Grilled chicken thighs is a fast and easy chicken recipe with so much flavor in every bite. We marinate boneless chicken thigh meat in a simple homemade marinade and grill it for an easy dinner. You can also use bone-in chicken thighs and cook it a bit longer.
Besides seafood, boneless chicken thighs is the fastest meat you can cook on the grill. It’s tender, juicy, and thin, so the cooking time is only about 10-14 minutes.
The longest amount of time you will spend on this recipe is the marinating time. Just give it about 2-4 hours and it will be enough to give the chicken a lot of delicious flavors.
It’s truly a perfect chicken dinner for a busy week night. Even a busy Monday night deserves a tasty dinner at the end!
Marinade For Chicken Thighs
What you will need to the marinade is:
Oil – choose mild tasting oil that can stand up to high heat, like canola, vegetable, or milk olive oil.
Vinegar – balsamic is a great choice with bold and bright flavor notes.
Sweetness – use brown sugar or you can also substitute honey.
Garlic – fresh garlic clove is preferred but in a pinch, you can use a teaspoon of garlic powder.
Dijon Mustard
Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
How to Grill Chicken Thighs
Prepare chicken:
I like to cut the excess fat off the thigh meat but if you prefer not to, leave it on.
Place the meat into a gallon zip-top plastic bag and add the ingredients for the marinade. Close the bag and gently move and shake the meat to mix the ingredients and make sure chicken is evenly coated.
Place the bag into a wide bowl or a baking dish to protect the fridge from possible leaks. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
(You can marinate the chicken longer but try not to go over 12 hours or the meat tissue will start to break down.
Prepare the grill and cook:
Set up your grill for a two temperature zone whether it’s gas or charcoal.
Take chicken out of the marinade and let most of the liquid drip back into the bag.
Spray the chicken with some cooking spray and place it on the grill over direct heat.
Cook chicken thighs over direct heat for 5-7 minutes per side.
Because boneless thigh meat is so thin, it might be hard to take a temperature but you can try to measure the center or the thickest part. Chicken is done when it reaches 165° internally.
How To Grill Bone-In Chicken Thighs
Like I mentioned earlier, you can easily make this recipe with bone-in chicken thighs as well. Cooking is slightly different and longer.
Prepare it the same way as the recipe instructs up to the cooking step.
Start by grilling the chicken over direct heat for about 4 minutes per side and then move it over to the cooler side to finish cooking. Cover the grill with the lid and let the chicken cook for another 6-8 minutes. Flip each thigh, take the temperature and finish cooking until it reaches 165° internally.
Measure the temperature in the center of the thickest part but not right next to the bone.
Recommended Sides
You can serve virtually any side with grilled chicken. If you want to make it easy on yourself, grill vegetables that take about the same amount of time as boneless chicken thigs.
Easy and fast vegetables to grill include green beans, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, and zucchini. Whether you cook it in a cast iron skillet on the grill or right on the grill grate, these are quick cooking veggies.
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Grilled Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat
Marinade:
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 garlic clove pressed
- salt
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
Prepare Chicken:
- Cut off excess fat off the thigh meat if you prefer.
- Place the meat into a gallon zip-top plastic bag and add the ingredients for the marinade. Close the bag and gently move and shake the meat to mix the ingredients and make sure chicken is evenly coated.
- Place the bag into a wide bowl or a baking dish to protect the fridge from possible leaks.
- Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
- (You can marinate the chicken longer but try not to go over 12 hours or the meat tissue will start to break down.)
Prepare the grill and cook:
- Set up your grill for a two temperature zone whether it’s gas or charcoal.
- Take chicken out of the marinade and let most of the liquid drip back into the bag.
- Spray the chicken with some cooking spray and place it on the grill over direct heat.
- Cook chicken thighs over direct heat for 5-7 minutes per side.
- Because boneless thigh meat is so thin, it might be hard to take a temperature but you can try to measure the center or the thickest part. Chicken is done when it reaches 165° internally. You can also touch the chicken to see if it feel firm at the thickest part.
Nutrition
This looks awesome! What’s the serving size for the states nutrition guide?
Hi Katie! So this is estimated to be 1/2 lb. per person/serving. I can’t tell you exactly how many chicken thighs because of the difference in size of each. So the 2 lbs in this recipe should feed 4 people. Hope this helps!