This Asian Grilled Chicken recipe is the perfect excuse to grill or use your indoor grill pan, an easy high-protein dinner idea!
Asian Grilled Chicken
I love to make this tasty Asian-inspired grilled chicken recipe when the weather is warm, as it’s excellent for outdoor gatherings and family dinners. Letting it marinate overnight gives you the best results for the most flavorful chicken. You can also make this year round on a grill pan. If you enjoy this dish, you may also want to try my Korean chicken and this classic grilled chicken breast recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I first shared this recipe back in 2008, which is crazy when I think how long I’ve been doing this! I’m always trying to find ways to make chicken breast tasty, since I am more of a dark meat girl. This is what I make when I am craving Asian flavors, I usually double it and keep the extra for quick lean protein to throw in bowls or salads.
- Versatile and Easy: The meat pairs well with many side dishes like fried brown rice and broccoli, and is simple to prepare.
- Juicy and Delicious: The marinade leaves the chicken tender and flavorful.
- Dietary Restrictions: This healthy Asian grilled chicken is high-protein, dairy-free, gluten-free (if using tamari and GF teriyaki), and Weight Watchers-friendly.
If you make this simple grilled Asian chicken recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook!
Ingredients You Will Need
The Asian grilled chicken marinade has 9 ingredients combined to create a delicious flavor that infuses the chicken with sweet, savory, and tangy flavors. (See recipe card below for the exact measurements.)
- Chicken Breast: I bought the thin-sliced, boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them into thin cutlets. However, you can buy regular chicken breasts and pound them until they’re even and thin before cutting them into smaller pieces. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are also great.
- Lemon Juice adds a bright acidity which tenderizes the chicken.
- Toasted Sesame Seeds taste better than un-toasted ones. You can buy them toasted or toast them in a skillet until golden brown. Keep an eye on them because they can burn quickly.
- Aromatics: Minced garlic and green onions provide a fragrant, savory note to the marinade.
- Ginger: Peel and mince fresh ginger for a warm, spicy undertone.
- Low-Sodium Soy Sauce provides an umami base while keeping the sodium content low.
- Teriyaki Sauce: I like Kikkoman’s teriyaki sauce, and they even have a gluten-free version.
- Honey for a hint of sweetness that balances soy sauce’s saltiness
- Sesame Oil gives the marinade a rich, nutty aroma and prevents lean chicken breasts from drying out.
What is the secret to grilling chicken?
- An amazing marinade is essential for grilling chicken. It tenderizes the meat and prevents it from drying out.
- You also want to ensure you don’t overcook it. Since we’re using thin cutlets, they will cook quickly. Use a meat thermometer to confirm it’s ready (It should read 165°F).
How to Make Asian Grilled Chicken
This grilled Asian chicken recipe guarantees tender, juicy chicken every time. See the recipe card for the complete instructions.
- Asian Grilled Chicken Marinade: Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.
- Marinate the Chicken: Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but marinating the meat overnight will deliver better results.
- Grill Chicken on a grill or grill pan sprayed with oil, set to medium-low heat a few minutes on each side.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.
Variations
- Chicken: This marinade is also great on boneless, skinless thighs.
- Seafood: Use the marinade on shrimp or salmon.
- Citrus: Substitute lime juice.
- Ginger: If you don’t have fresh ginger, use ¾ teaspoon dried ginger.
- Onions: Swap green onions with diced red onion.
- Sweetener: Sub maple syrup or agave for honey.
- Gluten-Free: Substitute tamari or coconut aminos for soy sauce and use a gluten-free teriyaki sauce.
- Sesame Allergy: Replace sesame oil with avocado or peanut oil.
- Spicy Asian Marinade: Add sriracha.
- Herbs: Add cilantro to the marinade or garnish the chicken with it.
- No Grill? Cook the chicken breasts on a grill pan or cast iron skillet on the stove.
What to Serve with Grilled Asian Chicken
- Asian Grilled Chicken Salad: Make a salad with mixed greens, carrots, scallions, and mandarin oranges, and top it with chicken like this Asian Chicken Salad.
- Grilled Vegetables: Throw some grilled zucchini or corn on the cob on the grill when cooking the chicken.
- Other Veggies: Serve it with spicy garlic edamame, sauteed bok choy, ratatouille, or this Asian slaw.
- Rice: Pair this dish with white rice or edamame fried rice and one of the veggie options above.
- Chicken Skewers: Cut the breasts into bite-size pieces and thread them on a skewer with chopped vegetables, such as onions and bell peppers.
Storage
These grilled chicken breasts are fantastic as leftovers.
