38 Grilled Chicken Recipes for Breezy Dinners

By Food & Wine
Updated August 08, 2018
© John Kernick
Whether you’re choosing chicken breasts, thighs, or legs for an upcoming barbecue, try any one of these simple, satisfying recipes that are sure to impress a crowd, from smoky red curry chicken to tacos you’ll make again and again.
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Grilled Chicken Thighs with Spicy Miso Mayo

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Chef Ricardo Zarate serves this insanely good Southeast Asian chicken with a super-simple combination of mayonnaise, miso and spicy Sriracha sauce.

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Jerk Chicken with 
Scallion-Pepper Sauce


Christopher Testani
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Fiery jerk chicken, with its notes of warm allspice and bright vinegar, is traditionally grilled over pimento wood (available from pimentowoodproducts.com). The chicken’s scallion-pepper sauce accompaniment is like an exotic vinaigrette made with herbs, chiles, aromatic vegetables and lime juice. It’s a lively, pungent and spicy topper for all kinds of grilled foods.

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Baja-Style Rosemary Chicken Skewers

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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

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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Vermicelli with Chicken Skewers and Nuoc Cham

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In this version of a Vietnamese dish, individual piles of cucumber, fresh herbs, and grilled chicken are arranged on a platter of vermicelli and bean sprouts. Tangy nuoc cham sauce is poured over all. As each diner takes a portion, the components intermingle.

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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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Fennel-Garlic Chicken Legs

CON POULOS
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To get the most from a marinade—like the fennel-garlic one used for the chicken here—slash the skin and meat so the flavors can seep in.

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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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Balinese Grilled Chicken

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On a surfing trip to Indonesia, Pete Evans tried a version of this chicken roasted over an open fire. The turmeric, chiles and ginger in the marinade are popular flavors in Indonesian cooking.

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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 Tandoori-Style Chicken Drumsticks

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Skinless chicken legs have only slightly more fat than breasts and are much tastier, especially when marinated in spicy yogurt, as they are here. Chaat masala—a spice blend with an intriguing tang from green mango powder—makes this northern-Indian dish extra-delicious. Try it sprinkled over chickpeas or popcorn.

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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Thyme

© Ben Dearnley
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A bold mixture of red-pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, and olive oil serves as a spicy marinade for bone-in chicken breasts. If you want your chicken spicier still, 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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Chicken Yakitori

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“Korean-style horumon stalls are big in Tokyo,” says Andrew Zimmern. “These tiny restaurants grill dozens of skewers with animal parts like udders, cockscomb, trachea, you name it. But even with conventional meat, grilling techniques like basting with fresh ginger juice are genius. If you’re not adventurous, try it on chicken thighs.”

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Grilled-Chicken Tacos

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Leo and Oliver Kremer make amazing San Francisco-style tacos, burritos and quesadillas—simple, fresh and sustainable.

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Grilled-Chicken-and-Asparagus Salad with Parsley Pesto

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Parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and oil—that’s all it takes to make an outstanding dressing. The secret is in using a lot of parsley. You’ll be surprised how flavorful it is.

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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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Ginger-Marinated Bulgogi-Style Chicken

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Bulgogi, the Korean classic, calls for slices of rich beef; this version uses thinly sliced chicken breast, which has barely any fat at all. The chicken is best served with rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping. Kimchi, a spicy, garlicky Korean pickle often made with cabbage, is especially delicious on the side and is loaded with beneficial bacteria known as probiotics.

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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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Chicken Grilled Under a Brick

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Marinating chickens overnight seasons them all the way through; grilling them under a brick makes the skin crisp.

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Grilled-Chicken Quesadillas

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These classic quesadillas are perfect for a summertime Fourth of July party. The leftovers make for a quick, easy-to-reheat lunch the next day.

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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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Whole Grilled Chicken with Wilted Arugula

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Cooking a whole chicken on the grill can be tricky, but Thomas Keller has perfected a method that uses indirect heat; he adds rosemary sprigs to the coals to infuse the smoke and flavor the chicken.

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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 Wings and Livers with Balsamic-Mustard Glaze

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Marcia Kiesel has always adored chicken livers, but brushed with this hot and tangy glaze, even skeptics admit they like them, especially when spread on grilled garlic bread.

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Warm Quinoa Salad with Carrots and Grilled Chicken

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Cat Cora’s nutritious quinoa is quick to make. Adding chicken makes it a great meal-in-one.

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Brazilian Beer-Marinated Chicken

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Steven Raichlen flavors this speedy chicken dish with Xingu (a Brazilian black lager that has a distinctive colalike flavor), plus mustard and onion—evoking the classic combination of beer and bratwursts. “The marinade brings a lot of flavor to a meat that really needs it,” he says.

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Grilled Chicken with Spiced Red-Pepper Paste

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To mimic the flavor of Turkish red-pepper paste, Silvena Rowe uses a combination of red bell peppers and jalapeños.

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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

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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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Twice-Glazed Asian Barbecued Chicken

Anna Williams
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Instead of the usual smoky-sweet tomato-based barbecue sauce, Mike Sheerin bases his Asian-style version on oyster sauce, soy sauce and roasted garlic, with toasted black peppercorns added for heat.

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Herb-Basted Grilled Chicken

© 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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