Simple Herbed Grilled Chicken
on Jul 05, 2012, Updated Nov 04, 2023
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This easy and versatile chicken recipe is perfect on its own or a building block for any number of summer meals.
When you have a family of four, and the bulk of the people you invite over often come in groupings of 2 to 6, it’s shockingly easy to go from “We’re having a few people over for dinner” to “Holy crap, what am I going to make for 14?”
This very situation had me gazing thoughtfully at the prepared rotisserie chickens at the market yesterday morning. However, this time, it’s a 4th of July dinner, and I would just feel bad.
This simple herbed grilled chicken recipe is almost like a building block for any number of summer meals. It’s just coated up with olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever herbs you have in your garden, your fridge, or speak to you at the market. You can be more liberal with herbs like basil, parsley, and thyme, but use a lighter hand with stronger herbs like oregano or rosemary.
How to Serve and Use Grilled Chicken
You can serve the breasts attractively sliced up as a main course, dice them, and use them in a pasta or rice salad, serve slices over any number of green or vegetable salads, toss them into grilled quesadillas, and so on. Make more than you need because they are one of the most versatile summer leftovers I can think of.
Carryover Cooking
Don’t forget about carryover cooking, which means the chicken continues to cook after it leaves the grill. Ergo, take the breasts off just before they are cooked through, and let them sit for 4 or 5 minutes before cutting into them. This is how you can grill up a boneless skinless chicken breast that falls into the juicy category, and stop the skeptics in their tracks.
This easy and versatile chicken recipe is perfect on its own or a building block for any number of summer meals.
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Ways to use that leftover grilled chicken (that you made intentionally!):
- Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps
- Pasta Salad with Chicken and Chipotle Dressing
- Pasta Salad with Chicken, Green Olives, and Ramp Vinaigrette
- Greek Chicken Pasta Salad
And check out 10 Things To Make With Leftover Shredded Chicken!
More Grilled Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Yakitori
- Grilled Lemony Chicken and Baby Artichokes
- Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lime, Roasted Garlic, and Fresh Herb Marinade
- Grilled Chicken Thighs with Indian Curry Yogurt Marinade
- Grilled Chicken Breasts with Roasted Garlic Marinade
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Simple Herbed Grilled Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup minced herbs (such as basil, thyme, sage, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and chervil)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
Instructions
- Sprinkle the chicken with a generous amount of salt and pepper on both sides.
- In a small container or a bowl, shake up or whisk together the olive oil, herbs, mustard, and garlic.
- You can either place the chicken in a large zipper top baggie or two, and add the herbed oil, and squish it all around to coat well, or you can layer up the chicken with the herbed oil in a large container with a lid. Either way, seal it up once the chicken is all coated, and refrigerate from 4 to 12 hours.
- Preheat a grill to medium, and grill the chicken breasts for about 4 to 6 minutes per side, depending on thickness, until it is almost cooked through (there should be only a slight hint of pinkness remaining in the center).
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, and let sit for 4 or 5 minutes, then slice, and serve however you wish. This is also great at room temperature.
Searched “Basil, oregano, & chives; Chicken” and this was top hit. I like that you leave it free (slavery is over!) saying simply “[given amount] of spices “SUCH AS…” So, since the herbs my wife planted this year in Texas which thrivesd (& didn’t dry up) were basil, oregano, and chives, I picked about a half cup of each while my wife made side dishes, for two boneless breasts we had. In blender with 2 oz white wine wife added & 1/4 olive oil, & 3 cloves garlic we made a paste. Put on all sides of breasts & in baggie for 10 min only: salting & peppering May have drawn out more juice; however piled the still-pasty herb portion on breasta & broiled 6 min on side with extra 2 min to brown Parmesan & mozzarella we sprinkled on top after 4 min point on each side. We are KETO / Low carb, si served on a bed of rice-sized cauliflower stir fried with bacon fat, olive oil & Worcestershire sauce— a great rice or potatoes substitute- my asthma will not bother me tonight (as it does when I overload on starch, which was the case my first 50 years of post elementary school life, til our daughter discovered KETO & Lost 80 pounds!) My wife said it was the best thing we’ve ever made in the broiler; and likely our ten-minute marinade time worked for us because of the large handfuls of herbs I used plus the browned cheese coating adding so much flavour. We would not have made such substantial changes on a “first time” attempt, but we were HUNGRY, and 4 hours would have pushed dinner to 10 pm on a Sunday.
I will be trying the herb chicken, soon. Thank you. Do you have a recipe for enchilada soup? I have not been able to find a good one. Also, how much is your cookbook?
I have a recipe for Mexican Tortilla Soup in Dinner Solved (it’s one of my favorites!). The Mom 100 is $16.95 and Dinner Solved is $17.95….though you will definitely find them discounted on many online sites, especially the Big One!
Sounds easy and yummy! I will try it this week! I gave been looking for a broccoli cheddar soup any thoughts? Of course with 5 kids I’m looking for easy and yummy!
I have a cauliflower cheddar soup in The Mom 100 Cookbook that I now want to make with broccoli! It’s not yet on this site, but you can google my name and cheddar cauliflower soup, and a few bloggers have put the recipe up on their sites (with permission!!!). Here is one of them: https://dailydishrecipes.com/cheddar-cauliflower-soup/. If you do try it with broccoli before I do, let me know how it turns out!