Think Grilled Chicken Is Boring? These 18 Recipes Will Prove You Wrong

Winner winner chicken griller.

By
Yasmine Maggio
Yasmine Maggio
Yasmine Maggio
Associate Editor
Yasmine is an Associate Editor at Serious Eats. Her work has been featured in Women’s Health and on L’Officiel USA, and she recently graduated from New York University with a master's in journalism. You can find her at Bleecker Street Pizza on any given weekend.
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Published June 21, 2025
Chicken Inasal on a white plate next to dipping sauce and a bowl of white rice.

Serious Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Like burgers, hot dogs, steaks, and ribs, chicken is often a staple at summer cookouts. Made poorly, grilled chicken can be dry and rubbery. But with the proper technique, grilled chicken can be wonderfully juicy and flavorful. Below, we've gathered 19 of our favorite grilled chicken recipes, including classic Indonesian chicken satay, a juicy grilled chicken sandwich, and an exceptional Caesar salad where every component (except for the dressing!) is grilled.

May 2020

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  • Grilled Butterflied Chicken

    A round white platter holding a whole grilled chicken which has been cut into individual pieces. Also in the image on the right periphery are a glass holding a carbonated beverage and a green plate with a metal utensil on it.

    Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg

    Spatchcocking works just as well for grilling as it does for roasting. For tender chicken with crisp skin, we start by placing the chicken skin-side up on the cooler side of the grill, then finish it over the hot coals.

  • The Best Barbecue Chicken

    Barbecue chicken on a serving plate.

    Serious Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    Bigger birds aren't well-suited to conventional grilling because it's hard to cook them through evenly. Barbecue is the ideal method for roasting large chickens; the low-and-slow technique cooks them gently and imparts a smoky flavor. For extra sweetness and tanginess, we like to brush the chicken with barbecue sauce towards the end of cooking.

  • Harissa-Honey Glazed Chicken Skewers

    Honey harissa glazed chicken skewers on a platter with lemon slices

    Serious Eats / Melati Citrawireja

    Harissa and honey may seem like a slightly unexpected pairing, but together they create a perfect balance of heat and sweetness. On the grill, high heat caramelizes the marinade's sugars and chars the meat, creating deep, smoky layers of flavor. 

  • Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

    Grilled chicken caesar salad on a platter.

    Serious Eats / Kevin White

    This Caesar salad is savory and hearty enough to be a main course, and it's ready to serve fresh off the grill in under 45 minutes. Grilling every element of the salad—except for the dressing—infuses the salad with a rustic, smoky char. Marinating the chicken for at least thirty minutes seasons the meat thoroughly while also helping it retain moisture.

    Continue to 5 of 18 below

  • Chicken Satay

    Overhead view of chicken sate

    Serious Eats / Melati Citrawireja

    With a set of skewers and a grill, this Indonesian classic is relatively easy to make. Marinate the boneless, skinless chicken thighs with dark sweet soy sauce, peanut sauce, lime juice, and salt, pack them tightly onto skewers, then grill them for a smoky, savory treat.

  • The Best Juicy Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

    A grilled boneless chicken breast on a white ceramic plate along with two grilled pieces of corn-on-the-cob.

    Serious Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    Boneless, skinless chicken breasts tend to be bland and dry, but that doesn't keep them from being one of the most popular cuts of meat in America. If you're going to give chicken breasts space on the grill, treat them right by pounding to a uniform thickness, brining, and using an instant-read thermometer to avoid overcooking.

  • The Best Grilled Chicken Sandwich Ever

    Chicken sandwich served on a plate with all of the toppings and a sesame seed bun.

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    This juicy chicken sandwich is surprisingly quick to make. With alternating layers of mayonnaise, crushed potato chips, a flavorful jalapeño-avocado sauce, lettuce, and tomato, it delivers a range of textures, from crisp and crunchy to soft, tender, and juicy.

  • Peruvian-Style Grilled Chicken With Green Sauce

    A whole Peruvian-style grilled chicken, cut up on a white plate with green sauce.

    Serious Eats / Melissa Hom

    The chicken itself in this recipe is nothing too special—just a spatchcocked bird rubbed with salt, cumin, paprika, pepper, garlic, vinegar, and oil before grilling. The real magic of Peruvian grilled chicken lies in the spicy yet cooling green sauce, which is made with a mayonnaise and sour cream base and flavored with jalapeños, cilantro, and aji amarillo pepper paste. Make extra, because you'll want to put it on everything.

