For tender and moist chicken, marinate the chicken in buttermilk. I use this simple marinade for the chicken to add flavor, but it also acts as a brine to add moisture to the best-grilled chicken breasts. Add seasoning to the marinade or season after the marinade. Makes the perfect moist and tender chicken sandwich.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken breasts
Buttermilk chicken marinade—Buttermilk, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper
Optional—other spices or dry rub
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐓Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Cook Buttermilk Grilled Chicken Breasts—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- ⏰How long to marinade chicken in buttermilk
- ⏲️How long to grill chicken breasts
- ✔️Tips to get it right every time
- 🧂Spicing
- ♨️How to oven bake
- ♨️Grill set up
- 👨🍳Other marinade and grilled chicken recipes
- 🍴How to serve
- ❄️Storage of leftovers
- ❓FAQs
- Food safety
- 📖 Recipe
Buttermilk is a perfect marinade for chicken breasts on the grill. Due to its acidic pH, it tenderizes and moisturizes simultaneously, which is important for grilled chicken breasts, which may be dry.
Buttermilk marinade for chicken is an economical recipe, and the spicing is flexible. You can keep it bland with just pepper or add flavor with the optional spices. I like to keep it light, then spice the chicken with a dry rub or seasonings.
👨🍳How to Cook Buttermilk Grilled Chicken Breasts—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Trim chicken breasts. Flatten to ¾ inch if thick.
2. Cover with buttermilk. Add olive oil, garlic powder, and other spices—refrigerate for 2-24 hours.
3. When ready to grill, remove the buttermilk from the bag, but do not rinse it off. Salt and pepper to taste and add other spices.
4. Preheat the grill to a grill surface temperature of about 450°.
5. Grill over direct flip every 5 minutes until it reaches 165°—about 25-30 minutes.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
⏰How long to marinade chicken in buttermilk
Marinade for 2 to 8 hours. You will get some good effects in one hour, but in 2 hours, you will get most of the effects. Over 8 hours can lead to a mushy texture due to the acid breaking down the proteins, so I don't recommend overnight marinating with buttermilk.
⏲️How long to grill chicken breasts
Most chicken breasts will take 20-25 minutes on a grill with a surface temperature of 450°. Smaller breasts may take a bit less time, and larger ones may take longer. Remember never to cook on time alone.
You can cook faster at higher temperatures, but you will be more likely to dry the surface before the center is safe.
A chicken breast is done at 165° internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. More will dry, and less is unsafe. An instant-read thermometer is required to get this right.
✔️Tips to get it right every time
When you pick your chicken, try to get about the same size and thickness.
If you have thick chicken breasts, flatten the breast a bit with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan. Try for about ¾ inch thick.
If the chicken was frozen, it must be thawed before proceeding.
🧂Spicing
Buttermilk chicken is very moist but bland if it is marinated only with garlic, salt, and pepper. Sometimes, that is what I want, but it is easy to add other seasonings to the marinade.
Add 1 tablespoon of Hidden Valley powdered ranch dressing seasoning to make a buttermilk ranch version.
Try a tablespoon of Italian seasoning or half a teaspoon of paprika, thyme, or rosemary. You can also heat it up with ¼ teaspoon of hot sauce or cayenne pepper.
I use this recipe with just garlic, salt, and pepper. Then, I will individualize the season for guests. I suggest an excellent BBQ spice rub—see BBQ Dry Rub or other spice mixes.
♨️How to oven bake
- Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Bake for about 30 minutes for smaller breasts, 35 for normal size, and 40 minutes for large.
- As always, you are cooking to a final internal temperature of 165 and never by just time.
♨️Grill set up
You can NOT cook chicken properly on high heat. You will dry the surface before the inside is even close to done or safe.
The grill surface temperature should be 450°. A little less is fine, and a smidge more is ok, but never over 500°. To get this right, you should use a grill surface thermometer. The hood thermometer is ALWAYS wrong. Please see my Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill for more discussion.
If you don't have a surface thermometer (you should), then medium to medium-high heat will be about 400°-450° on most gas grills.
You can use a charcoal grill but must be very careful about surface temperature. And, of course, your time will vary.
👨🍳Other marinade and grilled chicken recipes
For other chicken marinades, you will like to try Marinade For Grilled Chicken Breasts and Garlic Lemon Marinaded Grilled Chicken Breasts.
