Steakhouse Marinated Chicken is your new favorite all-purpose marinade for the best-grilled chicken you’ve ever tasted! A simple combination of pantry staples makes the best chicken marinade.

If you’re ready to start grilling up flavorful chicken with a tasty marinade, then this post is for you!

In this post, you’ll learn how to concoct the perfect chicken marinade that your friends and family will love. It makes the best steak, pork chops, or chicken you’ve ever grilled.

It’s a great way to prep boneless chicken breasts for the next day or if you’re a meal-prepping person.

In the summer months when you’re grilling chicken regularly, this will become one of your go-to marinades!

Let’s get grilling!

Steakhouse Marinated Chicken

First, let’s chat about what makes this chicken marinade recipe “steakhouse” worthy.

When you hear those words, you might think of the Japanese steakhouse chicken marinade leaning towards the teriyaki flavors.

I call this steakhouse chicken because it uses my grandfather’s steak marinade, plus a few other ingredients.

You can marinate almost any protein in the mixture and have the perfect balance of flavors.

Plus, like a good steak restaurant, we’re making a compound butter that has shallots, fresh herbs, and garlic in it. You put a pat of butter on each chicken piece, and it’s just the easiest way to ensure tender, juicy chicken!

You can use this marinade recipe on any cut of chicken. Chicken wings, bone-in chicken thighs, boneless chicken thighs. It would even be amazing with a whole spatchcocked chicken!

Looking for Simple Dinner Party Menu Ideas? Check them out!

How to Make Steakhouse Marinated Chicken

Let’s gather the ingredients we’ll need for this recipe.

This recipe definitely falls into a “power marinade” category. This is one of those mental categories I keep running for myself. When I’m short on marinating time, I’ll double this recipe so it has so much flavor. That way the chicken only needs half an hour in the mixture.

Soy Sauce — I do like to use low-sodium, but if you’re short on time, you can definitely use the “full strength” version and get even more flavor.

Worcestershire Sauce — this tangy, sweet, and savory flavored vinegar-based sauce is the best way to marinate steak! It’s rich in tamarind flavor with a hint of anchovies, molasses, and other seasonings. It’s a great sauce to use in any good marinade!

Montreal Steak Seasoning — Since this is steakhouse chicken, you’ll want to add in a fully curated and blended steak seasoning. When people ask what kind of seasonings I have in my home, most of them are blends. It’s a cost-effective way of getting all the herbs and spices you need, in a cohesive flavor profile.

If you’re not a fan of Montreal Steak seasoning, use your own favorite steak seasoning blend of a combination of garlic and onion powder with a little paprika and brown sugar.

Lemon Juice — fresh lemon juice, if you can! Before you juice your lemon, be sure to zest the rind off. You can add it into the marinade, or save it and blend with black pepper and salt to create a new rub for your shrimp or salmon!

Other Ingredients in the Marinade

Dijon Mustard — This is where we veer off from Papa’s marinade recipe. I knew I wanted to add in a gentle hint of Italian dressing, so I needed mustard to emulsify everything together. Using a tablespoon of mustard helps punch up the flavor a bit, but combines everything into cohesive marinade.

Italian Dressing — while I used Garlic Expressions, you can use any bottled Italian dressing you have on hand. This helps give the flavor of olive oil and gives the marinade a luscious texture. You’re just using a couple of tablespoons, so nothing is over the top. I love this Garlic Expressions dressing for so many things! It’s great on salads, stirred into pasta, and really great on roasted green beans!

A few other flavors you can add to this if you’re into it are balsamic vinegar for a more Italian taste. And, you can exchange the lemon juice for lime juice if you’re wanting to make this marinade for grilled chicken taco bowls!

Herby Compound Butter

The full ingredient list for this can be found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

You’ll mix together all the delicious ingredients for this butter. It’s got garlic, a diced shallot, some herbs, and spices in the butter.

Make this a few days ahead of when you’re grilling, and have it ready when you are.

Tips for Grilling Chicken

When you’ve marinated your chicken, and you’re ready to grill, I’ve got a few tips for you.

First, make sure your grill grates are clean. With grilling season underway, it’s super easy to walk away after you pull your food off and forget to clean it. I like this all-natural grill cleaner that works!

If your grill grates are clean you won’t need to use any kind of oil or spray. But, if you’re feeling like things might stick, you can always use a canola oil grill spray, or vegetable oil on a paper towel and run it over the grates.

Place your chicken down on the medium-high preheated grill, and don’t touch it!

Leave it for 3-4 minutes, or until it releases easily. Then, give it a 45-degree turn, so you can get those restaurant-style grill marks! We are making Steakhouse Chicken after all!

Close your grill lid for a few minutes to bring the grill back up to temperature.

If your chicken doesn’t release when you go to flip it or turn it, let it cook some more. The proteins have to coagulate in order for them to release easily. Just leave it be, and eventually, you’ll be able to pull it up without anything tearing or leaving any chicken behind on the grill.

steakhouse chicken recipe for dinner party

You want to grill your chicken to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees internally, but when you take the chicken off the grill it will cook to 165 degrees.

When you bring it in from the grill, slice up the compound butter into coins, and pat them all over the chicken while it rests.

Great Options for Serving

Let’s serve this yummy grilled chicken recipe with some more favorite recipes!

A casserole dish full of Old-Fashioned Macaroni and Cheese is always a hit.

caprese caesar salad and steakhouse marinated chicken

The Steakhouse Chicken and this Caprese Caesar Salad was the best dinner party pairing I’ve had in a long time. Plus, it was super easy to prepare!

Brown Butter Rice would go so well with this chicken recipe, and make for a super scrumptious dinner.

Lastly, this recipe is just lovely to share with friends and family gathered around the table.

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