Juicy Grilled Chicken Breast
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
This is my sister’s famous juicy BBQ chicken breast recipe. The marinade is simple with just 3 ingredients. She made this chicken recipe for a great big family gathering (I’m talkin’ ’bout 35+ people) and everyone was smitten. It was the most tender and juicy barbecued chicken breast I’ve tried.
I’m sharing all of my sister, Sveta’s, tips and tricks for her scrumptious grilled chicken. You know what’s awesome? Since it marinates overnight, all of your prep is done in advance! I love that I can just toss it on the grill (more like have my husband throw it on the grill) before my party starts; giving me time to focus on other details.
Ingredients for the Best BBQ Chicken:
3-4 lbs whole, boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup ranch
6-8 medium cloves of garlic, pressed
*Johnny’s seasoning, added to taste (store-bought or make your own with recipe below)
1/2 cup your favorite BBQ sauce + more to serve
*You can make your own Johnny’s seasoning easily:
1 ½ Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
How to Make the best BBQ Chicken breast:
1. Rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
2. In a casserole dish (no need to get extra dishes dirty), combine 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup ranch and press in 6-8 garlic cloves.
3. Add chicken and turn several times to coat generously in the marinade.
4. Season each individual side of the marinated chicken breasts with Johnny’s seasoning to taste (I used about half of the seasoning mix). Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to marinate. Marinate 10 hours or up to 24 hours.
5. Preheat your grill to 400˚F. Brush the grates with oil. Place chicken on the grill then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook approximately 10 minutes per side (rotating the chicken 90˚ after 5 minutes to create criss-cross grill marks). When you turn your chicken over, generously brush the grilled side of the chicken with BBQ sauce. Repeat; grilling your second side, rotating 90˚ after 5 minutes. Brush the second grilled side generously with BBQ sauce.
Notes:
When done, chicken breast should have an internal temp of 165˚ and should be firm but still soft. Juices will run clear when you cut into it. Our chicken breasts were pretty large and took about 25 minutes total on the grill. Don’t overcook them or they will turn rubbery and keep in mind they will continue cooking even off the grill.
6. Remove from grill, place on a platter and immediately cover tightly with foil. Let chicken rest under foil for 15 minutes before cutting into it.
Serve with more BBQ sauce, these mashed potatoes and this cucumber tomato salad (or this creamy cucumber & tomato salad), and you’ll want this to drink. Over and out. Enjoy! It really was amazing.
Juiciest Barbecued Chicken Breast
This is my sister's famous juicy BBQ chicken breast recipe. The marinade is so simple with just 3 ingredients. You know what's awesome? You can do all of the prep in advance so all you have to do is toss it on the grill before your party starts!
Ingredients
Ingredients for Juicy BBQ Chicken Breast:
- 3-4 lbs whole, boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup ranch
- 6-8 medium cloves of garlic, pressed
- *Johnny's seasoning, store-bought or make your own with recipe below, added to taste
- 1/2 cup your favorite BBQ sauce + more to serve
Homemade Johnny’s Seasoning:
- 1 ½ Tbsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
-
Rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
-
In a casserole dish (no need to get extra dishes dirty), combine 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup ranch and press in 6-8 garlic cloves.
-
Add chicken and turn it several times to coat generously in the marinade.
-
Season each individual side of the marinated chicken breasts with Johnny's seasoning, adding it to taste - I used about half of the seasoning mix. Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to marinate. Marinate 10 hours or up to 24 hours.
-
Preheat your grill to 400˚F. Brush the grates with oil. Place chicken on the grill then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook approximately 10 minutes per side (rotating the chicken 90˚ after 5 minutes to create criss-cross grill marks). When you turn your chicken over, generously brush the grilled side of the chicken with BBQ sauce. Repeat grilling your second side, rotating 90˚ after 5 minutes. Brush the second grilled side generously with BBQ sauce.
-
Remove from grill, place on a platter and immediately cover with foil. Let chicken rest under foil for 15 minutes before cutting into it. Serve with more BBQ sauce, these mashed potatoes and this salad (or this salad), and you'll want this to drink.
Recipe Notes
Notes: When done, chicken breast should have an internal temp of 165˚ and should be firm but still soft. Juices will run clear when you cut into it. Our chicken breasts were pretty large and took about 25 minutes total on the grill. Don't overcook them or they will turn rubbery and keep in mind they will continue cooking even off the grill.
.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Just love all your recipes!
Wondering if you could use chicken drumsticks as well as chicken breasts in your recipe for Juicy BBQ chicken breasts as some prefer dark meat?