Also, don't miss these other grilled chicken recipes, like Grilling a Whole Chicken on a Gas Grill, Grilling Chicken Breasts, Grilled Chicken Legs, Grilled Chicken Tendersand Grilled Bone-in Chicken Thighs
🍴How to serve
Make a perfect chicken sandwich with these moist and tender breasts. Serve with a side salad and honey whole wheat rolls. Other good additions are Grilled Mixed Vegetables, Cornmeal Biscuits, and Single Serving Lemonade.
❄️Storage of leftovers
Leftovers may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 days or in the freezer for 4 months.
❓FAQs
According to the USDA, chicken and all poultry must reach an internal temperature of 165° in the thickest part of the chicken for safety.
You need to use an instant-read thermometer.
It can be used on any chicken, even skin-on, such as drumsticks, thighs, or bone-in breasts.
Yes, it is one of the best. It imparts flavor, and because of its lower pH, it also breaks down proteins to tenderize and add moisture.
You can easily add other flavors to a buttermilk marinade or use it to add flavor, moisture, and tenderize, then add seasoning before cooking.
For food safety, buttermilk marinades should be refrigerated.
The marinade is a noun and refers to the liquid. Marinate is a verb and is the act of using the marinade.
Food safety
Raw chicken and other poultry should be considered contaminated and handled with care. Wash your hands carefully before and after touching raw chicken.
We do not routinely wash raw chicken due to water splatter. See Should I Rinse Chicken? for more information.
You must cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165° for safety—see the USDA for more information. You need to check this with an instant-read thermometer.
Most recipes (including this one) include estimated cooking times. These are provided for planning purposes. You can not cook safely by time—you must use a thermometer.
📖 Recipe
Grilled Buttermilk Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts - Trimmed
- 1 cup buttermilk - to cover
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt - to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper - to taste
- Additional seasoning of choice
Instructions
- Trim chicken breasts. Flatten to ¾ inch if thick.
- Place chicken in a 1-gallon zip lock in a large bowl. Cover with buttermilk and add ⅙ to ½ teaspoon of garlic powder. Another seasoning may also be added. Mix everything well, then refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours.
- When ready to grill, remove the buttermilk from the bag, but do not rinse it. Salt and pepper to taste, and other seasonings, like a dry rub, may be added.
- Preheat the grill to a grill surface temperature of about 450° medium-high on most grills—clean and oil grates.
- Grill over direct heat with the lid closed. Flip about every 5 minutes until an internal temperature of 165°—about 25-30 minutes, depending on the exact grill temperature and thickness of the chicken. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Oven instructions are in the post.
- Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Try to pick chicken breasts that are about the same size and thickness.
- If the thickness varies a lot, use a meat mallet or heavy pan to reach about ¾ inch thick.
- I recommend real buttermilk here. You can use a substitute but there is some extra taste with the real stuff.
- Other spices or spice mixes, such as ranch or Italian spice mix, may be added to the marinade. The post covers these options.
- Do not brine with salt before doing the buttermilk marinade/brine.
- Grill surface temperature is critical to getting this right. So use a grill surface thermometer. Also, use a meat thermometer to be sure the internal temperature is 165°.
- To bake, use a preheated 375° oven for about 20-25 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165 °.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Inspired by Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Grilled Chicken Breasts.
Editor's Note: Originally Published May 31, 2010. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Danielle says
We have a ton of snow right now so can i bake this and still get juicy results? If yes what temperature and how long would you cook it for? I think this sounds delicious 😋
DrDan says
Hi Danielle,
Welcome to the blog.
It is a bit dependent on size of the breast. I would do 375. About 30 minutes for smaller, 35 for normal size, and maybe 40 minutes for large. But as always, you are cooking to a final internal temperature of 165 and never by just time.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Dr Dan says
I so agree. I'm using a lot of buttermilk for various things. Note to readers. Steph is at Plain Chicken and Chris is at Nibble Me This. Both are must follows for interesting and great cooking.
Chris says
Ha ha, aren't we a trio? Like I said at Steph's blog, I think the whole secret is the buttermilk and everything else is just the cooker's preferences. Great post.
steph says
we did buttermilk grilled chicken last week too! We added lemon and fresh basil.