8 Easy Healthy Chicken Marinade Recipes (Whole30 Paleo Keto)
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8 Easy Healthy Chicken Marinade Recipes (Whole30 Paleo Keto) – Simple, flavorful ingredients come together in these healthy chicken marinade recipes. Also perfect for freezing and make ahead meals! Paleo, Keto, and Whole30 friendly.
Bored with plain grilled chicken? I’ve got you covered! You can add big flavor with ease, with these 8 simple healthy chicken breast marinade recipes. They are healthy, use only a few basic ingredients, and can be frozen for future meals. I never tire of chicken for dinner but I know many do so I wanted to provide you with some ideas for keeping it interesting! Best of all, these chicken marinade recipes contain only clean ingredients and no sugars or preservatives like the store-bought bottled marinades. Want more flavorful marinade ideas made with clean ingredients? Check out my post for Healthy Pork Marinades and Healthy Steak Marinades!
Best Chicken Marinade Recipes
Here you will find my favorite easy recipes for Lemon Pepper, Asian, Honey Garlic, Mediterranean, Garlic Herb, Blackened, Fajita, and Rosemary Dijon marinades. They are tried and true, kid approved, and have the BEST flavor using only healthy, clean ingredients. Try one or try them all – you won’t be disappointed! And if you like these recipes, check out my Mix and Match Chicken Foil Packets, Grilled Steak Kabobs with Veggies, or Air Fryer Chicken Wings – 5 Ways.
How to Make Good Chicken Marinade
My recipe for a good marinade contains a healthy fat like avocado or olive oil, an acid component (such as red wine vinegar or lemon juice), and plenty of seasoning in the form of dried or fresh herbs and spices. For the recipes here, olive oil and avocado oil can be used interchangeably. My rule of thumb is about 1/2 cup of marinade per 1-1.5 lbs of chicken breasts. I like to marinate for at least 30 minutes to really infuse the flavor. If I’m making ahead, I place the marinated chicken directly in the freezer to save for future meals.
Chicken Breast Dry Rub Recipes
For these marinades, I use my homemade seasoning blends to bring in lots of flavor. They can also be used as a dry rub on any kind of meat – pork, chicken, steak, fish, etc. The different flavor profiles make it easy to customize your meal. One of my favorites is the Homemade Blackened Seasoning Mix for chicken and salmon!
Low Sodium Chicken Marinade
Need to limit sodium in your diet? Steer clear of the packets and bottles marinades! They are often full of excess sodium, sugar, preservatives, and processed vegetable oils. It’s just as easy to make your own chicken marinade, while controlling the ingredients and limiting your sodium intake. Feel free to omit the salt in any of my marinade and seasoning recipes without sacrificing any flavor!
Freezing Marinated Chicken
To freeze these chicken marinade recipes, place desired portions of chicken with marinade in freezer safe plastic bags. Be sure to remove all excess air from the bags, label the bags, and lay flat in the freezer until solid. I like to make big batches of marinade and freeze different sized portions of one serving and larger portions, enough to feed my family of four. Frozen marinated chicken will keep up to 6 months in the freezer. See the instructions below for thawing chicken breasts for grilling or cooking directly from frozen.
How to Cook Marinated Chicken on the Grill
After marinating for at least 30 minutes, the chicken can be cooked on a grill over medium high heat, flipping once throughout cooking. A typical chicken breast will be cooked through after about 5 minutes per side. Cooking time should be increased for larger, thicker chicken breasts. For frozen chicken breasts, simply place in the refrigerator until thawed and grill accordingly.
How to Cook Frozen Chicken in the Air Fryer
If you prefer not to grill your chicken and want a super easy meal for dinner, try the air fryer! The marinated chicken breasts can be cooked right from frozen and come out perfectly cooked and super juicy! To use the air fryer, place frozen chicken breasts in the basket and set the temperature to 370 degrees. Set the timer for 10 minutes, flip the chicken, and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until done. Pro tip…try using these parchment liners to limit the amount of clean up necessary! Note: cooking time may vary depending on the brand of air fryer you have. I own a GoWise 5.8 quart Air Fryer and love it!
Sides for Healthy Chicken Marinades
Need some quick healthy side dish ideas to pair with your chicken? Here are a few of our favorites:
Herb Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
Greek Wedge Salad with Tzatziki Sauce
Instant Pot Potato Cauliflower Mash
More Healthy Chicken Recipes
Instant Pot Healing Chicken Soup
Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry
8 Easy Healthy Chicken Marinade Recipes
Ingredients
Rosemary Dijon Chicken Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Lemon Pepper Chicken Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Real Salt Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Fajita Chicken Seasoning
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons homemade taco fajita seasoning
Sesame Ginger Chicken Marinade
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Garlic Herb Chicken Marinade
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
Blackened Chicken Marinade
- 1/2 cup avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons Homemade Blackened Seasoning
Mediterranean Chicken Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Homemade Mediterranean Seasoning
Honey Garlic Chicken Marinade
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
Instructions
- For each marinade recipe, combine all ingredients together in a bowl or glass measuring cup. Whisk well. Pour marinade over 1-1/5 lbs chicken breast.
- Refrigerate and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- If using immediately, discard marinade and cook chicken until done (no longer pink.)
- For freezing, add chicken and marinade to a freezer safe bag. Squeeze all air out of the bag. Label and lay flat in freezer. Remove and thaw when ready to use or cook from frozen in the air fryer according to directions above.
Notes
Nutrition
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13 Comments on “8 Easy Healthy Chicken Marinade Recipes (Whole30 Paleo Keto)”
Such a great list of marinades! They all sound delicious, but the honey and garlic might just be my favourite!
Love this list of marinades! My favorites are probably honey garlic and mediterranean. Such fresh flavors!
All of these recipes look so delicious!! I can’t wait to try them at home!
This is such a great collection of marinades. Simple, easy, flavorful recipes. And great to bookmark for anytime.
I’m so happy I came across these different chicken marinade recipes, I eat a lot of chicken and get tired of plain chicken.
Hi! These look fantastic! If I use olive instead of avocado oil, will the flavor be terribly different? EVOO, coconut oil and grapeseed are all I have at the moment.
Hi there, absolutely! I sub olive oil for avocado oil and vice versa all the time!
Coconut aminos are my new go to! So far I have tried the Mediterranean, rosemary Dijon, and lemon pepper recipes. Can’t wait to experiment with the rest. Super helpful post. Thx
Love these marinades, always looking for ways to change up chicken, so looking forward to giving them a try!
The rosemary dijon marinade is everything!! Can’t wait to try the others.
These all look great! We avoid sugar as my OH is diabetic so having lots of sugar-free options is terrific!
There are some flavours here that I’ve never tried and I would never think to bag up the marinaded chicken for the freezer. This will make mealtime much easier.
The sesame ginger and lemon pepper are definitely my favorites but I can’t wait to try the rest!