6 delicious and easy keto chicken marinade recipes. All of them are freezer friendly and come together in 5 minutes flat. Perfect for grilling, baking, or roasting.
Winner winner, chicken dinner. In fact, I’ve got 6 fabulous chicken dinner recipes right here, for your dining pleasure.
Chicken is one of the easiest and most inexpensive meals, and there are so many delicious ways to prepare it. I have quite a few keto chicken recipes, and there’s no shortage of ideas in my head for more.
But this time, I decided to do something fun for you. I created SIX different low carb chicken marinades that you can use for easy keto meal prep. You simply whip them up, pop your chicken in them, and you can freeze for several months.
So the next time you’re stuck wondering what to do for dinner, it’s all ready and waiting for you!
Marinating chicken brings out the flavor
While chicken can be easy and delicious when prepared well, it can also be dry and boring if you don’t plan ahead.
Marinating chicken in mixes that include oil, salt, aromatics, and something a bit acidic helps tenderize the chicken and make it more juicy and flavorful.
And there are about as many ideas for chicken marinades as there are chickens in the world! You can go spicy or sweet, tangy or mild. So many great options.
Whatever you do, don’t skip the salt. Salt helps penetrate the flesh and allows the chicken to soak in the flavors and juices. If you’ve ever brined your chicken, you will know just how important this is.
Keto Chicken Marinades
I chose to do 6 of my favorite flavors for chicken, each one a little different from the others. I went with a classic lemon garlic, one with a bit of a Mexican flair, an Italian vinaigrette style, as well as Indian, Thai, and Argentinian.
I chose these particular flavors because they are all freezer friendly, allowing you to prep your chicken in advance and freezer for a future use.
These can be used with any kind of chicken you like best. I prefer chicken thighs, but I did some with boneless skinless thighs, and some with bone-in, skin-on.
All of these recipes are made for about 4 servings of chicken, which is about 1 ½ lbs of meat. You can scale them all up or down, as you need.
How to freeze marinated chicken
A few pointers before you dive into these keto marinade recipes:
Make sure you use fresh chicken, not frozen. Frozen chicken is great in many cases, but you would have to thaw to marinate it and then re-freeze, which can deteriorate the quality of the meat.
Use heavy duty freezer bags. These are best because they are easy and fit well into any freezer. But they also help you avoid freezer burn.
Remove as much air as possible. Once your chicken and marinade are both in the bag, toss them around a little to make sure the chicken is well coated. Then press out as much air as possible before sealing.
Let sit in the fridge for two hours. This allows the marinade to start penetrating the meat before you freeze.
How to cook marinated chicken
Here’s the best part with these keto chicken marinade recipes: you can cook the chicken any way you want after thawing.
Grilling, baking, broiling, air-frying, pan-frying – whatever your little heart desires. All six of these delicious chicken marinades are incredibly versatile.
All you need to do is thaw your chicken in the bag in your refrigerator. Then chose your cooking method and you’re on your way!
Do keep in mind that bone-in chicken will take longer to cook through properly than boneless and skinless. And if you love crispy skin, I recommend the air fryer.
How’s that for easy keto meal prep?
Keto Friendly Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
Lemon Garlic Marinade
- 2 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Chipotle Lime Marinade
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lime zest (about 1 lime)
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon chipotle powder
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon peper
Italian Herb Marinade
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Tandoori Marinade
- ¼ cup plain whole milk yogurt
- 1 tablespoon tandoori seasoning
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Thai Green Curry
- ⅓ cup coconut milk
- 1 ½ tablespoon thai green chili paste
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
Chimichurri
- 1 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 2 tablespoon chopped red onion
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
All marinades except chimichurri
- Whisk ingredients together in a bowl. Pour over 1 ½ lbs of chicken in a bowl or in a ziploc bag.
- Refrigerate and let marinate at least 3 hours before cooking. Grill, pan-fry, air-fry, or bake!
- Chicken and marinades can all be frozen for up to several months. Be sure to thaw completely before cooking.
Chimichurri marinade
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Proceed as instructed for other marinades.
Linda says
Made the chimichuri version last night. Grilled. It was fantastic. Will definitely go on repeat.
Terri says
Having several chicken breasts already in the freezer, guessing it would be ok to thaw the chicken in the marinade in fridge overnight and cook (rather than refreezing)?
Carolyn says
I would think so!
Kat says
How is freezing the yogurt? Does it get weird?
Carolyn says
Not at all!
Bronwen says
Thank you for this chicken marinade primer. Looks like 5 stars to me…Summer is coming and I will be puting these in rotation on the BBQ. Love the variety!
Wilma Collins says
Hi Carolyn, I am making the Tandoori Chicken, and your recipe list whole milk yogurt as an ingredient. Do you prefer, or use a certain brand for these recipes?
Carolyn says
Any full fat greek yogurt will work.
Carol Farnkoff says
I just love all these recipes. Is there a way to get all of them in one book? Do you sell a book that covers all of these recipes? Please let me know where I can get it.
Carolyn says
No, these ones just exist on my blog! 🙂
Tracy says
Tried the Italian and it was awesome. Thank you so much for these recipes. For some reason fresh marinade recipes are hard to come by. Can’t wait to make the rest.
ramagel says
hy, can we just substitude avocado oil to regular olive oil? does the taste would be different?
Carolyn says
Absolutely you can use olive oil.
Stephanie says
I made the Italian herb marinade and it was incredible! Definitely going to use this a lot in the future.
Andie Thueson says
A good marinade makes all the difference! I cannot wait to give these a try.
Beth says
I love this recipe! I made chicken with this recipe and my family loved it! I will be using this recipe again!
Judy says
THANK YOU! This has helped so much in transitioning into a healthier lifestyle. I used these marinades and put them in separate ziploc bags overnight with chicken drumsticks. Then, I put them in my air fryer and finished it with a light 10 min bake in the oven. They were the juiciest, yet with a crispy skin I’ve ever tasted.
Sheri West says
Grilling season and now I have these great recipes! Thank you can’t wait to try them all!
Amanda says
These look great – thank you!!! I love things like this to have in my back pocket 🙂 Looks great to prep some chicken to grill and cut up into strips for salads, or eat as-is. Perfect for right now with all the chicken I have in my freezer to switch things up for the hubs. Thanks so much again!