This 2-Ingredient Chicken Marinade Is A Perfect Base For Quick Weeknight Dinners

Weeknight dinners can be tough when it's already been a long day and you still need to get food on the table. There's a great case to be made for chicken as a simple go-to, and you can get some flavor on it with a quick marinade. It probably doesn't get any easier than marinating chicken in Italian dressing right out of the fridge. But with just a couple more minutes of prep time at the cutting board, you can expand the flavor with another amazing marinade made with just two ingredients. Try marinating your chicken in soy sauce and garlic. From there, you can add even more flavor with other kitchen staples.

A simple chicken marinade is always a great choice for a weeknight because, even if you forgot to take it out of the freezer, you can quickly and safely thaw frozen chicken in cold water. Marinating in soy sauce and minced garlic will give your chicken plenty of rich, salty, and savory flavor. The two ingredients go beautifully together, and the soy sauce will pre-mellow the flavor of the garlic. So even if it's a super quick cook, it won't turn out overly garlicky with too much pungent flavor.

This is a great chicken marinade for grilling, for the oven, for stir fry, or on chicken sauteed in a hot pan on the stovetop. It's extremely versatile and can work on any cut of chicken: breast, thighs, legs, even wings.

Making this chicken marinade recipe is a breeze — mince a few cloves of garlic (more or fewer cloves, depending on your level of affection for the tiny flavor bombs) and mix them with soy sauce and you're done. Tamari in place of soy will work just fine, if that's what you have on hand. Now, while it is perfectly delicious to simply chop, mix, marinade, cook, you can also think of this base marinade as a canvas to paint on with a diverse palette of flavors.

Using some oil in the marinade will round out the richness and give it more depth. Olive oil will work great, but if you're planning to cook it super hot you might want something with a higher smoke point. If you've never cooked with avocado oil, this is a good time to try it out. It's nice and mild, so it won't overpower your marinate, and it will give it some delicious buttery, earthy undertones. Minced or grated fresh ginger is another simple addition and plays off the garlic beautifully. Some honey can add sweetness, and if you want to go spicy, you can add fresh minced chiles, a little cayenne pepper, or red pepper flakes. And, to be sure, a pinch or two of dried Italian herbs never hurts and will up the savory quotient, mixing easily with soy and garlic.

When it comes time to marinate your chicken, keep in mind, it's not always better to marinade your food for longer. Chicken can marinade in as little as 30 minutes and still pick up loads of incredible flavor. Just another reason this recipe is perfect for the end of a busy day.