break apart; simply tuck those loose pieces in the center of the skewered stack.

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Peruvian Chicken Skewers (Anticuchos de Pollo)

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These Peruvian skewers are coated in a thick chile marinade that withstands the heat of the grill and clings to the chicken, yielding caramelized, charred bits.

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Chicken Thigh Yakitori

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At Hong Kong’s Yardbird, chicken thighs are skewered for yakitori and brushed with a delicious, umami-packed tare sauce made with soy sauce and wasabi.

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Huli Huli Chicken Wings

Credit: Greg DuPree
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Sheldon Simeon uses fresh ginger and pineapple juice to add bright heat and tang to the sweet, teriyaki-like huli huli sauce that coats the chicken wings and pineapple slices in this recipe. The marinade helps the wings get smoky-sweet on the grill and retain a delicious juicy bite.

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Kewpie-Marinated Chicken

Credit: John Kernick
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A simple combination of lime, cumin, hot paprika and Kewpie mayo is the secret to this grilled chicken from Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple.

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Red-and-Green Chicken

Credit: Con Poulos
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This clever grilled chicken recipe from Portland, Oregon, chef Joshua McFadden involves making two simple sauces—a spicy red one with ’nduja, a spreadable pork sausage; and a green one packed with fresh herbs and briny capers and anchovies—that are brushed on the chicken and served alongside.

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