Grilled Spicy Chicken Marinade

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

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

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.

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.