Close-up of sliced grilled chicken breast on a cutting board, showing juicy texture and grill marks.

This juicy boneless grilled chicken breast recipe is full of flavors like honey and dijon mustard, and is easy to make—just mix, marinate and grill!

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Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time1 25

Servings

This recipe for the best grilled chicken breast is the perfect family dinner or choice for a summer cookout. The easy chicken marinade is a combination of lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, and spices, making it the perfect balance of tangy and sweet for flavorful chicken breasts off the grill.

Grilled chicken breasts with golden brown char marks arranged on a board, with one breast sliced open to show juicy interior.

Grilled Chicken Breast Ingredients

Grilled Chicken Breast raw ingredients that are labeled

You’ll need:

Chicken – Thin-cut boneless, skinless for speed and even cooking.
Dijon mustard
Honey
Fresh lemon juice
Canola oil
Seasonings – Paprika, thyme, salt, pepper. That’s it.

Ingredient Substitutions

Pre-portioned chicken breast cutlets make prep quick and easy. If using bulk frozen chicken, butterfly or pound larger pieces to ensure even cooking. Instead of boneless chicken breasts, you could also use this marinade with other cuts of chicken such as chicken thighs, legs, or drumsticks.

You can substitute two teaspoons of fresh thyme for the fresh thyme in this recipe.

How To Marinate and BBQ Chicken Breast

Marinate
Whisk itogether and pour it over the chicken in a zip-top bag. Get as much air out as you can so the marinade hugs every piece. Chill one to two hours—no longer needed for thin cutlets.
Grill
Preheat to 400°F. Grill with the lid closed for six to eight minutes per side or until the internal temp hits 165°F.
Rest + serve
Let the chicken sit for five minutes. This helps the juices redistribute so you don’t lose them all on the cutting board.

Serving Suggestions

Serve it family BBQ style with coleslaw and dill pickle pasta salad.
Slice it up for grilled chicken wraps with crunchy lettuce and a swipe of mayo.
Throw it on pasta with olive oil and simple sauteed veggies.
Use it as your meal-prep hero—great cold over salad or warmed up in a sandwich.

Make-Ahead Tips

Marinate early: You can prep the marinade the day before and pour it over the chicken in the morning.

Double batch: Grill extras—this chicken keeps well for two days in the fridge and is killer in leftover lunches.

Extreme close-up of grilled chicken breast sliced to reveal moist and tender inside with dark grill marks on top.

More Grilled Recipes

Grilled Chicken Breasts

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This juicy boneless grilled chicken breast recipe is full of flavors like honey and dijon mustard, and is easy to make—just mix, marinate and grill!

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 1 25

Servings

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Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breast thin cutlets, approximately 1½ to 2 pounds total weight (I used Perdue brand pre-packaged cutlets)
⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
⅓ cup canola oil
¼ cup honey
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

In a large, heavy-duty Ziploc bag, place the boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets. Set aside.
In a small bowl, add the fresh lemon juice, canola oil, honey, dijon mustard, smoked paprika, dried thyme, salt, and black pepper. Whisk together until fully combined.
Pour the marinade over the chicken that is inside the zip-top bag. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible, and place the bag onto a plate and inside the refrigerator to marinate for 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat the outdoor grill to 400°F. Place the marinated chicken breasts on the grill, close the lid, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
Flip the chicken over and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes or until cooked through and a meat thermometer reads an internal temperature of 165°F.
Remove the grilled chicken to a plate and turn off your grill according to factory instructions.
Allow the grilled chicken to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes

When I use the packages of pre-portioned chicken breast cutlets, it makes preparing this recipe very quick and easy. You can also buy your chicken in large frozen bulk bags as well. Be mindful that sometimes those cutlets tend to be on the large size so you can carefully butterfly them, or pound them out to make them a more uniform thickness. This will allow them to cook at the same rate.
This marinade can easily be doubled, or cut in half, depending on the amount of chicken you will be grilling.
This is a great universal marinade that will yield moist and tender grilled chicken.
If you want to use thicker chicken breasts or even bone-in chicken breasts, you can leave the chicken in the marinade for up to 8 hours. For the thinner cutlets, you do not need to marinate for that long of a time. You will want to note that your grilling time will be longer if you are using the thicker, or bone-in, pieces of chicken breasts.
Evenly space the chicken apart on the grill grates so that it has plenty of room to cook.

Nutrition

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This recipe was developed, tested, cooked and photographed by the Spaceships Kitchen. From our dinner table to yours, we hope you think it's out of this world!

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