Our Favorite Grilled Chicken Recipes

By Southern Living Editors Updated July 27, 2022

Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

If you're bored with the flavors of your traditional baked or fried chicken dinners, we're here to help. Use one of these flavor-packed grilled chicken recipes to turn chicken thighs, breasts, and wings into great grilled entrées that the whole family will love. We've even got grilled chicken recipes that make use of the whole bird. Plus, we love taking dinner to the grill because it's a quick and easy way to get dinner on the table without having to turn on the oven.

These recipes are here to prove that grilled chicken is anything but boring. Recipes like Grilled Curried Chicken Thighs with Charred-Vegetable Rice and Garlic-Oregano Chicken with Grilled Leeks and Lemon, just to name a couple, pack plenty of flavor onto your supper plate. Whether it's a weeknight or a weekend, turning to the grill is a surefire way to instantly upgrade chicken by adding extra flavor from the help of your grill.

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Brined Grilled Chicken with Dipping Sauces

Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Recipe: Brined Grilled Chicken with Dipping Sauces

Condiment lovers will rejoice when they're served three different dipping sauce options.

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Grilled Lemon Chicken with Herb Couscous

Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Recipe: Grilled Lemon Chicken with Herb Couscous

This recipe makes use of a whole chicken so you can feed a crowd or have leftovers.

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Garlic-Oregano Chicken with Grilled Leeks and Lemon

Credit: Greg DuPree; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Styling: Christine Keely

Recipe: Garlic-Oregano Chicken with Grilled Leeks and Lemon

A 30-minute marinade helps get dinner on the table in under an hour.

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Spicy Grilled Chicken Breasts

Credit: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Ruth Blackburn; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

Recipe: Spicy Grilled Chicken Breasts

Brining chicken before placing it on the grill is the secret to tender and juicy chicken.

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Beer-Can Chicken

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Recipe: Beer-Can Chicken

Chicken in a beer can? You bet. Grilling is a delicious way to "roast" a whole bird, especially when beer is involved. Use a milder brew if you wish, but skip hoppy IPAs.

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Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Tangy Honey Barbecue Sauce

Credit: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Rishon Hanners; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

Recipe: Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Tangy Honey Barbecue Sauce

These grilled sandwiches, complete with homemade BBQ sauce, come together in just 25 minutes start to finish.

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Grilled Chicken Salad with Blueberries, Goat Cheese, and Pickled Onion

Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Recipe: Grilled Chicken Salad with Blueberries, Goat Cheese, and Pickled Onion

To make sure there's plenty of flavor in every bite, we've upgraded this grilled chicken salad with blueberries, goat cheese, and pickled onions.

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Spicy Grilled Chicken Wings

Credit: Greg DuPree; Food Styling: Rishon Hanners; Prop Styling: Claire Spollen

Recipe: Spicy Grilled Chicken Wings

When put on the grill, these wings get a caramelized flavor from the honey, which helps balance out the spice from the gochujang.

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Grilled Curried Chicken Thighs with Charred-Vegetable Rice

Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Recipe: Grilled Curried Chicken Thighs with Charred-Vegetable Rice

When cooking chicken thighs with the skin on, it's important to make sure the grill doesn't get too hot. This can cause the skin to burn before the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

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Grilled Chicken and Corn with Charred Scallion-Lime Butter

Credit: Johnny Autry; Prop and Food Styling: Charlotte L. Autry

Recipe: Grilled Chicken and Corn with Charred Scallion-Lime Butter

With this summertime dinner recipe, you can cook not only the chicken on the grill but also the corn so you don't even have to turn on the oven. Win, win!