38 Grilled Chicken Recipes for Breezy Dinners

Chef Ricardo Zarate serves this insanely good Southeast Asian chicken with a super-simple combination of mayonnaise, miso and spicy Sriracha sauce.

Fiery jerk chicken, with its notes of warm allspice and bright vinegar, is traditionally grilled over pimento wood (available from ). The chicken’s scallion-pepper sauce accompaniment is like an exotic vinaigrette made with herbs, chiles, aromatic vegetables and lime juice. It’s a lively, pungent and spicy topper for all kinds of grilled foods.

Chicken thighs are perfect for the grill because they stay nice and moist. Skewering them with rosemary imparts a lovely herbal flavor.

Simply prepared yet special, these chicken breasts are grilled and basted with a bitter, tart, and sweet glaze.

In this version of a Vietnamese dish, individual piles of cucumber, fresh herbs, and grilled chicken are arranged on a platter of vermicelli and bean sprouts. Tangy nuoc cham sauce is poured over all. As each diner takes a portion, the components intermingle.

Chef Chris Lilly butterflies a whole chicken, smokes it, then dunks the bird into a vat of tangy white barbecue sauce. Home cooks can grill pieces of chicken until crispy and nicely charred, then serve them alongside Lilly's terrific white sauce.

Susan Feniger’s sweet-and-tangy marinated chicken skewers are flavorful enough to eat on their own, but they're even better with the chunky currant-and-olive relish.

To get the most from a marinade—like the fennel-garlic one used for the chicken here—slash the skin and meat so the flavors can seep in.

To amp up the heat, use more Serrano chiles.

On a surfing trip to Indonesia, Pete Evans tried a version of this chicken roasted over an open fire. The turmeric, chiles and ginger in the marinade are popular flavors in Indonesian cooking.

Cilantro stems get in the act in this recipe; they’re pureed with the leaves, jalapeños, garlic, fish sauce, and sesame oil to make a flavorful coating for grilled chicken. The dipping sauce, which also contains cilantro, is a classic Thai sweet-and-sour sauce.

Skinless chicken legs have only slightly more fat than breasts and are much tastier, especially when marinated in spicy yogurt, as they are here. Chaat masala—a spice blend with an intriguing tang from green mango powder—makes this northern-Indian dish extra-delicious. Try it sprinkled over chickpeas or popcorn.

A bold mixture of red-pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, and olive oil serves as a spicy marinade for bone-in chicken breasts. If you want your chicken spicier still, increase the red pepper or leave the breasts in the marinade for an hour or two.

This spicy lemongrass paste is also wonderful rubbed on pork tenderloin or any firm, white-fleshed fish, such as snapper, sea bass or halibut.

“Korean-style horumon stalls are big in Tokyo,” says Andrew Zimmern. “These tiny restaurants grill dozens of skewers with animal parts like udders, cockscomb, trachea, you name it. But even with conventional meat, grilling techniques like basting with fresh ginger juice are genius. If you’re not adventurous, try it on chicken thighs.”

Leo and Oliver Kremer make amazing San Francisco-style tacos, burritos and quesadillas—simple, fresh and sustainable.

Parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and oil—that’s all it takes to make an outstanding dressing. The secret is in using a lot of parsley. You’ll be surprised how flavorful it is.

Grating tomatoes is a quick way to create the juicy puree that becomes a tangy base for a super-simple marinade.

An apricot-based sauce brushed on these chicken wings before grilling gives them plenty of flavor; extra sauce is good for dipping.

Bulgogi, the Korean classic, calls for slices of rich beef; this version uses thinly sliced chicken breast, which has barely any fat at all. The chicken is best served with rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping. Kimchi, a spicy, garlicky Korean pickle often made with cabbage, is especially delicious on the side and is loaded with beneficial bacteria known as probiotics.

Roasting a whole chicken takes about an hour, but cut out the backbone and flatten the bird and it will grill perfectly in 30 minutes. Melissa Rubel Jacobson rubs the chicken all over with a very simple, Thai-inspired mix of red curry paste, coconut milk and brown sugar.

Marinating chickens overnight seasons them all the way through; grilling them under a brick makes the skin crisp.

These classic quesadillas are perfect for a summertime Fourth of July party. The leftovers make for a quick, easy-to-reheat lunch the next day.

Andres Barrera briefly marinates chicken in herbs and cumin before skewering and grilling it; then he serves it with a cool chickpea puree and fiery harissa. His harissa is a knockout, scented with toasted and ground cumin seeds, coriander and caraway seeds, but jarred harissa also works.

Cooking a whole chicken on the grill can be tricky, but Thomas Keller has perfected a method that uses indirect heat; he adds rosemary sprigs to the coals to infuse the smoke and flavor the chicken.

Before grilling chicken, Francis Mallmann tucks orange zest and just-picked oregano under the skin. The fresh flavor is amazing with the crispy, smoky bird.

Marcia Kiesel has always adored chicken livers, but brushed with this hot and tangy glaze, even skeptics admit they like them, especially when spread on grilled garlic bread.

Cat Cora’s nutritious quinoa is quick to make. Adding chicken makes it a great meal-in-one.

Steven Raichlen flavors this speedy chicken dish with Xingu (a Brazilian black lager that has a distinctive colalike flavor), plus mustard and onion—evoking the classic combination of beer and bratwursts. “The marinade brings a lot of flavor to a meat that really needs it,” he says.

To mimic the flavor of Turkish red-pepper paste, Silvena Rowe uses a combination of red bell peppers and jalapeños.

A sweet mustard glaze gives John Currence’s grilled chicken a crisp coating. The juicy marinated birds are also delicious without the glaze. The chickens need to marinate overnight so plan accordingly.

Pings (simple grilled dishes), like these juicy grilled chicken breasts, are very popular all over Laos. Bruising the lemongrass is an essential step that helps release its flavor into the marinade, which can also be used for fish or pork.

Instead of the usual smoky-sweet tomato-based barbecue sauce, Mike Sheerin bases his Asian-style version on oyster sauce, soy sauce and roasted garlic, with toasted black peppercorns added for heat.

Basting chicken with a bundle of rosemary and thyme sprigs adds wonderful flavor while keeping the meat juicy.

To both maximize his grill and take full advantage of summer's exceptional produce, chef Dan Kluger combines grilled corn, grilled scallions and grilled chicken in a bright, spicy jalapeno-lime vinaigrette.

"I'm a thigh guy," says chef Michael Symon, co-host of The Chew. "It has the deepest flavor of all chicken cuts."

Grilling chicken and eggplant at the same time is the best, most delicious way to maximize your grill.

Pickling fresh peaches and then charring them on the grill adds extra flavor to this arugula salad with crispy grilled chicken thighs.