Hi Carol! Thank you, I’m glad you enjoy my recipes. I would recommend this recipe for barbecued chicken thighs. I also have some baked chicken drumstick recipes on here, just use the search bar above. 🙂
This seriously is the BEST grilled chicken. My picky eating kids devour this chicken. My oldest who is seven ate so much of this and then stated he wanted the leftovers for lunch. 😍 I had to stop my husband from finishing it.
Love it when kids enjoy my recipes too. Thanks a lot for the great feedback!
Has anyone ever tried this method with pork chops? Seems like it would work well but I’m definitely no expert on food!!
Hi Shannon. I think it could work with pork chops with some slight adjustments. They would just need to be cooked long enough to reach an internal temperature of 145 ℉. You can also view some of my pork recipes here.
I love all of your recipes, Natasha, and thank you for them. I want to make your really delicious Bake Feta Pasta for my daughters’s birthday and want to serve grilled chicken with it. would your grilled chicken breast be just as good without the bbq sauce?
Hi Margaret, yes, I think this chicken would work great.
This is amazing! Super juicy amd so easy. My boyfriend usually dumps texas pete on everything I cook but not with this recipe!
I’m so happy to hear this was a hit, Hilary!
Really good. I let it marinade for 24hrs. Family loved it. Used Stubb’s bbq sauce. Will definitely make this again.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Paul!
I tried this on our last camping trip and everyone loved it. It was so easy to prepare and I did it ahead of time so all we had to do was throw it on the grill. All of your recipes have been great and I always come to your site first if looking for something new to try.
Thank you for always sharing your amazing recipes and cooking tips.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Sharon!
Hello there .. Thank you none of your recipes disappoint me thank you again .. question what’s your fav BBQ for this dish?
Hi Naomi, we have tried with a variety. When we want a sweeter chicken, we go for Sweet Baby Rays. We also love the Stubbs brand line of bbq sauces.
Also my picky husband (who usually likes chicken thighs) said, ‘I don’t know why we even go to fancy restaurants, at the very least your food is just as good.’ (Coming from a husband who does not throw complements out lightly)
Aaaw that is so sweet of him! I love it, it’s so heart warming, thank you for sharing that with us, Mary!
Okay yes!!! I’ve only grilled about 2 other times in my life and this turned out sooooo delicious!! More importantly my picky food critic husband loved it!! Thank you!! You’re the best! Love your recipes!
I’m so glad to hear that, yay! I hope you will both love every recipe that you will try from my website and video tutorials.
Very good
Thank you for that wonderful review, Anthony!
Best grilled chicken recipe ever. I was a little hesitant about the mayo/ranch dressing combo but it made the chicken is so moist and juicy. Delish! I’ve made it a couple times and now I double the recipe so I have some grilled chicken to add to salads during the week. Just as good cold. So quick and easy too.
Thank you for sharing that wonderful review Kym! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hello Natasha,
Again, as always with other recipes of yours I loved this one too. It was so flavorful and is one of my new favorites. Thanks again!
Karen
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your juiciest BBQ chicken recipe. I used chicken thighs. I cooked them over my open fire pit (taking full advantage of the extra time outdoors)! I paired the thighs with parsley potatoes & cheesy broccoli/cauliflower. My family of 4 enjoyed every yummy bite Thank you Natasha for sharing your awesome recipes!
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Tina! Thank you for that wonderful review!
Hi Natasha,
Thank you for the receipe. What can I use instead of ranch dressing or do you have homemade receipe for ranch dressing?
Plain green yogurt can be a good substitute too. Ranch is also sold in the grocery aisles or in the refrigerator section. You can use either kind as I don’t have a recipe that can be used for this dish yet.
Hi Natacha thank you for sharing your great receipes Can I use same marination on 4 lb of bone in skin on chicken thighs?
Thank you again
Also for the salt is it 1 1/2 TSP or 1 1/2 TBS??
Thank you
Hi Dina, to make the seasoning, you would need 1 1/2 Tbsp salt as stated in the recipe. You may not need all of it depending on how much chicken you use.
Thank you so much for your quick reply you are awesome
You’re welcome Dina.
I made it today with same amount of marination for 4 to 5 Ib of chicken thighs and on the barbecue It was AMAZING best chicken thighs receipe I ever made and my kids LOVED IT (they are so picky eaters)
I also made the tres leche cake it was soooo yummy.
Thank You so much Please keep posting your great receipes 💖💖
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful review!
Hi Dina, the marinade should work but you may need to alter the cook and cook time. I hope that helps.
Does the chicken taste like ranch? I want to make this but not sure everyone would like it if it tastes like ranch.
Hi Trisha, since it is used as a marinade it is very mild, we think its the perfect balance.