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  • Thai-Style Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang)

    Thai-style grilled chicken on a platter with sauce.
    Serious Eats / Melissa Hom

    The secret to this wonderfully delicious grilled chicken is marinating the meat with fish sauce and sugar, which helps create an intense, caramelized crust on the grill.

  • Chicken Inasal (Filipino Grilled Chicken)

    Chicken inasal on a white plate next to dipping sauce and a bowl of white rice.

    Serious Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    In this Filipino dish, we marinate the chicken in vinegar, citrus juice, and lemon-lime soda to tenderize the meat. Brushing the chicken with annatto oil adds an extra layer of flavor and aroma, while also preventing the chicken from drying out. The street food is typically served with white or garlic rice and sawsawan, a vinegary dipping sauce.

  • Grilled Tamarind Chicken Thighs

    A platter of grilled tamarind chicken thighs next to a bowl of white rice.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    This grilled chicken recipe is inspired by Filipino sinigang. Incorporating dried spices and their fresh counterparts intensifies the flavor of the marinade, while highly acidic tamarind paste acts as both a flavoring agent and a tenderizer when applied to the chicken. When grilling, starting the chicken skin side up and finishing skin side down yields crispier skin.

  • Jamaican Pan Chicken

    Pan chicken served with white bread and condiments.

    Serious Eats / Karina Matalon

    Marinated with fragrant island spices like Scotch bonnet pepper, scallions, and thyme, pan chicken is hot, smoky, and tender—the ultimate Jamaican fast food. We rub the marinade under the chicken skin to ensure the seasoning and flavor penetrate more deeply. Cooking the chicken first away from the direct heat of the coals allows the meat to cook through before finishing it over the embers for satisfying browning and char.

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  • Chicken Souvlaki With Tzatziki Sauce and Greek Salad

    Skewers served with salad, pita, and tzatziki sauce.

    Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

    With a double-duty marinade, it's easy to pull together this Mediterranean feast at home—and if you don't have an outdoor barbecue, a grill pan on the stovetop does the trick. Grilled chicken is nestled in a soft pita with vegetables and cool tzatziki sauce.

  • Grilled Turkish-Style Chicken Wings

    A platter of grilled Turkish-style wings with a small bowl of sauce.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    These wings rely on a unique and efficient kebab set-up for your grill. By balancing the skewers on bricks set on either side of the charcoal, we can cook the wings more evenly and achieve a nice, fire-kissed crust on the skin. This recipe features a Turkish kebab shop–inspired blend of hot Turkish pepper paste, olive oil, spices, parsley, garlic, and pomegranate molasses, which serves as both a marinade and a dipping sauce.

  • Grilled Chicken and Peach Saltimbocca Skewers

    Skewered chicken and peaches on a wooden platter next to whole peaches.

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    If you've already got your skewers and chicken out, you could also give this combination of chicken, sage, prosciutto, and peach a try. The meat and fruit take a brief bath in a white wine marinade, which not only adds flavor but also helps the chicken retain its moisture on the grill. This same marinade is then reduced and served alongside as a dipping sauce.

  • Grilled Tarragon-Mustard Chicken Skewers

    Charred mustard-grilled chicken kebabs on a baking sheet with fresh tarragon, grilled lemon wedges, and a small bowl of mustard sauce.

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    It doesn't take a lot of time or ingredients to make chicken bright, flavorful, and exciting. The marinade for these skewers combines Dijon mustard, lemon juice, honey, and tarragon. The honey caramelizes over the grill, while the lemon and tarragon keep the skewers tasting fresh and balanced.

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  • Japanese Chicken Skewers With Scallion (Negima Yakitori)

    Two skewers of grilled chicken and scallions.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    The average yakitori joint will serve dozens of cuts of chicken, but at home, it's easiest to stick with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which are suitable for grilling because they're less prone to overcooking than breasts. These skewers are super easy—alternate the chicken with big pieces of scallion, grill, and glaze with teriyaki sauce. If you want a riff on the same theme, you could also try grilling skewers with nanbansu, a sweet-sour sauce that can serve double duty as both a dip and a marinade.

  • Jerk Chicken

    A white square platter of grilled jerk chicken with brightly-colored Scotch bonnet peppers.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    The marinade for Jamaican jerk chicken is pretty straightforward—allspice, thyme, and Scotch bonnet peppers will get you that classic jerk flavor, and habaneros make acceptable replacements for the Scotch bonnets. Unfortunately, true jerk chicken is smoked over hard-to-find pimento wood. The good news? Using bay leaves instead works remarkably well.

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