Grilled Spicy Chicken Marinade
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This Spicy Chicken Marinade brings some thrill to your grill. Easy to prep in just 10 minutes, this spicy grilled chicken has a smoky heat that’s completely customizable to your tastes. Make it fiery hot or add a little kick, it’s completely up to you!
If you love this recipe, also check out our Spicy Grilled Turkey Breast Marinade!
Give Spice a Chance
Table of Contents
My definition of spicy has evolved over the years. In my childhood home, something was “spicy” if the recipe had too much garlic or even mentioned a pepper. Thankfully, as an adult both my taste buds and culinary horizons have expanded, and I now enjoy the full range of spice: from a mild kick to a tongue tingling, nose-watering spice.
Whether it’s the sweet heat of sriracha in our Spicy Asian Zucchini or the subtle, smoky heat of Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, I have fully embraced recipes that level up the spice!
Even if you’re unsure about spicy foods, we’re confident you can find a way to make this Spicy Chicken Marinade recipe work for you. Here’s why we think you’ll love it:
- Fully customizable– Whether you like your chicken with the barest warmth or you would prefer to not feel your taste buds for a few hours, you can increase or decrease the spice to your tastes.
- Ridiculously easy. Just five ingredients and five minutes is all you need to whip up this marinade.
- Smoky and tangy. You’ll experience more than just spiciness with this recipe! This is a well balanced marinade with a rich smokiness and a hint of tang.
- Versatile. Use this recipe for all kinds of cuts of chicken, as well as pork, steak, and even salmon!
Key Ingredients
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce– Smoky chipotle peppers are the backbone of this marinade. We’ll use both the sauce and the peppers themselves. If you have leftovers, use it up in one of these recipes for chipotles in adobo.
- Apple cider vinegar– Adds a tang that cuts through the heat of the chipotles nicely. You can substitute white wine vinegar, or add a squeeze of lemon juice or lime juice.
- Garlic- Garlic and spicy foods is a match made in heaven.
- Salt– Every good marinade needs salt. This one uses Kosher salt to bring out the flavors of the meat.
- Cayenne pepper– The second source of spice in this recipe, ground cayenne pepper adds a more intense heat.
- Chicken– We love grilling with boneless skinless chicken thighs. This cut of meat is extremely forgiving and affordable. It’s really tough to dry out a chicken thigh! That said, you can absolutely substitute bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks, chicken wings, or breasts if you prefer.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and amounts.
How To Make Spicy Chicken Marinade
Step 1: Put the olive oil, garlic, chipotles and sauce, apple cider vinegar, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper in a food processor or blender. Pulse until a thick sauce is formed.
Step 2: Pour the marinade over the chicken in a food storage bag or bowl. Refrigerate chicken for 2-24 hours before grilling.
Make it HOT or keep it mild
There are several different ways to amp up the heat in this recipe.
- For the spiciest chicken marinade, use the full can of chipotles and all the sauce, and increase the cayenne pepper to 1 teaspoon. You can even throw some red pepper flakes in there if you want to amp it up even more.
- For the mildest chicken, use only the adobo sauce (no peppers) and omit the cayenne.
Of course, there are a million varieties in betwen, so experiment to find the right heat for you and your family!
Tips For Grilling Spicy Chicken
- Grease your grill grates, then let the chicken be. Before lighting the grill, grease the grill grates with a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil. After adding the chicken to the hot grill, leave it be without adjusting it. This is how you get those nice grill marks!
- Flame ups happen, so don’t panic! The more oil/fat and liquid content there is in a marinade, the more it will drip off the chicken, and the more frequently you’ll get flame ups on the grill. This is another reason that I recommend skinless chicken thighs instead of skin-on.
- Those flames actually give you some beautiful char-grilled flavor, and enhance the grill marks. But if this were a thicker cut (like breasts), those flames would absolutely destroy the outside of the chicken before the inside had a chance to cook through
- Stop peeking! The more you lift the lid to check-in, the more heat (and magical flavor grill fairies) will escape. Decide that you are going to cook for X minutes a side, set your timer, and leave it be until it’s time.
- Use a meat thermometer to verify that your meat is cooked through. Chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be considered done.
Storage and Make Ahead Instructions
- The marinade can be made up to a week in advance and stored in the fridge.
- The chicken can marinade for up to 24 hours in the fridge.
- Leftover chicken should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Side Dishes for Spicy Chicken
This spicy grilled chicken pairs beautifully with fresh and tangy veggies sides like Black Bean and Corn Salsa, Tomato and Cucumber Salad, or Quick Korean Pickle Salad.
You can also serve the chicken with salads. Try it on our Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad or alongside a Southwest Pasta Salad. Load the chicken into tacos, quesadillas, or burritos!
This makes an amazing spicy chicken sandwich, loaded with pickled cabbage and onions and a melty pepper jack cheese or used instead of turkey on this Turkey Avocado Sandwich.
or use it in these Mason Jar Chicken Taco Salads. Spicy Chicken also makes an excellent wrap, burrito, or sandwich (try it in place of the turkey on this ).
More Marinade Recipes to Try
Looking for a different flavor profile? Try our Mexican Chicken Marinade if you love citrus and cilantro. This Asian Chicken Marinade is perfectly sweet and savory. And our Italian Dressing Chicken is a great choice if you need a versatile marinade that requires no prep at all.
