Juicy grilled chicken thighs (or breasts) seasoned with jerk spices topped with a cool and refreshing mango avocado salsa – the perfect summer dinner.
Grilled Jerk Chicken
My husband loves jerk chicken, so I set out to make a version that’s bold, flavorful, and easy enough for any night of the week. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs for maximum juiciness, but chicken breasts work too if you prefer something leaner. Instead of a long list of spices, I kept it simple with my favorite jerk seasoning and a touch of brown sugar to balance the heat. Grilled to perfection and topped with a sweet, cooling mango avocado salsa, this dish is not only delicious—it’s also high-protein, low-carb, gluten-free, and dairy-free. It’s a weeknight win that’s great for summer grilling or your go-to list of healthy chicken dinners.
Why This Recipe Works
I love asking you all what recipes you’d like to see, and summer grilling was one of the top requests for June. This simple grilled jerk chicken turned out even better than I hoped—and it’s already on repeat at my house. Here’s why it works:
- Quick: Using a premade jerk seasoning keeps things simple without sacrificing bold, authentic flavor.
- Balanced Heat: A touch of brown sugar mellows the spice, while the mango avocado salsa brings a cool, creamy contrast.
- Grill-friendly Protein: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs stay juicy and cook fast on the grill or grill pan (or swap in chicken breasts if you prefer).
- Naturally Healthy: It’s high-protein, low-carb, gluten-free, and dairy-free—perfect for a feel-good summer dinner.
What spices are in jerk seasoning?
Jerk seasoning gets its heat from scotch bonnet peppers. Depending on the recipe or spice mix, it may also contain salt, black pepper, thyme, allspice, scallions, brown sugar, and nutmeg.
Years ago, after returning home from a vacation in Jamaica, I was craving jerk chicken. My friend introduced me to Walkerswood Mild Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, which is made in Jamaica, and it’s now my go-to. It’s so good!
The mild still has some heat, but feel free to use the hot and spicy version. And if you’d like to try it with pork, check out my Slow Cooker Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s a list of ingredients for this easy jerk chicken and mango avocado salsa. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Olive Oil coats the chicken, adding moisture and helping the seasoning stick to the meat.
- Salt for flavor
- Brown Sugar balances the heat from the jerk seasoning.
- Jerk Chicken Seasoning: Using a premade seasoning is a fantastic shortcut that eliminates the need to have multiple spices.
- Minced Garlic adds a fragrant, savory note to the rub.
- Chicken Thighs: Use scissors to trim the excess fat from boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
- Mango Salsa Ingredients: Mango, avocado, red onion, and jalapeño are seasoned with lime juice, cilantro, and salt.
How to Grill Jerk Chicken
The chicken marinates in as little as 30 minutes, but feel free to leave it for up to 24 hours for even better flavor. See the recipe card at the bottom for printable directions.
- Season the chicken with oil, salt, brown sugar, jerk seasoning, and garlic, and marinate.
- Make the mango avocado salsa by combining the ingredients in a bowl.
- Grill the chicken over medium-high heat, cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
No grill? No problem!
Follow the same directions, but use a grill pan on the stove instead of the outdoor grill.
Kid-Friendly Tip
To make this dish work for picky eaters, I season a few pieces of chicken with just salt, garlic powder, and a little brown sugar before grilling. It’s simple, flavorful, and still pairs well with the mango avocado salsa—or serve theirs plain with some rice or fruit on the side.
Variations
- Chicken: Use the jerk seasoning on chicken breasts for a leaner option, and follow these instructions fo grilling chicken breasts. You can also use bone-in chicken thighs, but you will need to increase the cooking time. Check that they’re done by using an instant-read thermometer.
- Mango: Replace it with diced pineapple.
- Spicy Salsa: Since the chicken is spicy, I prefer to keep the salsa mild. But, if you want a spicier salsa, keep the seeds and ribs in the jalapeño (or use a serrano) for added heat.
- Hate cilantro? Omit it.
Ways to serve
This grilled jerk chicken is great for backyard parties or weeknight dinners during the summer. Here are some side dish ideas:
Storage
These jerk chicken thighs are excellent for meal prep since they last a few days in the fridge and freeze well. Leftovers are versatile and can be eaten a variety of ways.
- Refrigerate the chicken for up to 4 days. The salsa is best the day it’s made, so the avocados don’t brown, but it’ll last for up to 2 days stored in an airtight container.
