Italian Dressing Chicken Marinade is an Italian Chicken Marinade that doubles as a salad dressing! This is one of my tricks for easy midweek meals and it’s a highly effective method to make delicious meals with less effort.
I use this Double Duty trick in a handful of recipes, like this Lemon Chicken Salad and Mexican Chicken Salad – and readers love it!
Italian Dressing Chicken Marinade
Did you know that most salad dressings also make great marinades? Not creamy ones. But pretty much all non creamy ones do, including French Dressing, Honey Mustard Dressing, this Asian Sesame Dressing and Balsamic Dressing.
Today I’m sharing an Italian Dressing Chicken Marinade. So it’s an Italian dressing recipe – that doubles as a chicken marinade, made with:
-
White wine vinegar  – sub with other vinegars
-
Olive oil
-
Mustard
-
Garlic
-
Sugar, salt and pepper
Use some to marinade the chicken, and the rest to dress your side salad!
You’ll love how the Italian Dressing does double duty as a marinade AND salad dressing in this recipe!
Italian Chicken Marinade
For the Italian Chicken Marinade, I do like to add some dried herbs – just to make the flavour of the chicken slightly different, otherwise everything tastes the same.
Cook this Italian marinated chicken on the grill, stove – or even bake it!
How long does the chicken need to be marinated? It’s best overnight, but even 20 minutes is enough, especially if you make this with chicken breast cut in half horizontally to make 2 thin steaks.
Best chicken for Italian Chicken Marinade? I’m a brown meat gal so for most chicken recipes, I opt for thigh over breast because it’s juicier with not much difference in calories. But this recipe will work just fine with breast too!
Italian Dressing Side Salad
I’ve made a side salad using very thinly sliced raw zucchinis – something a little different! I really enjoy raw zucchini – it actually doesn’t have that much flavour so it’s a great vehicle to add pretty much any type of dressing and it works very well with the Italian dressing.
BUT you can use the Italian Dressing/Marinade for any type of leafy salad you want – or even for steamed vegetables. Enjoy! – Nagi x
My favourite back-pocket marinades
These are the ones I use over and over again, made with pantry staples with lots of sub options!
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Italian Dressing Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
Dressing Marinade
- 4 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar (Note 1)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Marinated Chicken
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 1/2 tsp mixed Italian dried herbs (either a packet mix or mix herbs like basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary and thyme)
- 1 tsp dried red chili flakes (optional)
- 750 g / 1.5lb chicken thighs, boneless skinless, or breast (cut in half horizontally)
Zucchini Side
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 zucchinis , finely sliced into rounds using a mandolin
- 2 tbsp baby mint leaves , or 1 tbsp sliced larger mint leaves
Instructions
- Place the Dressing Marinade ingredients in a small jar and shake well to combine.
Marinade Chicken:
- Put the Marinated Chicken ingredients in a bowl or ziplock bag and add 5 tablespoons of the Dressing Marinade.
- Massage / mix to coat the chicken. Set aside for marinade for at least 20 minutes, ideally 3 hours or up to 24 hours.
Cook Chicken:
- Grill/BBQ: You shouldn't need any oil, but if you are concerned, brush your grill with oil. Heat the grill on medium high and cook the chicken for around 3 to 4 minutes on each side. (Cook breast for less)
- Stove: Preheat 1/2 tbsp oil in a large non stick fry pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook each side for around 4 to 5 minutes, or until dark golden brown and cooked through.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the grill/fry pan onto a plate, loosely cover with foil and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Serve the chicken with the zucchini salad and toasted bread.
Salad & Dressing:
- Add the 1 tablespoon of olive oil (from the Zucchini Side ingredients) into the jar with the remaining Dressing Marinade and shake well. Set aside.
- Toss the zucchinis and mint with the Dressing Marinade.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Hi Nagi! Just me again. Of course I read your Wings cookbook! From “cover to cover” and I fully intend to make every recipe! 🙂 Thank you so much!
