Healthy Chicken Marinade (gluten free, dairy free)

why you’ll love this recipe

If you’re looking for easy this healthy chicken marinadesis for you! This marinade is easy to make, naturally gluten free, dairy free, nut free and of course healthy. Make the chicken the same day, or freeze in a ziplock bag for the marinate for an easy dinner another day!

Don’t let chicken be boring! This healthy chicken marinade is packed with flavors. It has lemon juice, olive oil, coconut aminos, pasley and lots of garlic! This healthy chicken marinate makes the chicken more moist, plus adds a ton of flavorful to regular old boring chicken breasts. This healthy marinade can also be used on thighs, legs, or wings!

ingredients & substitutions

Lemon Juice (or lime juice!)

Lemon juice is acidic and if you didn’t know, acidic foods make the perfect meat tenderizers! Adding lemon juice to a marindate draws the excess water out of the meat and helps improve the meat’s texture to be more tender. Other acidic foods you can use to tenderize meat are any wines (both red wine or white wine!), fruit vinegars or fruit juices (such as lemon juice or lime juice!)

You can use lime juice easily in place of the lemon juice!

Feel free to use fresh fruit juice squeezed straight from the lemon or buy organic lemon juice at the grocery store. You can usually find it in the produce section!

Coconut aminos

Coconut aminos are made from coconut sap and are the perfect gluten free substitute for soy sauce! Yes, they do make gluten free soy sauce. If you don’t have coconut aminos its an easy swap to use gluten free soy sauce. This recipe calls for coconut aminos because its naturally gluten free and theres no confusion in what you’re buying, you know its safe! But either coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce will work perfect!

If you are not gluten free, feel free to use regular soy sauce or teryaki sauce.

Linking my favorite coconut aminos here:

https://amzn.to/3TthUv9

Olive Oil

In addition to making the chicken tender, you want to make it juicy as well. No one likes dry chicken! To make the chicken juicy and moist, this healthy chicken marinade calls for olive oil. You can use any type of olive oil here. If you have infused olive oil this is a good recipe to use it for. Infused olive oils are available at the grocery store or you can make them at home. Olive oils can be infused with garlic, rosemary, thyme and other herbs. Any of those olive oils will work perfect here.

If you choose not to use olive oil or dont have olive oil, you can use avocado oil or coconut oil. Any oil works great, just make sure to pick the healthiest option for your dietary needs.

This set of infused olive oils would all be perfect for this recipe…or even as a gift set:

https://amzn.to/3AAZJep

Here is another infused olive oil set. This one has an Italian extra virgin olive oil, Garlic, Truffle, and Basil.

https://amzn.to/3AvqErO

Herbs

I love adding herbs to this recipe. You can substitute and swap out any herbs you want for this recipe. I choose to make this healthy chicken marinade with garlic and parsley but you can also add salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, etc. This recipe can be used with fresh or dried herbs. You can grow your own fresh herbs outside or inside or you can buy fresh herbs in the produce secton of the grocery store.

how to make this vegan?

So technically this is a healthy chicken marinade, but you can really used it to marinate anything! You can add it to tofu or fresh vegetables before grilling them. Its packed with flavor and has no preservatives so it makes the perfect healthy option to add a lot of flavor to your dish!

taste & texture

The taste of this healthy chicken marinade is healthy and fresh, packed with lemon juice and olive oil! Its herby with parsley and garlic and perfect for a fresh summer dinner.

This marinade will make your chicken moist, juicy and tender.

directions

Step 1

Pound the chicken until it is thin to fully tenderize it. Add to a bowl or tupperware.

Step 2

Add the lemon juice or lime juice, olive oil, coconut aminos and herbs. Make sure chicken is evenly covered. Add top or zip bag and put in fridge.

expert tips & tricks

How long do I marinate for?

The ideal time to marinate chicken is depending on how much time you have! The ideal time is about 4-6 hours. I like to prepade my marinade around lunch time during the day for a perfect dinner. If you don’t have 4-6 hours, adding marinade for even 15-20 minutes can help tenderize the chicken and make it more flavorful and juicy. I do not suggest letting the marinated chicken sit for longer than overnight or 24 hours. Marinade doesn’t really do much if it sits longer than that and you dont want to ruin the meat’s texture.

You can also marinate the chicken for a few hours and then pop it in a ziplock bag and freeze it until you’re ready to use it another day. Chicken breasts can be stored in the freezer for a couple of months. I like to keep a few different ziplock bags with marinated chicken in the freezer for when I am in a pinch!

Can I change the ingredient amounts?

Yes! You can alter these ingredients to fit whatever taste you are looking for.

Want the healthy chicken marinade to be more lemon forward?

Add more lemon juice!

Want the marinade to be more herb forward?

Add more herbs and less coconut aminos.

Want the marinate to be more asian forward?

Add less herbs and more coconut aminos.