- Reheat: Microwave the chicken until warm and serve the salsa cold.
- Freeze the chicken in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
More Grilled Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
For more dinner ideas using chicken, check out these five delicious grilled chicken recipes to inspire your next meal!
- Grilled Chicken Breasts
- BBQ Chicken
- Zesty Lime Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Salsa
- Grilled Chicken Sandwich
- Grilled Chicken with Black Bean Mango Salsa
If you make this grilled jerk chicken recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook! And be sure to join the Skinnytaste Community to see what everyone’s cooking!
Grilled Jerk Chicken with Mango Avocado Salsa
Equipment
- Grill Pan or outdoor grill
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons jerk seasoning, I use Walkerswood Mild
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, excess fat removed, about 1 ½ lbs
- Nonstick cooking spray
For the salsa:
- 1 large mango, peeled, pitted and diced – about ¾ cup
- 1 medium avocado, diced – about 5 ounces
- ¼ cup red onion, diced – from ½ small
- 1 jalapeño, stemmed seeded and diced, about 3 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry and add it to a bowl with the oil. Toss to coat it in the oil and add the salt, brown sugar, jerk seasoning and garlic. Turn the chicken to coat it in the spices and marinate at least 30 minutes.
- While that marinates make the salsa. Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl and mix to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat the grill or a grill pan to medium high heat and lightly oil the grates. Lightly spray the chicken with the nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the chicken to the grill in an even layer. Cook for 3 minutes, until the chicken easily releases from the grill. Flip the chicken and cook for an additional 3 minutes, until the chicken easily releases from the grill. Continue turning, every 2-3 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and 165 degrees F, 10-15 minutes total, depending on the size of your chicken thighs.
- Remove from the grill and serve topped with the salsa.
I love all these resapie it makes it so easy to figure out what to make and to make it not only for me but my family i love this thank u ill use this everyday 💓 im greatfull 4 you
This was very good! I will lower the jerk seasoning from 3 TBSP to 2 next time (too hot) but otherwise was very good. 🔥
We love this Jerk Chicken with Mango/Avocado Salsa. I just cook it stove top in a frying pan (no grill) and it is great. I’m sure it would be even better on the grill. The salsa is so good that I have to double the recipe.
My family loved this dinner – the salsa is delicious and so easy to put together. Can’t wait to make this again !!
Thanks Angela!
I love this recipe, especially after I got the Jamaican seasoning you recommended. Fantastic ….bravo to you. All the women at my work now base their daily dinners from this website, love it
Another 5 star for me. I used the Badia jerk spice from Publix. All they had. It had quite a bit of heat, but I loved it.
Wonderful recipe! It was a bit on the spicy side, so I will probably order the mild seasoning for next time and mix them.
This recipe is on our go to list! Has anyone ever turned it into tacos?!
I love heat but I am so glad I bought the mild on Amazon as it has plenty of heat as is and my husband can eat it as well. Thanks for the introduction to Walkerswood….so good. What a simple recipe and defintely going to be making this on the regular! Thanks Gina.
My family loved the chicken. I was able to get the jerk spice, and it was just enough heat.
The chixken was extremely flavorful and the heat was perfectly balanced by the mango salsa.
This was amazing. Great flavors with the mango salsa. I love using your website. I can print recipes easily AND it jumps me right to WW to point the meal for me. Game changer!
Oh my goodness this dish is a winner! This has become a weekly regular in my house since I first made it this summer. My 10 year old daughter has ranked it as her number one favorite meal. I’ve enjoyed your recipes for years, have so many in rotation, my husband and kids love everything and ask if it’s Skinnytaste, but this recipe is extra amazing! Make lots of the salsa, double or triple! The chicken is spicy but the salsa tempers it and every bite is just so tasty! We love it, thanks so much for a great recipe.
Thanks Catherine!
Was super tasty my boys devoured it. I broiled the thighs in oven instead of grill and airfryer. Low 6 inches away for 5 minutes on each side then raised broiler to High and did 2 minutes on each side to crispy up. Perfect!
I did my very best to follow the measurements exactly. Where did I go wrong? I have no idea. The dish was extremely salty. Maybe less jerk seasoning? Im going to try it again and see if I can make it right.
My daughter made this for us and it is wonderful!