Bursting with pride and happiness…. 😉 Thank you Dorothy!! Makes me so happy to hear that! 🙂
Hi Nagi! Quick question – have you ever applied any of your wing recipes to bone in, skin on chicken thighs? Unless wings are on sale I simply refuse to pay the price when I can get thighs for $1.00 a pound! I’m thinking thighs might work – what do you think? 🙂
Hi Dorothy! For the crispy ones, it doesn’t work as well because other cuts don’t have as much skin which is what goes crispy. It does work quite well for drumsticks though. 🙂 As for the sticky ones, they will work for any cut of chicken! 🙂 Which recipe were you thinking? I can give you more specifics! 🙂
Hi Nagi! I had in mind your Southern oven fried wings. Another question – I’m not good with time zones – it’s 8:00 P.M. here, what time is it there?
Hi Dorothy! Sydney is 14 hours ahead of you! 🙂 Oooh, the Southern Oven “Fried” Wings from the cookbook! Yay, I’m so happy to know you read it!! The problem is that the crispiness from oven baked chicken comes from the skin and that’s what the baking powder reacts with to make it super crispy. I have used the Southern recipe on bone in skin on thighs before and it works GREAT on the skin side!! I’d love to know what you think if you give it a go 🙂 Oh, and the baking time will take longer. The same 30 minutes on the lower temperature but then about 15 minutes longer on the high temperature. OH also, drumsticks works great! They have more skin so are more similar to wings. I hope you love it! I think you will, the wings are REALLY well seasoned!! 🙂
PS Hmm, maybe I should share Southern oven fried chicken thighs on my blog soon? Can you tell me when it gets a bit cooler over there??? 😉 N x
Hi Nagi! It just so happens I picked up some thighs today and giving it a go tonight! Who better to test it than someone from TN! The thighs I get have a “flap” of skin underneath so I can have skin all around which will be perfect! I will report back! 🙂
Oooh!!! Now I’m NERVOUS! 🙂 If you like it, I’ll post the chicken thigh version when it becomes cooler over there – once you tell me it is cool enough to use the oven without air con!
WHAT!!! But you hate cleaning up!! How do you NOT have a dishwasher…ok tots shocked here… That aside…this looks gorgeous!!! Love the flavors… Oh and it’s 64-degrees in the winter? You poor thing you 🙂
Don’t rub it in! Why do you think I do so many one pot meals? 😉
Nagi, this Italian (flavored lol) chicken looks super moist and seriously scrumptious! I am totally with you on doubling the use of the marinade as a dressing! Makes life so much more simple- show me who doesn’t like that! (Aside from a crazy person!) I don’t think you are strange for choosing more storage over a dish washer! I would have done the same! I have a dishwasher and literally, I’ve used it probably twice in 5 years. Anyways, This looks great- those grill marks on that chicken have me wanting to fire up the grill and make this right now! Cheers, my friend!
See? Bloggers CAN survive without a dishwasher! Thanks for the validation Cheyanne! 🙂
Love this two-for-one combo! Not only are you amazing at making life in the kitchen easier, but hello… grill master extraordinaire! Just look at those grill marks! Absolute perfection!
Our household goods finally arrive tomorrow – can’t wait to get our grill set back up so I can make this!
HURRAH!! Will you post pics of your new house? I want to see!!
It’s summer in our part of the world so this is perfect! It’s too hot to cook inside the house and this sounds so good 🙂
Don’t rub it in! Today it’s REALLY cold, I even have the heater on! 🙂
This chicken looks so good and it is so versatile. I can eat this day after day…chicken and zucchini today, chicken and rice tomorrow, chicken wrap the next. I like how you used chicken thigh as it is more flavorful and does not dry out easily like the breasts.
I love pretending its summer by grilling too. Luckily Sydney winter allows us to spend time outside with the lovely sunshine! This sounds like a wonderful recipe with gorgeous flavours… although I expect nothing less from you.
Bet you grilled on the weekend. Wasn’t the weather fab up here? I arranged it especially for your girls’ weekend!
This might be great on the stove but I’ll never find out. The smokiness of the grill would call me every time. I love this chicken!
Plus, John mans the grill, right? 😉
Really enjoy the simplicity of the marinade and recipe itself. LOVE grilling too, as you know, and what really grabbed my attention is the zucchini. The thin circle mandolin slices and the dressing with mint is a Summer side for sure!