I wanted sooooo bad to believe, so I prepped and marinated overnight … BBQ’d this evening … and it’s a WINNER WINNER!!! I’m learning to BBQ so I picked this recipe. So glad I did. Crazy juicy, not flat and dry, lovely and plump 🙂 Thanx 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
By “ranch” do you mean ranch dressing?
Thank you
Hi Dorothy, yes that is correct 😉
Good afternoon!
I made this chicken recipe over the weekend and EVERYONE LOVED IT! Including the smaller kids!! This is now one of my favorite chicken dishes! Thank you for all you do!!
That’s so great, Traci! I’m happy to hear you have a new favorite!
Your site is awesome. I save recipes in pdf format for my own useand you are one of the few sites that makes this easy to print to pdf. I am also quite impressed at the videos included. Now, for the Chicken, and being smoker (meats, foods only), I have to wonder what this would do smoked. I suggest on your campouts you might try adding a smoking recipe or two, maybe even caveman style where you could smoke on a grate over a low fire atarting after breakfast and ready at dinner. I am betting this chicken recipe would come out quite awesome. (add a pan of water to steam from the fire, to keep moisture in).
I’m glad you are enjoying my site Elmo! That’s a great idea, really! I will keep your suggestion in mind!
Dear Natalya,
I am a big fan of your blog. Already used several recipes of yours. And it’s always delicious. If i may suggest in this specific recipe: chicken breast is usually dry compare to thighs. So i usually dip chicken breast in lightly salty water over night. And then marinade. This way even extremely boring and dry chicken breast becomes extremely juicy. Just a suggestion. Thank you
Hello Jack! What a great tip! Thanks so much for sharing with other readers! 🙂
I recently made this chicken recipe and it was delicious! It is definitely a keeper. I took leftovers to work and had to give co-workers the recipe. This is the first recipe I have tried from your blog and am very happy. I look forward to trying many more recipes from here.
That’s so great Marianne! I’m happy everyone loves the recipe! Thanks for following and sharing your fantastic review!
Amazing recipe! The chicken stayed juicy and had great flavor!!
That’s great Tori! I’m really happy to hear you enjoy it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi there! Going to try this tomorrow however do you use all the seasoning on the recipe? Half? Just seems like a lot. Thank you!
Hi Deana, I do use all of the seasoning if I’m making the full batch of chicken (3-4 lbs). Keep in mind if using 3 lbs of chicken, it would only be 1/2 tsp of salt per pound of chicken with the proportions in the seasoning mix that I listed. You can absolutely add less to taste and it will still work well 🙂
Hi Natasha-
I was wondering if this can be cooked in the oven if I don’t have a grill available?
Hi Diana, I haven’t tried this particular recipe in the oven so I can’t give you exact baking times. I would probably be more inclined to cook it on a skillet to make sure I didn’t overcook it because chicken breast can overcook and dry out quickly.
If trying the oven method, I would probably start my test with the baking instructions I included on my bbq chicken thighs, but I would definitely recommend an instant read thermometer to check when you’ve reached a doneness temperature of 165˚F (what the USDA recommends).
Great! I will give that a try. I have a thermometer and will keep track of the temperature to make sure I don’t go over 165.
Thanks so much!
you can bake them in the oven in a covered casserole dish for about an hour and half…my baked chicken breast are never dry doing it this way…just make sure you keep them covered and don’t test for at least 1 1/2 hours…this is for 4-6 chicken breasts…
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!! Do you have a special recipe that you use for this method? Also, what temperature are you baking at?
Hi, how would we bake this in the oven? I saw some advice earlier, but it seems unresolved as to temperatures and baking times. Thanks!
Iga, I haven’t tried this particular recipe in the oven so I can’t give you exact baking times. I would probably be more inclined to cook it on a skillet to make sure I didn’t overcook it because chicken breast can overcook and dry out quickly.
This was fabulous! I was looking for a different type of marinade for grilled chicken breasts and came upon your website. The only problem was that I only had on hand chipotle mayo and chipotle ranch dressing, but figured, “what the heck, give it a try.” I’m so glad that I did, as my husband has raved about it and requests it every week. FYI, I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce. Thank you for the recipe. Love your website and look forward to trying other recipes.
Kim, welcome to the site and thank you for such a nice review 😀. I hope you’ll find lots of new favorites here.
Natasha– I much prefer thighs, but this recipe produced the best chicken breasts I’ve ever made. Thank you. I’m Lithuanian and I appreciate your recipes.
That is a wonderful compliment! Thank you so much Kim 🙂
Can I use a grill pan instead of a grill? This sounds delicious.
