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July 29, 2020 4:32 PM

What are your favorite marinated grilled chicken thigh recipes?

We have made this recipe a few times and it's delicious!

Looking for more flavorful marinated grilled chicken recipes. Google, of course, has many but I wanted the hive mind's ideas. No food restrictions, maybe not one that uses obscure ingredients if possible.

Thanks all!

posted by cozenedindigo to Food & Drink (24 answers total)

My favorite is one I made up (I think). For roughly 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs, mix together:
2/3 c whole milk greek yogurt (or plain whole milk yogurt)
2 glugs (3 Tbsp maybe?) good olive oil
2 large cloves crushed fresh garlic
half a lemon
generous amount of salt and pepper

Marinate at least 1 hour and up to overnight. Shake off marinade and cook according to the directions in the recipe you linked (you can't boil down the marinade for this though).

This works really well for chicken you want to eat hot as well as chicken you want to eat cold the next day for lunch. Also, it is of course open to variation--you could try different citrus (or even vinegar, just some kind of acid), dried spices, chile pastes, herb pastes, whatever. Just don't leave out the yogurt.
posted by CiaoMela at 5:10 PM on July 29, 2020

Spicy Miso Chicken Thighs are pretty great.
posted by bunderful at 5:11 PM on July 29, 2020

Found somewhere online years ago - all I wrote down was the ingredient list and it had a generic name like "easy chicken marinade" that is unsearchable - so if it's yours, dear reader, take credit! Pretty sure this is double the original amounts because I was cooking for a party and you could halve everything for the standard 1-1.5 lb pack of chicken pieces.

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
posted by Flannery Culp at 5:19 PM on July 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Huli Huli chicken is great!NY Times recipe
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 5:20 PM on July 29, 2020

Best answer: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-legs-marinated-in-yogurt-and-spices


Indian flavors! It was delicious!
posted by wwartorff at 5:30 PM on July 29, 2020

Really easy, just soak them in a Lowry's marinade of your choice all day, grill when you get home. Herb and Garlic is my favorite, but there are a dozen to choose from.
posted by sanka at 5:32 PM on July 29, 2020

I like this handy chart of marinades for chicken (which also works for other meats, and seafood!) it progresses from three ingredients, to 4 ingredients, and then to five.

https://tasty.co/article/christinebyrne/chicken-marinades

In short, a fat, an acid, and a salty thing are required. Then they add two additional flavor agents for the five ingredient versions. Of course, you can add more than two. So the shortest answer is, flavors that sound good to you, or echo a restaurant meal you’ve enjoyed.

Oranges (Acid!) and olives (salty!) with olive oil, butter, yogurt, or canola are very good together
Mint and yogurt are good with chicken
Peanuts and ginger with sesame oil and a dash of salt
Shallots, thyme, red wine vinegar

Now you can look at your spice cabinet, see that you have oregano and google “spices that go with oregano” and see if you have any of those things in your cabinet too.
posted by bilabial at 5:58 PM on July 29, 2020 [2 favorites]

Also baked chicken is a good way to use a half a lemon/orange/lime that is in the fridge looking a little bit sad. Slice it up, and lay the chicken on it to bake. Or squeeze the juice out and add to oil with some zest.

I also like chicken thighs baked with tomato and oregano.

You can also make “spice blends” that are much cheaper than the equivalent store bought stuff. “Italian”, “taco/fajita,” etc. Or just buy the store bought, stir it into some yogurt - and if I use whole milk yogurt I call that the fat too.

Whatever flavors you choose:

Toss it all in a bowl, stir to coat, cover in plastic wrap or with a lid, refrigerate. If you’re going to let it sit overnight in the fridge, stir it a few more times times then and cooking.
posted by bilabial at 6:05 PM on July 29, 2020

I use mayo (sometimes even homemade, which is a good way to incorporate ingredients like garlic cloves, flavored oil, citrus juice, onion/shallot, sweet or hot peppers, directly as a component) as my marinade base, but you don't want it to get much runnier than it is. So I own a range of interesting powders that'll pack a big flavor without thinning the marinade: lemon, tomato, blue cheese, celery, sour cream, sumac, smoked salt, all kinds of peppers, dried herbs.