As for the photos, KILLER, and the table set up is just so darn inviting. Wish we were neighbors!
We are practically….just a little ocean separating us! 😉
Beautiful chicken it makes me want to lick the screen but that would be completely unlady like… I love grilling too as clean up is a snap just keep the grill going for a few extra minutes and wire brush it and you are done like dinner. We have the worlds smallest apartment sized dishwasher in HK so I feel your pain and it takes something like over 3 hours to run, so I have to wash by hand most of our things too. Sharing, pinning and send smoke signals…
Unload like? When has that ever stopped you? He he! OMG, you must have an Asian dishwasher. Totally know what you mean, my relatives in Japan have them!
You know that emoji with hearts in the eyes? , that’s how I feel about this !! Wowza !!
Aw, thanks!! You’re so sweet! 🙂
This is delicious Nagi! I love my Italian herbs in my cupboard!! Those grill marks are making me drool too…
I absolutely LOVE Zucchini… but my husband hated it until I introduced it to him pan fried! Now he can’t get enough… He will love this meal for sure. Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Thanks so much Dini! Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Look at you and those perfect grill marks. I wish my winters here were 18 degrees, maybe during chinooks! These ingredients scream Italian flavors to me, so you know what you’re doing!
No dishwasher, eh? How do you manage?
Perfect grill pmarks? I did nothing but plonk these on the grill!! As for the dishwasher – or lack thereof – it’s the reason why I post so many one pot meals!!! 😉
It’s a great idea to have one mix that works for both dressing and marinade.
Nagi, I hear you about the dishwasher. Our kitchen is small, and when we redid it, we made sure to maximize the storage. Our solution to the lack of dishwasher is to have a portable one. It’s somewhat of a pain, but I’m sure it has saved our marriage (while we’re at the beach my husband has to hand wash the dishes because I do the vast majority of the cooking – our agreement is that one cooks and one cleans up). My husband hates washing dishes, which is why we now have dishwasher save pots & pans instead of the AllClad I had when we got married…
Ha ha! Reading this makes me laugh, I totally get it! I have seen portable ones before, in fact, my grandmother had one. 🙂 I can’t even afford the space for a portable one!!
I really feel for you, Nagi! I’m actually fine with washing my own dishes. For years, when I had a dishwasher I didn’t really use it because I just used the same few dishes over and over. A blue plastic bowl that held my whole meal salads comes to mind… I guess I didn’t cook as much back then. Doing one’s own dishes when single isn’t bad, if you can find a time when it fits conveniently into your schedule. But once you get married – if you’ve got the kind of agreement my husband and I have – make sure he cooks a lot or get a dishwasher! 🙂
Of course it looks great- your pictures are always beautiful! I never thought about starting the chicken on the grill and finishing on the stove. I usually just dry it out right there on the grill!! ;( I’ll try this method next time. Thanks for the tip!
Hi Gee Gee! Oh no, you misread the recipe!! There are instructions to EITHER cook it on the grill OR the stove 🙂 Just so you can choose!!!
I just pulled out some chicken to grill tonight! How convenient! I also use Italian dressing to marinate meat for fajitas. I know that sounds weird, but the combination of flavors works! Peppers, onions grilled with a bit of the left over and then grill the meat strips. Yumm..
That doesn’t sound weird at all! Italian dressing is really versatile and I definitely wrap these chicken up in tortillas! In fact, that’s how I ate them for lunch yesterday, though it was flatbreads, not tortillas, it was pretty much a fajita!
Hi Nagi! As usual your grilled chicken looks fantastic and tasty! I think I’d sub English cucumber for the side – not that crazy about zucchini, except as pickles or relish. You call that winter?! Girl please, that’s sit outside and have a cocktail weather! 🙂
You know, I’m not fond of zucchinis raw but when sliced thinly, they are divine! Promise! 🙂
So jump on a plane, come on over and we’ll have cocktails together!!! 🙂
Such a good, simple yet flavorful marinade. 🙂
You got it Krista! 🙂
This looks gorgeous! I love big flavors, and this definitely has flavor! That dressing marinade looks divine!
Thank you! I adore big flavours too, and this is definitely big on it! 🙂