Home / Recipes / Big Batch Meal Prep

Freezer Friendly Chicken Marinades: 4 Simple Recipes

ByNicole Langdon Hours Updated on
Comments 4 Comments
Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe Add us as a trusted Google source

This post may contain affiliate links. We only promote products we actually use and truly love!

Stock your freezer with these 4 simple and delicious freezer friendly chicken marinades next time you buy chicken in bulk at the grocery store. Just a couple minutes of prep work will save time and effort later when you’re looking for an easy weeknight dinner.

4 bags of freezer chicken marinades: Mexican fajita, maple BBQ, Asian sesame garlic, and lemon garlic herb.

We hate it whenever we find we’re ready to cook dinner, but have forgotten to marinate the chicken! That’s why we love this recipe so much. We always buy our chicken in bulk from Costco, so we’re used to trimming it, bagging it, and freezing it. But now we just add one more step: freeze it in a marinade!

That way our chicken marinates while it defrosts. So when we’re ready to cook dinner, our chicken is ready too. No more forgetting to marinate it and having a late dinner because of it.

So if you stock up on chicken and freeze it like us, try these simple recipes for freezer friendly chicken marinades you can prep in just a few minutes and freeze for up to 3 months! Choose one or make all 4 of our flavorful marinades – Mexican fajita, Asian sesame garlic, lemon garlic herb, and maple barbecue chicken – to level up your freezer stash.

What To Expect

  • Great for: Meal prep for easy weeknight dinners or lunches.
  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Marinade flavors: Mexican fajita, maple BBQ, Asian sesame garlic, and lemon garlic herb.
  • How to make it: Add all ingredients for your favorite marinade into a sealable baggy with trimmed chicken, freeze, then defrost 24 to 36 hours before you want to cook it to allow for the chicken to defrost and marinate.

Summarize and save this content on:

ChatGPT Google AI Perplexity

AI can make mistakes. Don’t trust everything it says.

Featured Review

OBSESSED! 😍 We started easing into meal prep with these marinades and it has been an absolute game changer. The four different flavors gives us endless opportunities for versatile dinners, and of course, lunch sandwiches with the leftovers 🤤 10/10 recommend

– Isabel
4 freezer chicken marinades: Mexican fajita, maple barbecue, Asian sesame garlic, and lemon garlic herb.

Freezer Friendly Chicken Marinades: Types, Ingredients, and Uses

Mexican Fajita Chicken Marinade

  • Acid: Lime juice
  • Oil: Vegetable oil
  • Salt: Fine sea salt
  • Flavoring: Garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, ground red cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin
  • Use for: Fajitas, tacos, chicken fajita bowls, quesadillas, southwest salads, or any of your favorite Mexican dishes.

Asian Sesame Garlic Chicken Marinade

Lemon Garlic Herb Chicken Marinade

  • Acid: Lemon juice
  • Oil: Olive oil
  • Salt: Fine sea salt
  • Flavoring: Minced garlic, dried parsley, dried oregano, black pepper
  • Use for: Grilled chicken and veggie dinners, salads, sandwiches (like our chicken bagel sandwich with cream cheese), wraps, or pasta.

Maple BBQ Chicken Marinade

  • Acid: Apple cider vinegar
  • Oil: Vegetable oil
  • Salt: Fine sea salt
  • Flavoring: Dark maple syrup, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder, black pepper, ground mustard seed
  • Use for: Barbecue style dinners with cornbread and crispy sweet potatoes, salads, sandwiches, wraps, or as a topping on our thin crust BBQ chicken pizza.

Expert Tips

  • Defrosting – We recommend getting the chicken out of the freezer and putting it in the fridge 24 to 36 hours before you want to cook it. That way it has time to defrost and marinate.
  • Lay the bag flat – If you have the space, laying the bag flat both in the freezer and fridge will allow the chicken to defrost quicker and marinate more evenly.
  • Customize – All you need to make a good marinade is 4 main components – acid, oil, salt, and flavoring. Use this template and our recipes as a guide for adjusting these marinades to fit your tastes, or work with the ingredients you already have in your kitchen.

Freezer Friendly Chicken Marinades: FAQs

Yes and no. You can store chicken in a marinade in the freezer, but it won’t actually marinate while it’s frozen. You should either marinate the chicken first, then freeze it in the marinade, or freeze the chicken and marinade together and allow it to marinate as it defrosts over a period of 24 to 36 hours in the fridge.

No, marinades do not work while frozen. The meat cannot absorb the marinade ingredients while frozen. So, you need to allow time for the meat to marinate before or after freezing.

It’s up to you! We prefer to marinate after freezing, since the meat can marinate in the fridge as it defrosts. But you can also marinate the chicken first for about 2 to 6 hours, then freeze it.

We recommend letting the marinated chicken fully defrost in the fridge over 24 to 36 hours so that it has time to marinate as it defrosts. Then, cook as you normally would depending on the recipe you are making. You can add the marinated chicken to a slow cooker, cook it in a frying pan on the stove, or grill it.

