Easy Italian Grilled Chicken
Easy Italian grilled chicken features tender chicken marinated in a blend of olive oil, Italian style spices, garlic, and lemon zest. The result is a yummy addition to any salad, pasta, or as the main course for any meal!
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You know what’s fun?
A versatile dish that everyone in the house will eat.
Picky kids?
They will eat this.
After all it’s chicken!
Italian grilled chicken to be exact.
In other words it’s chicken breast marinated with a combination of olive oil, garlic, spices like Italian seasoning blend, and a little lemon juice and zest for brightness.
So basically you’re making a quick homemade Italian dressing chicken.
But unlike chicken with Italian dressing, this gives more freshness and the ability to control exactly what spices you use so you, and any picky kiddos, are happy with the result.
Plus the marinade means it is so versatile!
You can serve this chicken in wraps, on salads, on pastas (it’s so good with pesto), or with your favorite sides.
So everyone in your house will be happy!
And nothing is more fun than a house of happy, well fed people!
Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies
You’ll need:
- Chicken breasts– Trimmed of the excess fat and pounded thinner
- Olive oil– This is one of those times when I’m going to say you shouldn’t substitute a different oil. Olive oil has that mildly fruity flavor that adds a little something to the chicken.
- Garlic– Look, you can’t make chicken without a metric ton of garlic. It’s just a fact. I mean you could, but it would make me sad.
- Spices– Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning blend, and red pepper flakes
- Lemon– Some lemon zest and fresh lemon juice make it nice and bright!
Kitchen supplies you’ll want to have on hand include:
- Poultry sheers– To trim the fat off the chicken
- Meat tenderizer or mallet– To pound the chicken thinner
- Garlic press
- Microplane
- Citrus press
- Grill pan
How to Make Italian Grilled Chicken
1. Prep the chicken.
Trim the excess fat off of the chicken breasts and lightly pound them thinner so they are an even thickness. Set them aside.
2. Make the Italian grilled chicken marinade.
Combine the olive oil, spices, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Liberally brush or spoon the marinade over both sides of the chicken.
Cover it and let it marinade in the fridge for about half an hour.
3. Grill the chicken.
Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil up on a grill pan over medium heat.
If you are grilling outside on a grill, either prep your grill by brushing olive oil on to it or spraying it with nonstick spray before putting the chicken onto the hot grill.
When the oil is hot, use tongs to put the chicken on the hot grill pan.
Let the chicken cook undisturbed for about 4 minutes.
Flip the chicken and cook undisturbed again for another 4 minutes.
Keep cooking until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 in the thickest part, flipping as needed.
Take the chicken off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
This grilled Italian chicken is so versatile!
It makes an excellent light main dish paired with:
- mashed potatoes or roasted potatoes
- asparagus
- rice or quinoa
- Italian Cucumber Tomato Salad or Easy Tomato and Onion Salad with Vinegar
- even roasted green beans or brussels sprouts
It’s also delicious with some traditonal pesto, lemon pesto, or walnut pesto spooned over top!
And you could top it with Italian tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese for a lighter chicken parm situation or add it to fettuccine alfredo for some chicken alfredo action!
You could also make a batch ahead and meal prep it for the week to serve over salads like this Salad with Strawberries and Candied Pecans or in wraps for lunch!
Storing Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You could reheat it in the microwave, but I am partial to reheating this in a hot grill pan with a little olive oil on the stove. It just tastes better like that!
FAQs
What is the secret to grilling chicken?
There are 2 secrets!
First don’t flip the chicken until the chicken easily lifts from the grill without sticking (about 3 to 3.5 minutes).
Second, make sure to grill the chicken over direct heat.
How do you keep grilled chicken moist?
Sometimes grilled chicken can be sort of dry. This Italian grilled chicken is anything but! Marinading it in the olive oil mixture helps lock in moisture and pounding the chicken to be a uniform thickness means the chicken will cook evenly so you won’t have to wait for a very thick piece to cook through when the thinner areas are already done. If you are worried about it drying while you cook it, you can also brush olive oil on the chicken each time you flip it.
Why should I pound the chicken before grilling it?
Pounding the chicken will do a few things. It helps it cook evenly since you are going to pound it out to a pretty uniform thickness, focusing on flattening the thicker areas and leaving the thinner areas alone. Making the chicken breasts thinner helps it cook faster and helps the Italian chicken marinade soak all the way into the chicken so it’s full of flavor. Lastly, it makes the chicken more tender!
Tips and Tricks
- Adjust the cook time according to the thickness of the chicken breasts. If your chicken is on the thicker side, you will need more time, whereas if you pounded the chicken quite thin, it will grill very quickly.
- If your chicken breasts are thicker, you may want to brush olive oil on each side after flipping the chicken to keep it moist.
- When pounding the chicken, you aren’t looking to make it very thin like you would for say chicken picatta. You just want to even it out and reduce the thickness a bit so it cooks quickly and evenly.
- While this recipe doesn’t call for it, you could top this chicken with a bit of grated Parmesan, asiago, or provolone.
Other Chicken Breast Recipes
Looking for other chicken breast recipes? Try these:
- Orange Ginger Asian Chicken Breasts
- Stuffed Chicken Breast with Stuffing
- Easy Greek Chicken Recipe
- Baked Parmesan Chicken Nuggets
Did you make this? Let me know!
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Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts trimmed of extra fat
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic pressed or finely diced
- 1.5 tablespoons Italian seasoning blend
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Lay the chicken out on a cutting board and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Gently pound it with a meat mallet until it is a uniform thickness. Set the chicken in a wide bowl or dish.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the olive oil, pressed garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and crushed red pepper flakes together until combined to make a marinade.
- Spoon about a quarter of the marinade over each chicken breast and rub it or brush it over the chicken so it fully covers. Flip the chicken breasts over and repeat this using the remaining marinade.
- Cover the chicken and refrigerate it for half an hour.
- Heat a grill pan with enough olive oil to thinly coat the pan over medium heat.
- When the pan is hot, add the chicken to the pan. Cook the chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes without moving the chicken.
- After 3 to 4 minutes, flip the chicken over to the other side. The chicken is ready to flip when it doesn't stick when you try to flip it over. Cook it for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
- Flip the chicken again as needed., cooking until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
- Remove the chicken from the heat and let it rest before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
