Grilled BBQ Chicken Breast
Jump to Recipe
This Grilled BBQ Chicken Breast is easy to make, tender, moist, juicy, and flavorful. But what makes this barbecue chicken recipe is the flavor. It’s a homemade marinade that is too good; you won’t need any extra bbq dipping sauce.
Marinate chicken with bbq sauce
The key to making very juicy and tender chicken is salting the chicken first and then marinating it for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour or overnight. If you refrigerate for more than 1 hour or overnight, let the chicken come to room temperature before cooking. Then, either grill outdoors or indoors; whichever way you make it, you will have delicious barbecue-flavored chicken on your dinner table in no time.
🥘 Ingredients
This bbq chicken is flavored with homemade bbq seasoning and grilled to perfection. All the ingredients can be easily found at your grocery store, and you might have all the ingredients already. So let’s dive into what you need to make this dinner recipe.
- Chicken Breast. Or substitute with boneless chicken thighs. To speed up the cooking time, we cut the chicken breast in half (lengthwise) to make two thin cutlets. They’ll cook in half the time.
- BBQ Spices. This recipe uses Chili Powder, Smoked Paprika, Oregano, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Mustard Seeds, Salt, and Pepper.
- Brown Mustard. It adds a nice tangy flavor, which pairs great with the seasoning and tomato flavors. Our favorite is Primal Kitchen’s Spicy Brown Mustard. It has a nice flavor, and it’s not too spicy.
- Tomato Paste. All bbq sauce has tomato sauce, but we only use tomato paste for this homemade recipe. It adds more flavor and depth to the sauce.
- Apple Cider Vinegar. It adds a nice tangy vinegar flavor that you will find in most store-bought bbq sauces.
- Honey. We like to sweeten our bbq sauce with honey, but feel free to omit it or switch it to brown sugar for that sweet and tangy flavor.
- Olive Oil. Adding oil helps with marinating the flavors altogether.
🥣 Instructions
This barbecue chicken recipe is easy to make. The only time you need to devote is the prep work for the marinade to work its magic. Allowing your chicken to marinade for at least 1 hour or overnight will give you tender, juicy, and flavorful chicken. But let’s go over what else you need to do to make it.
- Salt the Chicken. First, we want to rinse, pat dry, and slice the chicken breast into cutlets. Then grab a pinch of salt and salt the chicken on both sides.
- Make the BBQ Marinade. Add spices, mustard, honey, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and tomato paste to a small bowl. Mix until combined.
- Marinate Chicken. Rub the marinade all over the salted chicken, cover it with plastic wrap, and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Before grilling, remove the chicken from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes. If marinating overnight, place the chicken with the marinade in a zip lock bag or a bowl with the marinade covering the chicken.
- Cook BBQ Chicken on the Grill. If using an outdoor grill, turn the grill to 450 degrees and place the chicken breasts on the hot grill. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the chicken quickly releases from the grates. Then, carefully flip the chicken and cook for 5-7 minutes until the chicken breasts are firm, registering at 165°F.
- Cook BBQ Chicken on the stovetop. Preheat a cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, brush a tablespoon of oil on the grill pan. Carefully transfer marinated chicken breast, cover with a lid, and cook for about 5 -7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and flip the chicken to the other side to continue cooking for 10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked with the inside registering at 165°F.
FAQs
BBQ chicken is best when fresh, but leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. Then, reheat in the microwave or the oven. We like to add BBQ sauce before reheating to add extra flavor.
What goes with bbq chicken
Our favorite sides include a healthy salad, mashed sweet potatoes, rosemary mashed potatoes, a refreshing pasta salad, or baked beans. For our photos, we served bbq chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and added some chopped parsley.
This Grilled BBQ Chicken recipe is easy to make and juicy, tender, and flavorful. We hope you all love our recipe as much as we do. Enjoy! ♡
Grilled BBQ Chicken Breast
- 4 Boneless Chicken Breast
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Oregano
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Pepper
- 1 tbsp Brown Mustard We used Primal Kitchen's Spicy Brown Mustard
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Tomato Paste
- Salt the Chicken. First, we want to rinse, pat dry, and slice the chicken breast into cutlets. Then grab a pinch of salt and salt the chicken on both sides.
- Make the BBQ Marinade. Add spices, mustard, honey, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and tomato paste to a small bowl. Mix until combined.
- Marinate Chicken. Rub the marinade all over the salted chicken, cover it with plastic wrap, and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Before grilling, remove the chicken from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes. If marinating overnight, place the chicken with the marinade in a zip lock bag or a bowl with the marinade covering the chicken.
- Option 1Cook BBQ Chicken on the Grill. If using an outdoor grill, turn the grill to 450 degrees and place the chicken breasts on the hot grill. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the chicken quickly releases from the grates. Then, carefully flip the chicken and cook for 5-7 minutes until the chicken breasts are firm, registering at 165°F.
- Option 2Cook BBQ Chicken on the stovetop. Preheat a cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, brush a tablespoon of oil on the grill pan. Carefully transfer marinated chicken breast, cover with a lid, and cook for about 5 -7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and flip the chicken to the other side to continue cooking for 10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked with the inside registering at 165°F.
How much tomato paste are we supposed to use? It’s missing from the ingredients list. I’m trying to guess, but I am afraid I’m getting the ratio wrong.
Sorry about that Melissa! it’s 3 Tbsp of Tomato Paste.