We find the taste and texture of the marinated chicken to be best when used within 3 months of freezing. However, stored properly in the freezer, it’ll stay safe to eat for longer.

Related Meal Prep Recipes

Love this recipe? You may enjoy these chicken recipes, too:

Tell us what you think!

We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

4 freezer chicken marinades: Mexican fajita, maple barbecue, Asian sesame garlic, and lemon garlic herb.

Freezer Friendly Chicken Marinades: 4 Simple Recipes

Nicole & Alex Langdon
Stock your freezer with these 4 simple and delicious freezer friendly chicken marinades next time you buy chicken in bulk at the grocery store. Just a couple minutes of prep work will save time and effort later when you're looking for an easy weeknight dinner.
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Save this recipe!

Enter your email and we’ll send it right to you.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American, Asian, Mexican
Servings 4 pounds
Calories 1530 kcal

Equipment

  • Freezer-safe bags

Ingredients
 
 

Mexican Fajita Chicken Marinade

  • 1 pound chicken breast trimmed
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground red cayenne pepper
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon cumin

Asian Sesame Garlic Chicken Marinade

  • 1 pound chicken breast trimmed
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger or ground ginger

Lemon Garlic Herb Chicken Marinade

  • 1 pound chicken breast trimmed
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

Maple Barbecue Chicken Marinade

  • 1 pound chicken breast trimmed
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup dark maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon mustard powder

Instructions
 

  • Whisk together marinade ingredients in a small bowl.
  • Add chicken to a freezer-safe bag, then add the marinade. Seal tightly, making sure to press all the air out of the bag.
  • Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours before cooking.
One last step:Please consider leaving a review to let us know how it was!

Notes

Notes on freezing & marinating chicken: The chicken won’t marinate while it’s frozen, since it can’t absorb the ingredients. To allow enough time for the meat to properly marinate, we recommend taking your marinated chicken out of the freezer 24 to 36 hours ahead of when you want to cook it, and putting it in the fridge. Try to lay the bag flat so that all of the chicken stays submerged in the liquid as it defrosts.
Serving suggestions: Here’s what we love to use these different chicken marinades for:
  • Mexican fajita chicken: Fajitas, tacos, Mexican chicken and rice bowls, quesadillas, and southwest salads
  • Asian sesame garlic chicken: Stir fries, chicken and rice bowls, lettuce wraps, or skewers
  • Lemon garlic herb chicken: Grilled chicken and veggie dinners, salads, sandwiches, wraps, or pasta
  • Maple barbecue chicken: Barbecue style dinners with cornbread and sweet potatoes, salads, sandwiches, wraps, or as a pizza topping
Recipe variations: All you need to make a good marinade is 4 main components – acid, oil, salt, and flavoring. Use this template and our recipes as a guide for adjusting these marinades to fit your tastes, or work with the ingredients you already have in your kitchen.

Nutrition

Serving: 1poundCalories: 1530kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 99gFat: 114gSaturated Fat: 18gPolyunsaturated Fat: 47gMonounsaturated Fat: 42gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 290mgSodium: 2991mgPotassium: 1959mgFiber: 2gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 629IUVitamin C: 34mgCalcium: 86mgIron: 3mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

Sign up for our email list!

Follow us on social:

90% of Nicole’s thoughts are about food. She’s had a passion for cooking (and eating) for as long as she can remember! Growing up, she started cooking with her mom at a young age, learned family recipes from her Italian grandmother, took every opportunity to make cookies (so many bake sales), and always loved going out to restaurants to try new foods.

Nicole currently works part-time as a marketing professional for OmieLife while also working nonstop on The Candid Cooks. As a former mechanical engineer, Nicole has consistently found herself at the intersection of creativity and logical reasoning. She credits not only her passion for photography, design, and writing, but also her problem-solving nature and desire to learn, as the foundation on which The Candid Cooks was built.

Nicole’s hobbies include anything that gets her moving - mainly hiking, skiing, ice skating, and dancing - as well as reading fantasy novels and scrapbooking. Her favorite food is a big plate of nachos, as long as they’re cheesy enough!

5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




 

4 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    OBSESSED! 😍 We started easing into meal prep with these marinades and it has been an absolute game changer. The four different flavors gives us endless opportunities for versatile dinners, and of course, lunch sandwiches with the leftovers 🤤 10/10 recommend

    Reply

  2. Sounds amazing! Prepping freezer meals for after baby #5 arrives in a few weeks and marinated chicken is just what I was looking for. Curious- I’ve heard in the past that lemon/lime juice may change the texture of the chicken in freezer packs. Did you find that with these recipes? Thanks so much!

    Reply

    1. Wow – congratulations!

      We did not find that the lemon or lime juice changed the texture of the chicken with these marinades. Acid breaks down the proteins in meat (which makes it more tender), so letting it marinate for too long in something acidic can alter the texture in a bad way. But since this chicken only actually marinates while it’s defrosting in the fridge, it will absorb the proper amount of acid and become juicy and tender. Hope this helps!

      Reply