We also love this cilantro lime Marinated Skirt Steak, these balsamic marinated Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches, and these Marinated Flank Steak Tacos.
Spicy Chicken Marinade Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 7 oz can Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (see note 1)
- 2 Tablespoons Apple cider vinegar
- 3 cloves Garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper (see note 1)
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs (see note 2)
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients except the chicken in a food processor or blender and pulse until a thick sauce is formed. (Be sure to follow the notes to find the right amount of each ingredient for you!)
- Add the chicken to a bowl or ziplock bag, and pour the marinade over top. Seal and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
- Grease the grill grates with a paper towel dipped in vegetable oil. Preheat the grill to medium high heat (400-450 degrees).
- Grill chicken thighs for 6-8 minutes per side or until internal temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit or greater. Remove to a plate and cover with foil. Rest for 10 minutes, then serve.
Notes
- For Warm (the barest amount of heat): Use 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce without any peppers. Omit the cayenne pepper.
- For Mild: Use 2 Chipotle peppers and 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce.
- For Medium: Use 5 Chipotle peppers and 3 tablespoons of adobo sauce, and increase the cayenne pepper to 3/4 teaspoon.
- For Hot: Add the entire 7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and increase the cayenne pepper to 1 teaspoon.
DELICIOUS!! I marinated the meat yesterday afternoon but ran out of time so the meat stayed marinating in the fridge for 23 hrs (whoops). BBQ’d meat outside over charcoal, super easy and I was so pleasantly happy with the flavor! Sadly when I made the marinade, I accidentally used a can of adobo sauce without the peppers. Still delicious but can’t wait to try with the peppers as I like spicy. Thank you for the amazing recipe, will definitely be making this over and over.
Can you marinade and store in freezer until ready to make? We like to prep lots of chicken and freeze for easy cooking during the week.
I wouldn’t recommend freezing after marinating. Because when you freeze it not only do you add water into it due to ice crystals forming but it also won’t give the chicken enough time to absorb the marinade as well as with the increased liquid content from said marinade will increase the rate of freezer burn. Best to freeze the chicken, then make the marinade the day before to give the defrosted chicken time to marinate.
I think it said 2 lbs chicken in the marinade
I’ve used this recipe about 15 times now and it always comes out great. It’s our favorite way to marinade chicken prior to grilling it and the chicken is really good in sandwiches, pasta, by itself, etc.
This marinade was amazing! It was perfect with the boneless skinless thighs. I used a whole can of adobe because I didn’t read the notes about using less peppers for less spice haha woops. But I’m glad I used the entire can because I added/mixed in chicken flavored rice pilaf, sour cream, and traditional hummus. It was still spicy but at that perfect level of spiciness. I am making this again very soon. I still have leftovers but those will be gone soon 🙂
I dunno, maybe next time in your list of ingredients include how much chicken to use?
Read step 3. As mentioned in the post, the recipe is for the marinade which you can use on any chicken. We prefer 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs, but you can do whichever cut you want to, or just make the marinade and save it.
I think it said 2 lbs chicken in the marinade
Made the medium version of this tonight using boneless breasts. Big hit!
So glad you enjoyed the spicy marinade! Thanks for sharing!
Can the spicy chicken marinade work with pork?
I haven’t tried this with pork, but I think it would work!
I actually like the “inane” comments on food blogs.
So Puleeze, just stop reading comments if you don’t like them, and spare us your inanity.
Can I bake this? If so, could you provide parameters? Thank you.
You could bake or pan fry this. For boneless skinless chicken thighs I would bake at 425 for about 20 minutes.
My husband isn’t much for spice and he LOVED this, thank you! Perfect way to use up the end of can of chipotles that’s been knocking about the fridge.
So glad you enjoyed the Spicy Chicken! I always need more recipes to use up canned chipotles–so glad this worked out for you!
Thanks for the flair it helps later while cooking
Puleeeeze, just give us the recipe. No one has time to read all your inane comments.
Sorry you don’t like our format, but so long as we’re providing this content FOR FREE, there are certain things we’re gonna do to add our personal flare, as well as try to make a living.
For better or worse, length of content matters to Google and our ad network, and our personal voice/backstory/community-building (aka “inane comments”) is what made this community what it is today.
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Good to hear! And yes, even after we’ve remade this recipe several times, the amount of spicy varies even between different cans of the same brand of chipotles… Might have something to do with some having more pepper seeds, still not sure…
BUT adding more cayenne is a great tip for the folks who need more heat!
Ended making chicken skewers and it worked out fantastically! Had requests to make it again soon after. One thing I might add is more cayenne next time because even with the whole can of chipotle peppers I was told it wasn’t that hot! My friends are spice heads! Thanks again! 🙂
Can I make this with chicken tenders instead?
Absolutely! Though tenders can vary quite a bit in size, so if your tenders are on the smaller or skinnier side, maybe just start with 5 minutes per side and check them.
If you’re making a larger batch, I would even do a test run with just one or two as guinea pigs to dial in your cook times and check for hot spots in your grill.
You still want them getting up to 165°F internal temp, so use your meat thermometer! Best of luck!
We made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! We used almost a whole can of chipotle with adobo (minus two that were used for chili last week) and it was the perfect level of spice. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the spicy chicken marinade! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
If not for my undying love of fajitas and deep fried battered chicken, this would be my favorite way to eat chicken. I love the chipotle spiciness, and the way the fire chars these to perfection!