Everyday Grilled Chicken Tenders
Use The Grill For Meal Prep This Summer

These Everyday Grilled Chicken Tenders are easy enough to marinate and throw on the grill to use in salads and sandwiches all week long. Olive oil, lime, and a variety of pantry staple seasonings will have you loving the versatile flavors of this grilled chicken.
This past Memorial Day weekend we were having friends over for a taco night. As usual when we are at our lake house, we always have stragglers coming over to join us for dinner.
I didn’t want to go to town to the store but needed more proteins for tacos. I decided to marinate the tenders I had, grill them, and use them for taco filling.
This chicken was a huge hit! It stayed juicy and delicious and was great on tacos!
Recipe Card For Convenience
There is always a recipe card at the end of my posts that has the complete recipe. You can print this, save it, or pin it.
I always add a few paragraphs before the recipe card that offer additional information for those who need more clarification or are new to cooking.

Don’t Be Afraid Of Flavor
The seasoning measurements on the recipe card are merely a suggestion. You can adjust with more or less spice, to your preference.
When seasoning chicken, remember that you do need a lot of seasoning to add flavor so don’t be afraid to be heavy handed with your spices and herbs. I always say that you really need to be extra when seasoning chicken and potatoes for mashed potatoes.

Thickness Matters

When marinating these chicken tenders, be sure to note how thick they are. The chicken tenders I buy are usually about one inch thick, which means they can withstand a longer marinade time.
If they are very thin and you are adding salt and citrus, if they marinate too long the chicken will start to cure and harden. This is also how you will get dry chicken.
Therefore, if you have thinner chicken, just reduce the marinade time.

Lift It Easily
One of the things you need to remember when grilling anything, is that it is not ready to flip if you are fighting to lift it from the grill grates. IF you think that whatever you are grilling is getting too overcooked and it won’t easily flip, it is better to attempt to reduce the heart first before fighting to flip your meat or chicken.

The Best Grill
I always get a lot of questions about what kind of grill we use. I LOVE my smaller Weber grill.
I have it on my Amazon Shop along with some other grilling essentials.
*This is an amazon affiliate link that I shared which means I make a small commission if you use the link at no extra cost to you.*
I DO recommend doing some price comparison because I have seen the grill cheaper from time to time.
What I like about this grill is that it doesn’t take up a lot of space but it has a large cooking area, as you can see with how much chicken I have on this small grill.
I also like that I can take the grates off easily and wash them in my kitchen sink or dishwasher. The inside is also very easy to clean.
We have ours hooked up to a larger propane take since we purchased the conversion kit. This does take the smaller propane cans which may be ideal for those who live in apartments and condos and don’t want to carry a big tank up the stairs.

Everyday Grilled Chicken Tenders Recipe

A warm weather staple, these Everyday Grilled Chicken Tenders are a wonderful meal prep option for busy weeks. Super flavorful marinated chicken tenders grilled up juicy and delicious. Flavors of lime, pepper, and a hint of spice. These will be on regular rotation.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. of Chicken Tenders
- 6 Limes
- 2 to 3 teaspoons of Coarse Salt
- 2 teaspoons of Black Pepper
- 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
- 2 teaspoons of Cumin
- 3 teaspoons of Onion Powder
- 3 teaspoons of Granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
- 1 teaspoon of Chili Powder
- 1/2 tablespoon of Dried Oregano
- 1/2 tablespoon of Brown Sugar
Instructions
- Remove your chicken from the package and pat dry. Use a fork to poke a few holes down the length of every tender. Place the chicken tenders in a large bowl.
- Wash the limes.
- In a separate bowl, squeeze all the limes and then add the squeezed limes to the bowl of chicken.
- To the lime juice add all the other ingredients and whisk REALLY well. Taste and adjust any spices to your preference.
- Pour the marinade over the chicken and really work it into the chicken using your hands.
- Cover the bowl or transfer it all to Ziploc bags. Refrigerate minimum two hours or up to 12 hours. If the chicken tenders are not thick, marinate for less time (6 hours max).
- When you are ready to grill, remove the chicken from the fridge at least one hour before grilling and leave to sit on the counter to get the chill off.
- Heat your grill up to about 500°.
- Add the chicken tenders to the grill and let sear for about 5 to 7 minutes. You will know when they are ready to flip when they lift easily from the grill. Have the lid closed
- Flip, reduce the heat down to 400° and continue to cook about 5 to 7 minutes more. Cook time will depend on the thickness of your chicken. Lid is still closed.
- Turn off the grill if using a gas grill and let the chicken sit on the grill 5 more minutes. If using a charcoal grill, go to the next step.
- Remove the chicken from the grill, place in a pan or dish, and cover with foil immediately. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- I cut this chicken up for salads, tacos, wraps and sandwiches. It can be kept in the fridge for about 5 days. You can also use it to make chicken salad.
- If you do not have a grill, these tenders can be cooked in a skillet using the same method. Work in batches.