This BBQ chicken marinade is a blend of ketchup, brown sugar, oil and plenty of spices. It’s the perfect way to add rich, smoky flavor to chicken breast and chicken thighs.
Barbecue chicken is a summer time staple, along with other warm weather classics like grilled corn on the cob and watermelon salad. BBQ chicken marinade is the perfect way to infuse all that flavor into ordinary chicken to turn it into something special.
You simply can’t go wrong with grilled chicken. It’s easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and universally adored. This BBQ chicken marinade combines plenty of different savory spices to create the best chicken you’ll ever eat!
Table of Contents
BBQ Chicken Marinade Ingredients
This recipe is made with ketchup, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, dry mustard powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and vegetable oil.
How Do You Make BBQ Chicken Marinade?
Place all of the ingredients in a bowl or resealable bag. Whisk the ingredients together until fully combined. Put your chicken in the bowl or bag, then cover the bowl or seal the bag. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, but 6-8 hours is really ideal. Grill, oven bake or broil your chicken as desired, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Marinade
- This marinade can be prepared up to 3 days before you plan to use it, and will coat two pounds of chicken. Store the marinade in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- You can freeze the marinade for up to 2 months. Store the marinade in a resealable freezer bag. Thaw the marinade in the fridge overnight before you use it.
- I feel that BBQ chicken marinade works best with thinner, boneless cuts of chicken. I recommend using thin cut breasts, chicken tenders or boneless skinless thighs. The bone-in cuts take a lot longer to cook, which makes it more likely that the marinade could burn before the chicken is done.
- If you’d like to cook bone-in pieces of chicken, I recommend you check out my BBQ chicken recipe which uses a different technique for bone-in meat to prevent it from possibly getting overly browned.
- Serve your chicken with a variety of side dishes such as snicker apple salad, dirty rice or asparagus salad.
Quick Tip
It is very important to grill your chicken over medium heat, or bake at a moderate temperature. This marinade contains sugar, which can burn if it is exposed to high heat for an extended period of time.
Recipe FAQs
You can use BBQ sauce as a marinade, although I recommend mixing in some oil to keep the chicken from drying out on the grill. This recipe is essentially a homemade BBQ sauce mixed with a little oil.
I do not recommend rinsing marinade off of meat before you cook it. You want a thin layer of marinade left on the meat so it can caramelize on the grill.
Thin cut chicken breasts will need to cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes per side. Chicken tenders will also take about 5-6 minutes per side. Boneless skinless chicken thighs will take longer, closer to 10-12 minutes per side.
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Flavor Variations
This marinade is fabulous as-is, but you can add other ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Spicy: Add 1 tablespoon of hot sauce or 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to the marinade.
- Garlic Lover’s: Stir in 2 teaspoons of fresh minced garlic.
- Seasonings: You can add other seasonings such as soy sauce, ground cumin, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, or Dijon mustard.
My family loves this BBQ chicken marinade so much that I find myself making it all year round. It’s just that delicious! Looking for more great marinade recipes? Don’t miss my teriyaki marinade or steak fajita marinade.
More Grilled Chicken Recipes
Grilled Chicken Tenders
15 mins
Grilled Chicken Salad
35 mins
Chicken Caprese
20 mins
Grilled Chicken Kabobs
30 mins
Grilled Chicken Wings
1 hr 30 mins
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BBQ Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/4 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in a bowl or resealable bag. Mix the ingredients together thoroughly.
- Add two pounds of chicken to the bag or bowl. Cover the bowl or seal the bag, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade. Grill, broil or bake over medium heat as desired.
Notes
- I feel that BBQ chicken marinade works best with thinner, boneless cuts of chicken. I recommend using thin cut breasts, chicken tenders or boneless skinless thighs. The bone-in cuts take a lot longer to cook, which makes it more likely that the marinade could burn before the chicken is done.
- It’s important to cook the chicken over medium heat so it doesn’t burn from the sugar in the marinade.
This is my new favorite BBQ sauce! Packed a ton of flavor in the Dutch oven chicken I made for a group. Thank you!
I love this recipe! So delicious – i’m going to use it to marinate vegetables as well
I decided to grill these and it came out delicious!
This marinade really was so flavorful!! Love the smoky flavors and spices – really elevated the way I typically make chicken!
So much better than a store bought bottled sauce! I love the smoky flavor.