If you're cooking skin-on thighs this way, you do have to mind your flame. The skin fat starts rendering and you get a flare-up and the mayo-covered skin will absolutely catch fire. (Weirdly, I made this mistake last night and it was delicious after you pulled the burned skin off.)
posted by Lyn Never at 6:21 PM on July 29, 2020

The Cornell Chicken recipe is awesome. It sounds really weird to use an egg in a marinade... but we did it and best bbq style grilled chicken ever.
posted by countrymod at 6:52 PM on July 29, 2020

Mix equal parts hoisin and soy sauce. Add minced garlic and ginger to taste. Add a little balsamic and/or lemon juice.
posted by Candleman at 6:58 PM on July 29, 2020

I adore chicken bulgogi. (great under the broiler too, in all seasons)
posted by squiddish at 7:03 PM on July 29, 2020

Smoky and Spicy Yogurt Marinated Chicken Kebabs is one of my most frequent Summer dinners. (Seriously, this is one of those recipes I have printed out and hanging on my fridge.) It's good with cous cous and grilled Padron peppers.
posted by Miss Matheson at 7:18 PM on July 29, 2020

If they're bone in skin on, a dry rub of brown sugar salt and pepper and something a little spicy like paprika, garlic powder, any kind of "seasoning mix", left overnight then cooked, yields delicious crispy skin and tasty meat!
posted by The otter lady at 7:54 PM on July 29, 2020

Oh, you have to try the Serious Eats halal cart chicken, it’s one of the few ways my kids really love chicken. Thighs are the recommended part of the bird, and if I were you I’d double the recipe and make sure you have leftovers because it’s just as good the next couple days.

I usually fudge the rice by just using Vigo brand yellow saffron rice mix.
posted by padraigin at 8:13 PM on July 29, 2020

Piri Piri chicken
posted by bunderful at 8:48 PM on July 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

"Juicy Grilled Chicken Thighs" is my go-to.
posted by wats at 9:08 PM on July 29, 2020

This Vietnamese style chicken was great. We had it with cold noodles, cucumbers, carrots and purple cabbage dressed with the dressing from this noodle bowl.. I used half the fish sauce called for in the dressing.
posted by vunder at 9:44 PM on July 29, 2020

Andrea Nguyen's recipes never let me down. I made this thai grilled chicken with turmeric last summer and it was a huge hit. its very easy but includes some things you might not already stock in your pantry - its worth it to get them.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 5:40 AM on July 30, 2020

I'm on Team Acid-Fat-Salt-Flavoring. Acid can affect the texture of chicken, so don't leave it in marinade more than an hour. White wine is a nice acid and flavoring with a bit of sweetness, olive oil, thyme, a squeeze of lemon, some garlic, salt, pepper. Change up the herbs, try lime instead of lemon, etc.
posted by theora55 at 8:12 AM on July 30, 2020

This Southern Living recipe for grilled thighs with white bbq sauce is one of my very favorites. Simple and delicious every time.
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:49 AM on July 30, 2020

In the days when I used to eat meat, Madhur Jaffrey's Tandoori Chicken recipe was a go-to. I first made this 40 years ago - and in those days it was really exotic food (you have no idea how difficult it was to find garam masala in the 1970s) - and I've made it many times since, always with great success. It works best with skinless thighs. And although the recipe is in the oven, it works even better on the grill.

For extra authenticity, you can add red food colouring to the marinade, but you don't need to.
posted by essexjan at 11:58 AM on July 30, 2020

Pickle Juice is apparently the secret to Chik-Fil-A's hate chicken, and I think the base for some Hot Chicken recipes.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:19 PM on July 30, 2020

Response by poster: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-legs-marinated-in-yogurt-and-spices


Indian flavors! It was delicious!

We made this today and it was indeed delicious! Especially when paired with cucumber raita

Thanks everyone! I have a multitude of dishes to try.
posted by cozenedindigo at 11:57 AM on August 7, 2020