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Updated: January 14, 2026
If you’re craving something healthy, flavorful, and easy to throw on the grill, this Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken recipe is a must try! It’s zesty, juicy, and comes together in under 30 minutes. This makes this recipe ideal for quick weeknight dinners, backyard cookouts, or meal prep Mondays. Continue reading for the full recipe below.
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Grilling Tips for Lemon Pepper Chicken
Before Grilling
- Use Fresh Lemon Zest + Juice. Beyond all of the seasonings listed in this easy recipe, fresh lemon zest add amazing bright flavor to the lemon pepper seasoning in this recipe. Optionally, you can also add lemon slices to the marinade bag.
- Marinate for at Least 2 Hours. Take a large bowl or plastic bag and let the raw chicken rest in the lemon chicken marinade. Marinate for 2 hours to create a juicy tender chicken outcome. This will also infuse amazing lemon flavor into your recipe. If you’re short on time, try to allow the chicken to marinate for at least a half hour (30 minutes).
- Preheat the Grill. When it comes to grilling chicken, it’s important to heat your grill to medium-high heat (400°F / 204°C). Whether you’re using a gas grill or charcoal grill, a hot grill will leave great grill marks and it will keep chicken thighs juicy without drying out.
Detailed Grilling Tips:
- Oil the Grates. To prevent your chicken thighs from sticking to grill grates, be sure to brush your grill grates with oil.
- Don’t Overcook. Depending on the thickness of each piece of chicken, you can grill each side for about 5–6 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C). To measure the internal temperature of your chicken, you can use an instant-read thermometer for accuracy. To achieve a smoky flavor, you can also place each chicken thigh on indirect heat inside of the grill for a short period of time before removing.
- Allow Cooked Chicken to Rest. After grilling, allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes to achieve the juiciest chicken by allowing the juices to redistribute.
- Garnish for Extra Flavor. Before serving, optionally you can finish with fresh squeezed lemon juice chopped parsley for brightness and color.
Ingredients You Will Need
Although this recipe calls for dark meat such as chicken thighs, you can use any part of the chicken for this recipe.
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp Goya All Purpose Adobo seasoning
- 1 tbsp Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- 1/2 tbsp Onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Dry Sage
- 1/2 tsp Red pepper
- 1 Lemon zested
- 2 tbsp Fresh Italian flat leaf parsley chopped
Lemon Pepper Chicken Serving Suggestions
Below are some delicious sides you can pair this juicy lemon pepper chicken with:
Storage & Meal Prep
This is the perfect summer recipe or meal-prep friendly recipe! Be sure to store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. This flavorful protein can transform perfectly for salads, wraps, or quick a sandwich. throughout the week. To reheat this lemon chicken recipe, I recommend taking a baking dish and placing it in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 350°F (177°C).
Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 Skinless Chicken Thighs (fat removed)
- 1 tbsp Goya All Purpose Adobo seasoning
- 1 tbsp Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- 1/2 tbsp Onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Dry Sage
- 1/2 tsp Red pepper
- 1 Lemon zested
- 2 tbsp Fresh Italian flat leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
- (OPTIONAL): Despite what many critics may say, I personally ALWAYS clean my chicken. I clean my chicken in a salt & vinegar bath to remove the slimy membrane that's typically on chicken. If you are okay with not washing your chicken, feel free to skip this step.
- Take chicken thighs and place on a flat surface or in a bowl. Season both sides of the chicken with the Goya Adobo seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, dry sage, and red pepper. Next zest a clean lemon over chicken thighs. Place inside of a reusable plastic bag to allow chicken to marinate. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight for the best flavor results.
- Preheat grill. Remove the chicken from the plastic bag and discard. Place chicken on grill and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C). Remove from heat, and top off with a fresh chopped parsley for extra flavor. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
I like this recipe for chicken. This is a nutritious meal that I can include in my diet. I am aiming for a well-balanced diet because I want to live long for my family. Sometimes I feel guilty for the food that I ate out out cravings. I know that I should eat healthy food to prevent unwanted sickness or illness. Most of the diseases now are because of our eating habits. If we correct or eating habits, we can avoid getting sick in the future.
This sounds so delicious and looks quite easy to prepare, that I am very keen to try it out when we next fire up our BBQ. The operation of the BBQ is the domain of my partner (he regards the BBQ as a ‘man’s territory’!) so I will bookmark this so he can read up on how best to do this, while I make sure we have the ingredients on hand. Looking forward to tasting the outcome.
My husband loves having Chicken. I’m pretty sure he’ll love it your recipe too. I’ll try it for sure.
That is one delicious meal! I love cooking with lemon and garlic. We have grill in the back yard, and we’ll be making this soon!
I always love chicken. and this grilled chicken with garlic lemon sounds so delicious. when I go back to my province, I love to try this with my family. right now, I am living alone in the big city with my cats. can’t go home because of the lockdown. how i wish i can go back and cook and eat delicious foods again. 🙂
Sounds exactly like my kind of chicken. I should start having this for the New Year celebrations.
The dish looks so yummy and delicious. I am fond of chicken though now eating less as I am not going out. I like the lemon garlic touch to it.
your chicken looks fabulous! as does the asparagus. i love grilling asparagus (only way to eat it really).
First of all thank you for sharing such amazing recipe. The finish product looks so delicious and very tempting. Loved the creativity you’ve done into this recipe to use lemon as flavoring to our best main ingredients in the world “chicken”.
Great recipe! It looks amazing, will have to try it out sometime.
I don’t eat meat, but do enjoy alternatives (mock meats, including plant-based chicken) so I will definitely be trying your amazing recipe here using those. Thank you so much for sharing this. I have been craving lemon pepper lately.
Lovely recipe, I don’t eat meat but my husband will love this one. And I will give it a go as I have to cook seperate meals for us.
I love grilled chicken and this one looks delicious. I am definitely trying it.
Really can’t wait till I can get out the bbq and start making food just like this, there’s something special about cooking outdoors 🙂
Would you suggest coal or electric give a better taste?
Garlic lemon pepper grill chicken looks so delicious. Going to try out this recipe over the weekend. Gonna fire up the grill now.