Hi Galina, yes that would work fine 🙂
OMG- my Guyana’s and I just make this on our grill in the Norwood in Wisconsin! Tritely the best grilled chicken we’ve ever had! Paired it with cucumber/tomato/ avocado salad~~~ amazing! Thank you so much for sharing😘
I’m so happy you enjoyed it!! Thank you so much for sharing your great review! 🙂
Hi Natasha can I make this inside of oven?
Hi Mariam, you might try this baking method:
Preheat Oven to 400˚F.
1. Place Chicken thighs flat with the smooth side up on a large rimmed baking dish. Bake at 400˚F for 30 mins.
2. Increase heat to 450˚ and Remove chicken from oven to brush the tops and sides generously with BBQ sauce. Return chicken to the oven another 5 minutes or until glaze has dried slightly onto the chicken.
Note: bake time may vary by thickness of your chicken breast.
I tried this in the oven following these directions and it turned out amazing! The only thing i did was make sure not to bake the chicken in all of the marinade.
Thank you for such a nice review Alie 😬.
I really enjoy all of your receipes. On recipe I think you should do is a chicken and waffles recipe
Can you describe the chicken and waffles recipe? I don’t think I’ve ever had that. Thank you! 🙂
Hai natasha.. i loved all your recipes but i’ve got little confused to figure it out what is ‘ranch’..
Is it yogurt or sour cream?
Or somekind like that? 🙁
Btw i’ve tried ur grill garlic shrimp and its so yuuummmm.. thankyooouu for sharing..
Ranch is a salad dressing. It is sold in the grocery aisles or in the refrigerator section. You can use either kind.
Hi Natasha,
Is it possible to use this marinade for beef and then grill? Or it will not be as soft?
To be honest, I haven’t tried this marinade with beef and I think it would work better for chicken.
We had this chicken with mashed potatoes, it was a great hit.
That’s what I like to hear :).
Hi, This is just a quick sincere thank you for the great recipes with “Easy to Find” ingredients, and with easy methods! You also should be congratulated for having an easy read unclogged website that is NOT full of adverts including pop ups!
Well Done!
Cheers, Ed
I’m so glad you are enjoying the site. Thanks for the great feedback! 🙂
I was wondering if it’s possible to reheat these? I wanted to make it for a church potluck and i thought maybe grill it in Saturday and slice it up. Then on Sunday toss some more barbecue sauce on it and reheat it in the oven.
That could work fine; you could do exactly that then cover with foil and bake until hot.
Mayo and Russians are perfect combination:) I grew up with a lot of mayo dishes.
Lol. There are a few ingredients that are just staples. 🙂
Is there a baking method for this?
Thank you!
I haven’t tried baking this particular recipe and I think grilling is best for chicken breast so it doesn’t dry out, but this is the method I used for baking chicken thighs:
Baking Method:
Preheat Oven to 400˚F.
1. Place Chicken smooth side up on a large rimmed baking dish. Bake at 400˚F for 30 mins.
2. Increase heat to 450˚ and Remove chicken from oven to brush the tops and sides generously with BBQ sauce. Return chicken to the oven another 5 minutes or until glaze has dried slightly onto the chicken. It’s done when the thickest part is 165˚F, juices run clear and the thickest part is no longer pink. Baking time will be different depending on the thickness of your chicken breast.
This looks absolutely awesome, love how you flavored the chicken!!
Thanks Matt. It’s so simple but tastes amazing! 🙂
My family loves chicken. I should try making it this way. Thanks for sharing 😉
You’re so welcome! Enjoy! 🙂
Hi Natacha thank you for sharing your great receipes. Can I use same marination on 4 lb of bone in skin on chicken thighs?
Thank you again
I bet that would work Dina! If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I’ve marinated with greek yogurt before, but never thought to add ranch, what a great idea!! Thank you!! I’ll be trying this tomorrow…
Greek yogurt sounds nice! What else did you put into it?
Nice recipe. Thank you Natasha and your sister. Have a Great Week.
Thank you Liz! I hope you have an awesome week as well 🙂
This is perfect for me! We always make chicken and try different ways to make it. I definitely will be trying this one soon! Y-U-M!!!!
I think you’ll love it! It so simple and the flavor and juiciness,… yum. It’s too late for me to be getting hungry again 😉
Great recipe!! Thx!!
Thanks so much 🙂
I am all about tender, juicy chicken! And BBQ for that matter. What an ingenious marinade! This looks amazing!
Thanks Lindsey! 🙂 Me too! We should grill together one day, or maybe my husband can grill and we can sip iced coffee and chat. lol. I like option B. 😉
I vote for option B!!! 🙂
Yes! 🙂