These chicken breasts are marinated in mouthwatering flavors and then grilled or panfried in a skillet.
Preacher Chicken is an old favorite around here. Marinated boneless chicken breasts are grilled, or quickly cooked in a skillet. They’re a perfect lean entree, but we always cook some extra to have leftovers.
Cut into strips and thrown on a salad (like our Southwestern Salad) or in a wrap they are a tasty, wholesome, low-fat protein.
Now, I’m not going to try and give you all the details on portion size, calories, fat content, sodium, etc. But, I will tell you that I eat about 4 ounces and that much boneless chicken breast has approximately 185 calories. The marinade would add a few calories, but not many.
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read our full disclosure policy.
When I’m watching my eating carefully (which should be all of the time) I do like having scales handy. Here are a few options for food scales if you need one, too.
Preacher Chicken?
Curious about the name “Preacher Chicken”? A pastor of ours from years back decided he wanted to have everyone in the church to his house for dinner, but not all at once, since it was a pretty big church. Not wanting comparisons to be made, he had the same menu for all of the church members’ “dinner with the preacher”.
The entree was this chicken and he said the marinade recipe was given to him years before. Therefore, I have no idea of the original source, but now you see why we call it “Preacher Chicken”.
We also use this grilled chicken as the base for one of our favorite copycat recipes, Ruby Tuesday Chicken Fresco.
The recipe makes enough to marinate 4-5 lbs. of boneless chicken breast, so just change the proportions accordingly if you’re cooking more or less chicken. I pound my chicken with a mallet (like one of these) until it’s about ½″ thick. Place it in plastic first.
This recipe made our Reader Favorites List of 2017. Check out the rest here.
This recipe made the suggested list for the Backyard BBQ Menu Ideas. You’ll want to visit for lots of other recipes as well as tips, tricks and planning help for your cookout.
Marinated Chicken (Preacher Style)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup soy sauce substitute Braggs Liquid Amino for gluten free
- ¼ cup worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon black pepper
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic minced
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients well.
- Pound chicken with mallet until about ½ inch thick.
- Place chicken in bag and pour in marinade.
- Marinate for about 8 hours.
- Cook on medium to medium-high heat on grill until done – about 5 minutes per side.
Notes
Another great idea for “lightening up” is our Grapefruit and Kiwi Detox Smoothie. It’s as delicious as it is beautiful. And if you love chicken and love eating healthy you’ll also love Citrus Rosemary Oven Roasted Chicken.
Looking for more healthy recipes?
Stacey says
Sounds like the perfect grilled chicken recipe. 😉
Pinning and sharing.
Pam says
Thanks so much! You’re the best.
Cindy Weidinger says
Pam, this Preacher Chicken sounds great! I do want to make this recipe! Thanks for posting!
Pam says
Thanks, Cindy. Hope you enjoy it!
Sally says
I can never press “Home” as all of the symbols(Facebook,tweet,Pinterest,etc.)are running on the left side of the page the entire time. How do I get rid of them?
Sara says
So sorry, Sally! I’ll see if I can change the social media buttons to make them a little less obtrusive on mobile view. In the meantime, you can get to the homepage from any post by clicking on “Biscuits & Burlap” at the top of the screen.
jen says
how much chicken? i don’t see it in the ingredients
jen says
found it
Pam says
Great, Jen. Didn’t mean for it to be confusing, but the recipe is really for the marinade. We hope you enjoy it. Come back and let us know.
Joann says
This recipe sounds really yummy. But I see it says gluten free, and yet it calls for soy sauce. There is wheat in soy sauce.
Pam says
Sorry for the error, Joann. We’ll correct that right away. Thanks for dropping by.
Denise says
Do you think I could put the chicken in freezer bags with this marinade, and thaw overnight before cooking, or would it be too long to have the chicken in the marinade? I know some marinades shouldn’t be used for extended amounts of time without turning the chicken to mush. Trying to stock up the freezer and this chicken sounds delish!
Pam says
Denise, I would be afraid to try that – especially with boneless breasts that are pretty thin anyway. I have frozen Preacher Chicken after it’s cooked with great success, though. Even easier when you need a quick meal. Just thaw and serve.
Annie says
Hi Pam! Grilling is out for us right now. Sauteing would take too long. What do you think of baking the breasts? I am new at cooking chicken, if you think roasting would work, could you give me some instructions such as temperature, baking time, anything else….. ? Thank you in advance.
Pam says
Hi Annie! If you’re not able to grill I would definitely recommend pan frying over baking or roasting in the oven. It won’t take long at all – depending on the thickness of your chicken pieces just 2-3 minutes per side. Get your pan hot before the chicken goes in – between medium and medium high. Just be sure to spray the skillet first, or put a light coating of oil. I think you’ll enjoy them.
Annie says
Thanks Pam. I’ll give it a try.
Annie says
Hi Pam, I wanted to let you know that I did saute the chicken and it came out great! Very yummy. I need to do it again because I couldn’t saute them right away and they ended up marinating for 2 days….. eek. They were soaked but still tasty. Sauteing is a LOT faster than I thought it would be; although the pan would dry out and the marinade would stick to the bottom. I had to wash the pan between sets. If you have any suggestions for keeping the pan from drying out. I would appreciate it. I started sauteing without a lid, then I put the lid on because the chicken was quite thick and I wanted it to cook all the way through, then I took the lid off and finished up with a nice brown finish on the chicken. Should I just leave the lid on? There was so much liquid when the lid was on, and I didn’t think the chicken would brown with the lid on. What do you suggest?
Pam says
Hi Annie,
For starters I would pound the chicken with a meat mallet so it’s a fairly even thickness of about 1/2 inch thick. Then it will cook pretty quickly and covering won’t be necessary. We usually grill this chicken, but to cook in a skillet I would spray it with cooking spray first. Hope this helps. Thanks for visiting.
Chemistry says
Made this recipe tonight after marinating the chicken for 8 hours. I used a cast-iron skillet with some spray butter flavored oil. Cooked each side for 4 minutes (varying temperature from Medium to Medium low as needed). Came out beautifully and the best tasting marinated chicken I have ever tasted! My husband and kids loved it! I made 6 lbs of chicken tonight (12 servings), enough for 4 servings tonight, 4 servings of Chicken Fresco (Ruby Tuesday Copycat) tomorrow. I will freeze the remaining 4 breasts to use another night with a Chicken Kiev Butter sauce poured over. Can;t wait!
Pam says
Thank you so much for letting us know how much you liked it! We love a recipe that does double duty, don’t you?