This is absolutely delicious!!! I haven’t had jerk chicken in years and that mango avocado salsa, took it to another level!!!
Awesome!
Had to change up the recipe a little for our tastes. My mango wasn’t quite ripe yet but my peaches were and OH MY GOSH was this salsa delicious!!!! Ate it over grilled chicken with lemon pepper and dill weed. Sooo good!!! Will be sharing this recipe with friends and maybe even making it for Labor Day.
This recipe was great. Couldn’t find the jerk seasoning mentioned in my area but I had some cool runnings jerk spice. I added extra oil since it was a dry spice mix and was delicious. We also used the spice rub on pork and it was even better than the chicken a must try! For the salsa mango with the chicken and pineapple with the pork. This recipe is now a weekly thing at are home! Thank you!
I’m so glad!
I tried this recipe out for the first time- everyone loved it! Will admit it took a hot minute to cut up everything for the mango salsa, but it was definitely worth it.
DO NOT COOK INDOORS!
I wish I would have read the comments prior to grilling indoors. As soon as the meat hit the grill I started coughing and pretty soon everyone in the house was coughing.
BUT, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!
Delicious! I have never had jerk chicken and was worried I wouldn’t like the flavor profile. I used the exact recommended seasoning and it was so good! Very easy to make it all and paired so well with sweet mango. Thanks!
I meal prepped these as rice bowls and they are so good, I was super excited for lunch everyday! I’d been making the buffalo chicken rice bowls regularly but this might be my new favorite.
Spicy but delish!
I made this for dinner and it was delicious. There are so many different flavors going on and they compliment each other so well. I saw this same dish at a restaurant but they served as a bowl, and it tasted pretty much the same (but I realized I need to go a little heavier on the Jerk Seasoning). This recipe will go into our meal rotation at home!
My husband and I both loved this dish. For the first make, I did reduce the amount of Jerk seaasoning. Next time, I will increase!
This was super tasty. I love how jerk seasoning sneaks up on you! Wondering how it would be on fish as well.
I think it would be good!
How can i lower the sodium?
My husband and daughter both asked to put this dish into the regular rotation. So delicious! The salsa perfectly balances the heat of the jerk chicken.
Delicious flavor combination! I increased the oil in the marinade to 1 tbsp, added a couple tablespoons of white vinegar and water to make a slurry which helped coat the chicken better and marinated for a few hours. Definitely a keeper.
The only jerk chicken I’d ever eaten melted my taste buds off. I used the Walkerswood Mild jerk seasoning that was recommended. It had great flavor, but the chicken by itself was still a bit too spicy for me. Adding the fresh salsa rescued my taste buds, and I will be making this chicken and salsa again! Yum!
I made this indoors on a stove- top grill pan — not at a high heat — and we had to turn on the fans, open the windows and go outside while it cooked! My eyes were running, I was coughing up a storm — and I hadn’t even tasted anything yet! When the meat was done, I had to cut off the outer, blackened parts in order to get to the edible meat.
Yet I want it to work — it sounds wonderful — so next time, I will take a microscopic bit of the jerk seasoning (I used the recommended mild one) and mix with the oil for the marinade. Hopefully that will work.
This was delicious! So different from other summer bbq chicken recipes. I’ve made the salsa before with shredded pork tacos but it was so good with the chicken and rice. I made my open Jerk seasoning as I could not find it in the grocery store. We will definitely make this again soon.
This was a perfect dinner for a very hot summer night! I am usually not a mango lover but the flavors were perfectly matched together. Most of our “make again” recipes are Skinnytaste and this just got added to our favorites!
I made this last night. It was wonderful. I didn’t have a mango so I used pineapple in the salsa.
This recipe was super delicious and easy. I marinated my chicken for only about 3.5 hours but still super flavorful. The mango salsa was also very good.
My whole family loved this meal! The salsa was so good and refreshing, and the chicken was tender and flavorful. With all the pops of color from the mango salsa, it would also present beautifully for guests.
Any idea what temp and how long to cook this in an Airfryer?
Honestly I will make this recipe this week. I print make file but never get back to rate. Everyone of your recipes are great! My husband says” is this a skinny taste? “ always great👍🏻
Thanks Doreen! 🙂
I do agree with all the ideas you have introduced on your post They are very convincing and will definitely work Still the posts are very short for newbies May just you please prolong them a little from subsequent time Thank you for the post