- Refrigerator: It’ll last 4 days in the fridge, so it makes great lunches.
- Freeze it for 3 months in an airtight container.
- Leftovers: Eat the chicken cold (I love it on a salad!), or reheat it until warm in the microwave.
More Grilled Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
You can see all my chicken breast recipes here, but here’s some grilled one’s you will love.
- Houston’s Grilled Chicken Kale Salad with Peanut Vinaigrette
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Breast
- Grilled Chicken Caprese
- Grilled Chicken Sandwich
- Chicken Yakitori
Asian Grilled Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Grill Pan or grill
Ingredients
- 8 thin boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets, about 3 ounces each
For the Marinade:
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 2 green onions, minced
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce, for gluten free, use tamari
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- scallions, for garnish
Instructions
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl.
- Pour the mixture over the chicken, turn the pieces to coat evenly, cover and place in refrigerator a minimum of 3 hours, but preferably overnight.
- Preheat grill or grill pan set to medium-low heat and oil the grates so it doesn't stick.
- Grill chicken top side down first until well browned charred, about 2 to 3 minutes, turn and cook on the second side about 2 to 3 more minutes, careful not to burn.
- Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.
Delicious and so easy to make!
This chicken was delicious! It’s great for meal prep and has ingredients many have in their pantry. My chicken portions were bigger than called for, so I reduced the serving side. Otherwise…yum! It will be on repeat in my home.
Delish! DEFINITELY MAKING AGAIN! I sliced my own cutlets from whole boneless skinless chicken breasts. For the marinade I just dumped the ginger, garlic and green onions into my food processor. It came together so quickly and served as meal prep for a couple of days. Thanks for the recipe.
Perfect!
Teriyaki sauce can include wheat. This should be called out in the recipe just as you did soy sauce/tamari.
It smells and looks delicious!
This is so Yummy. I toasted additional sesame seeds and added to the marniade. I used the marniade dish with my food saver vacuum system, so it cut the marniade time down to just a few hours. I used my cast iron skillet to cook the chicken and thicken the marinade into a rich sauce.
Great!!
Excellent, left it in the marinade over night and wow what great tasting chicken, paired with Basmati rice & green beans , so delicious 🤤
Excellent, left it in the marinade over night and wow what great tasting chicken!!!
so tasty!
The first time I made this it came out amazing, but I added and took away somethings. Making it again tonight.
Absolutely loved your marinade for the Asian grilled chicken!! Chicken was juicy, tender and so flavorful. My family was impressed.
So glad to hear!!
Many thanks Gina.
Someone else has also asked about the air fryer.
Can you please give the guidelines?
I usually go for 8 mins at 180° one side, flip and do another 6 mins until I get to 75° with the meat thermometer.
Is that what you do?
Many thanks for your time.
mike-barcelona
These I’m looking forward to but just now I’m trying your beef crock pot receipe
why the 3 stars then?
Right. Don’t rate it if you haven’t tried it. Which I’m now going against, to counterbalance that. 😀
Perfect recipe. The marinade is fairly quick. The chicken was juicy and delicious and really flavorful.
Thanks Sheila!
anyway to make in an airfryer? if yes what temp and approx time? ty!
WAY too salty
How do you find how many weight watchers points each recipe has?
There is an orange link under the print button. 🙂
This was amazing! the whole family really loved it. we doubled the recipe and I’m excited about tomorrow’s leftovers.
Made this tonight with a side of sauteed bok choy and green onions and then added some fresh pineapple to grill. I ended up doing it on a cast iron grill skillet. So great!
Just came across this recipe, this looks delicious! Someone recently gave me a small bottle of pineapple teriyaki sauce, do you think I could use with this marinade?
Sure
Hi. My son has a sesame allergy. Can you recommend a replacement for the sesame oil in your recipes?
Thanks you
Just an FYI: make sure to grab gluten free Teriyaki Sauce or make your own! Teriyaki Sauce has wheat in it!
This is fantastic the next day, cold at a picnic. This was our main dish at the picnic where my now-husband proposed to me!
Do you think you could bake this chicken? It's too cold to grill here right now. If so, would you bake with or without the marinade?
Kikkoman if you can find it.
Hi,…I am from India and we have very limited options of sauces. Could you suggest which brand of Teriyaki sauce I need to pick. Or any recipe of making the sauce from scratch?
I've only just discovered this site a week ago. already i've made 2 things from it that the whole family loved! i've always struggled getting the rest of my family to eat healthy and to stop making different things for me and something different for the rest of the house each night… i think i've found the answer!! Thank you!
