Juiciest Boneless Skinless Grilled Chicken Breast

Learning how to grill the juiciest grilled chicken breast isn’t hard. You just have to know the tricks of the trade and apply them! They can be one of the hardest pieces of meat to consistently cook successfully, but we are here to help you change that right now!

🍽️ Why This Works

We grill chicken breasts a lot.  It is a great cut of meat and is extremely healthy. “Healthy” also means that there is very little fat there to help with flavor or add to the juiciness of the chicken.

This post will discuss the simple techniques to lock in the juices and flavors in easy steps.

🐔 Ingredients

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts – We typically go to Costco and buy the large packages. It is so much cheaper than our big box grocery stores. Plus, with these techniques, you can cook these assembly line style and freeze for meal prepping throughout the week.

⏲️ Equipment and Tools

I recently started using a GrillGrate on my Big Green Egg and it has made a world of difference when I grill meats like chicken breasts. This sets on top of your existing grate and the fins get extremely hot.

They will sear the chicken extremely fast, virtually preventing it from sticking. I have had to use less oil and have had a lot less frustrations with meat sticking.

I do recommend letting it heat up fully before adding the meat. It is a fantastic way to minimize extra oil in your grilling.

🔥 Instructions

Step One: Lay the chicken breasts out flat and brush with a light coating of olive oil. This will minimize the chances of sticking to the grill.

Step Two: Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. I was planning to grill a lot of these on my Big Green Egg for meal prepping later in the week, so I stayed away from any other seasonings.

Step Three: Preheat the grill to 375 degrees using direct heat. This will be a hot-and-fast recipe.

Grilling tip: If you rush to put the chicken on too early, the grill may not be hot enough and you won’t achieve the sear or grill marks you are looking for. You run the risk of drying out the chicken.

Step Four: This is optional, but I highly recommending using a GrillGrate on top of the grating. Give it a few minutes to heat up as well.

Step Five: Grill each side for five to seven minutes. If the chicken releases easily from the grate, it is time to turn them over.

Step Six: Remove them from the grill when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

❗ Expert Tips

Lock in the Juices – Use a meat tenderizing mallet to flatten the chicken breast. The key here is to force the breast to be uniform thickness. Place the chicken between two pieces of saran before pounding. It will minimize a mess!

You will also notice that a thinner chicken breast will cook faster. Cooking it faster will sear the outside, locking in the juices.

Marinate – I have had mixed success with this. Typically marinating adds additional juices to the meat, but I find chicken breasts don’t absorb the liquid much. If you marinate it after using a tenderizing mallet, it will absorb a bit more, but the other techniques on this page will make a bigger difference.

Sear – The best technique for locking in the juices is to sear the chicken. That is why I recommend the GrillGrate, especially for leaner cuts of meat. The GrillGrate has aluminum fins that superheat and causes the meat to sear quickly. Check out my full review of the GrillGrate. It is my favorite grilling tool!

Grill Temperature – When it’s time to grill, prep your temperature to 375 degrees. You don’t want it to be below 350 or over 450. Too low, and it may not cook fast enough and the chicken may dry out. Too hot, and the outside of the chicken breast will burn before they are fully cooked on the inside.

Chicken Temperature – It can be tricky to tell when chicken is fully cooked, so it’s best to use a thermometer. I finally broke down and bought one. Read about my research into the best wireless meat thermometers. Wait for that perfect 165 degrees internal temperature.

🍗 Storage

I typically grill the entire package of chicken at once. That is way too much food to eat at once, so I let the breasts rest after grilling and then cut them into bite-sized pieces and wrap a single serving of them in saran and then place them in a sturdy freezer-safe Ziploc bag.

Throughout the week, take a package out and let it defrost overnight in the refrigerator. Heat it up in the microwave for a minute and use it in any of your recipes.

Meal Prepping Option

Indoors, we love to cook up several pieces of chicken at once and then shred them for other meals.

We use the same concept on the grill. When the chicken is on sale, grab a couple packages and grill them up with just salt and pepper. Allow to cool and then start shredding, either with two forks or put it in your KitchenAid mixer and this will shred it as well.

Then place in individualized freezer safe bags and they will keep for up to 3 months. Use these for salads, burrito bowls, enchiladas, tacos, nachos, chicken salad, pizzas, chicken pot pie, soups, pastas or wraps.

🥦 Serving Suggestions

If you already have the grill going, it is best to throw on a few veggies to go with this. I highly recommend grilling a whole sweet potato. This can be wrapped in foil and stuck to the side of the grill while you work on the chicken. Adding a very fast grilled broccolini or even some grilled tomatoes will work perfectly with this dish.

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