Lemon Chicken Marinade
Published 8/31/2020 • Updated 9/8/2023
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This bright and juicy lemon chicken marinade is ready to go in 5 minutes made with 8 simple ingredients.
If you’re wondering how to get perfectly juicy chicken breast, it all starts with the chicken marinade! Infuse your chicken with simple ingredients such as lemon juice, fresh dill, garlic, and mustard.
Let it sit for at least 30 minutes so that the flesh can soak up as much flavor as possible and then cook it however you wish!
What is in this lemon chicken marinade?
- Lemon juice: Don’t skimp on this! We prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice.
- Olive oil: The perfect amount of olive oil will help keep this chicken moist and delicious during the marinating and cooking process.
- Fresh dill: We love the flavor profile fresh dill brings to this chicken, but dried dill will also work here!
- Garlic cloves: Don’t skimp on the garlic, friends! We keep a tube of minced garlic in the fridge at all times.
- Ground mustard: Mustard is a great complement to chicken, and we love how it complements the lemon and dill profile of this marinade!
- White rice vinegar: This will balance out the citrus and honey, and give your marinade that delicious tang.
- Honey: Honey is our preferred sweetener for lemon chicken. It has a delicious sweet flavor and is refined sugar-free!
- Salt: So simple, but adds such great flavor!
How long can chicken sit in a citrus-based marinade?
We recommend marinating your chicken for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours if there is citrus in your chicken marinade.
The reasoning for this is that the citrus can actually make your chicken tough and chewy if it sits for more than 2 hours.
Easy Ingredient Swaps
- Maple syrup instead of honey.
- Dried dill instead of fresh dill.
- White wine vinegar instead of white rice vinegar.
Check it out!
6 Baked Chicken Breast Recipes
You are going to love these 6 oven baked chicken breast recipes. Check out how to bake chicken breast perfectly every time and get 6 delicious flavor variations!
Ways to Cook Lemon Chicken
- Oven – follow this easy baked lemon chicken recipe for directions on how to bake the most perfect marinated chicken!
- Grill – use our grilled greek lemon chicken recipe as a resource.
- Instant Pot – plop your chicken and marinade right into your Instant Pot and in no time, you’ve got dinner!
- Slow Cooker – easily whip up lemon chicken by placing chicken and marinade in your slow cooker for the most tender shredded chicken recipe!
- Sous Vide – want super tender chicken? Use your sous vide to get perfect marinated chicken every time.
Freezing Instructions
One of our favorite things to do with chicken marinades is to batch produce them and freeze for later! For example, you can make 3 or 4 batches of this lemon chicken marinade and freeze it for another time. Here’s how to do it:
- Place the lemon chicken marinade along with 1 to 1.5 lbs. of raw chicken chicken breast into a freezer-safe gallon-size bag.
- Remove as much air as possible and then seal.
- Write “Lemon Chicken” on the front of the bag along with the date. Freeze for up to 3 months.
How long does frozen chicken last? Your frozen lemon chicken will last up to 3 months in the freezer.
Lemon Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 – 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill
- 1/2 tablespoon white rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey, or maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients for the lemon chicken marinade (minus the chicken breast) into a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
- Place chicken breast into a glass container or gallon-size bag. Then, pour the marinade on top of the chicken, making sure it is covered.
- Let chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or for best results, up to 2 hours.
Tips & Notes
- Nutrition is for 1 lb. chicken
- Baking Instructions: Baking marinated lemon chicken breast is super simple. Simply transfer the marinated chicken plus the excess lemon chicken marinade into a baking dish. Bake at 375ºF for around 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. We suggest using a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of your chicken instead of eyeballing it. Checks out full instructions here on how to bake chicken breast.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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