Really fab recipe, thank you! I didn't have any teriyaki sauce so just used some Mirin and pineapple juice. Divine!
I am not sure what I did wrong, but mine came out SO salty. I followed to a T. I did marinate it for 24 hours.
Was thinking about using this marinade for Ahi Tuna and letting it sit and them searing it… do you think that would be good??
i think this would be good with shrimp also
Gina, did you make the teriyaki recipe from scratch? I was wondering if I could use Yoshida sauce in replacement of the Teriyaki sauce?
I can't wait to try these. I love your recipes, Gina. =)
Moments like this that I wish to all that's holy that I had a BBQ! The smoky grill flavor makes my mouth water. In the meantime, I'll use my stove. Teriyaki isn't typically gluten free and I've never been able to find a GF version. Do you have a particular brand you use or do you make your own?
Hi! I don't have any sesame oil on hand – do you think if I used olive oil (or maybe extra virgin olive oil) I should be okay? Or do you think it's probably best to go get the sesame oil? Thanks!
Well…you asked this 11 years ago, so I’m probably too late 😀 But I would go for the sesame oil. Specifically, I would get TOASTED sesame oil. Do not sleep on this.
Dying to try this! For the salad, if you add a bit of cilantro and peanuts, it would be Thai-inspired.
I'm trying this today but instead of grilling it i'm trying it in the crockpot! Hope it tastes just as good!! I just LOVE all your recipes!!
I love this recipe and want to make it for a camping trip we have planned. if i was to let the chicken marinade for 2 days would that be to long.
Looks yummy but if you want it to be 100% gluten free you have to use GF soy sauce. Kikkomans has a fantastic GF sauce!
You mentioned toasted seasame seeds in this receipe can I purchase them this way or do I do this myself…
This would also be GREAT with your Quiona Fried Rice! I like the cilantro addition from another poster. Looks like tomorrow's dinner
My chicken is marinading right now, and it smells YUMMY! I had alot of cilantro in my fridge, so I chopped up some, and put that in too!
Just made this last night, and it was delicious. No complaints from the kids, and the leftovers were *banging* on salad today. I am so happy I found this place!
Do you think this would be good as kabobs with veggies?? 🙂
Again, I was blown away by how good this tasted! You ALWAYS exceed my expectations. I paired this with white rice and grilled pineapple. Perfect meal!
I just put the marinated chicken in the fridge. The aroma is already making me excited for dinner tonight! So far, none of your recipes have been a disappointment. In fact, every one has become a favorite!
I find TONS of recipes on Pinterest & many lead me back to your site! We LOVE the recipes we've tried (my hubby, myself & our 4 girls from ages 3-10). I'm adding this one to my Pinterest board to try (& I'm sure it will go in my recipe app when we're done). Thanks for a great site & great recipes!!
Could I use lime juice instead of the lemon? We are not big fans of lemon… Would it affect the recipe greatly?
I don't have fresh ginger, I just have ground (from my spice rack). How much should I use?
Use 3/4 tsp ginger if using dry.
I agree…. How should I make this without a grill, grill pan, or george forman grill?
Without s grill pan, you could saute it with a little spray in the pan so it doesn't stick.
new to your site, and haven't tried a single recipe I (family included) didn't love!! Thanks for your suggestions
How should I make this without a grill, grill pan, or george forman grill?
making this for dinner tonight along with asian slaw and asian sweet potatoes. Never made the potatoes before but here goes nothin…..
Added a few squirts of sirracha to my marinade! I like it spicy! Mmm!
Another excellent recipe! The marinade was simple to do in the morning & made for a delicious dinner. I am also looking forward to having this over salad.
Very good. I let it marinade about 3 hours. I grilled corn on the cob along with a grill basket of peppers, mushrooms, snap peas, and scallions. Yummy dinner. Thanks.
I apologize, I must have made a mistake while converting to PP. I just fixed this one, thanks for noticing!
Your recipes are really tasty! Thanks for all of your hard work. Is this really 3pts? A serving of 2 cutlets at 3 oz each makes for 6 oz of chicken, not including the other ingredients. I am guessing it would have to be a higher point value. What do you think? Thanks for the yummy ideas!
Any suggestions wrt brands of soy and teriyaki sauces? I have noticed a wide range of flavors, sweetness and saltiness in them.
Gina – are the calories and protein correct on this? I did a quick search and found that 4 oz. of chicken has 130 calories and 27 grams of protein. (This isn't counting any of the "extras" in the recipe.)
Above you have 6 oz. of chicken with the extras listed as 55 calories and 1.9 grams of protein. I am trying to strictly follow WW+ and this seemed a little off since just 4 oz. of chicken is 3WW+ points. Just checking. Thanks for all the GREAT recipes!
This was very yummy, was just wondering if you know the calories for this one?
Made this tonight. Scrumptious! Do you know the points plus for this yet?
how many points plus?
Thank you Gina for this recipe. I cooked this tonight and it was delicious! Very moist! I have a picky teen and she gobbled it up! I am putting this on my blog.
Made this tonight – it turned out great! Will definitely make again.
Wow, just finished dinner! Made it with brown rice and steamed broccolli, cauliflower, and carrots. Everyone loved it!! My son said "Mom, this dinner is definitely a keeper." Fried brown rice would have been quite tasty with this. Do you have a recipe for it?
I confess, I love white rice too! I try to eat brown rice when possible, but I also eat white rice when I crave it. This would be great with brown fried rice if you want to go that option!
We're going to have this tonight for dinner. You mentioned that it can be served with rice. What type of rice do you like to use? We've been using brown rice but I miss white rice. Is there a 'good for me' white rice out there?
And that's what keeps me coming back here. 🙂
I'm working on getting all my older recipes updated. Hopefully I will have this all done in the next few months.
It would be nice if you could add more than just the calories and points for your recipes, some of us don't do the WW thing but still find your recipes great for eating healthy in general and it would be nice to have the protein, fat, carb, etc content for our own food diaries.
I just used this marinade on chicken breast. I cooked the chicken on my Foreman grill, since I don't have a grill pan and I didn't want to light the big grill tonight.
It was delicious. I may make it again later this week! Thanks for sharing this!
You're welcome!
We had the Asian Turkey Meatballs (yummy) for dinner last night and I had leftover brown fried rice. We're having the Asian Grilled Chicken tonight. I know it will be delicious. I have loved all of your recipes. Thanks for sharing!
Great! I have lots of vinagrettes, they are on various salad recipes. Look under salad.
Last night I made these and just served them with brown rice and grilled some zucchini..delicious…so moist and flavorful! Do you have a good vinagrette recipe..doesn't have to be asian….!?
I just recently found your sight..and I am hooked!!! Thank-you for this wonderful sight! I made these last night and my husband loved them..a new favorite for us…can't wait to try your recipes..thank-you again!
If you freeze this before grilling, just make sure it's completely thawed before you cook it. It will be great!
Do you think this recipe would be good frozen before grilling? I am thinking about making it for my freezer cooking group. Thanks!
Did it on the foreman here and LOVED it! Total keeper and my honey is not a huge chicken breast fan but he definatley loved this one!!! TNX!
If you like fruit in your salad mandarin oranges would be nice!
I think the Foreman would work fine. For a salad, I would put mixed greens, carrots, shredded red cabbage, scallions, and a Ginger Sesame Vinaigrette
This sounds soo awesome I can't wait to try it! Gina, do you think it will taste the same if I use my george forman grill?
I want to put this chicken on top of a salad, do you have any ideas on what I should put in this salad to make everything taste good together? I was thinking of mixed greens, but i'm not sure what else. Like feta or shredded cheese, avacados, bell peppers? I'm new to cooking, so I am kinda stuck on what goes with what. Thanks! 🙂
I like Kikkoman. Not sure if the spelling is correct.
Hello I was just wondering? What type of teriyaki sauce do you use
The salmon patties tasted good but the texture was off. Maybe using panko bread crumbs instead of saltines?
I have heard that the lemon juice starts “cooking” the fish so you can’t marinate fish that long in lemon juice. It changes the texture. Not sure if that’s what the problem was or not.
Wow, that sounds amazing! Please let me know, I may have to make that!! I love the idea of using this marinade for salmon. Also on my list of things to do! Thanks for sharing!
I love this marinade and had some Salmon I wanted to use up so I tried it with that. It was amazing! My husband kept asking what I did to make it taste so good (he's not a big fish fan). I'm using the leftover salmon to make salmon patties. I used whole wheat saltines, diced red pepper, old bay seasoning, dill and egg whites to make the patties. Then I used fat free mayo, low fat sour cream, dill and a dash of lemon & fresh ground pepper for a sauce. I still have to cook them so I will let you know how they turn out!
Thanks for leaving a comment! This would be great over an Asian salad!
Very moist and yummy! My husband who doesn't like chicken even commented how good this was. Next time I am going to make extra to put on my salad or in a wrap for lunch the next day.
I tried this a couple of weeks ago and this was one of the tastiest grilled chicken dishes that I have ever had. I am going to use the marinade this week on some salmon only I'll just marinate it for a few hours rather than overnight like I did the chicken.