Grilled Blackened Chicken
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Aug 20, 2025 
Easy Grilled Blackened Chicken Recipe – With just a handful of pantry staple spices, you can create a spicy and delicious blackening seasoning blend that’s perfect for adding big flavor to grilled chicken and more!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
If you are looking for a Grilled Blackened Chicken recipe with some serious zing (which, I am assuming you are because who wants a lackluster blackened chicken??) you’ve come to the right place!
We have a classic homemade blackened seasoning recipe on the site that folks adore… Judging by the comments, most people love to use it on fish. Today, we wanted to feature a quick and easy blackened chicken recipe on the grill that takes less than 30 minutes to make. This slightly altered variation of blackening seasoning is great on boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, but you can also use it on bone-in chicken!
The spice blend includes just the right combo of comforting and exciting spices like paprika, garlic powder, and fiery cayenne pepper. It makes plain grilled chicken extra zesty and flavorful. Perfect for serving as a main dish protein with all sorts of savory side dishes, or to slice and use on salads and sandwiches.
Ingredients You Need
- Chicken breasts – boneless skinless breasts or thighs
- Smoked paprika – smoky and lightly sweet
- Onion powder – tastes like a very concentrated sweet onion
- Salt – a bit to balance the spices
- Sugar – optional, to mellow the heat
- Garlic powder – savory, pungent, and perhaps my favorite spice of all time
- Black pepper – freshly ground has the best pop of spiciness
- Dried thyme – has an almost floral, woody taste
- Dried oregano – earthy with a hint of sweetness
- Cayenne pepper – quite spicy, these are several times hotter than jalapeno peppers
How to Make Grilled Blackened Chicken
Tips for Success: Mix the spice rub in advance and store in an airtight container until ready to use. TO intensify the flavor, you can rub the chicken with blackening seasoning up to a day in advance. Then cover and chill until ready to grill.
Find the full Grilled Blackened Chicken Recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Serving Suggestions
Firm on the outside, juicy on the inside, these hearty pieces of blackened chicken are just right to pair with just about any carb or vegetable side dish!
Serve them whole or in slices with a hot baked potato, a pile of creamy mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes, or fluffy rice. We love to toss fork-sized pieces with pasta to make a Cajun-style fettuccine Alfredo or asiago tortelloni Alfredo. Dynamite!
And you can’t go wrong with simple, healthy, but super flavorful veggie sides like steamed broccoli, roasted okra, stewed okra and tomatoes, or air fryer asparagus. A fresh salad on the side is also great to help mellow the pop of spiciness.
This chicken is even great for lunches and meal prepping! Thinly slice pieces and use them to make spicy and delicious blackened chicken sandwiches, wraps, and salads. Ranch dressing and/or remoulade sauce pair well with the blackening seasoning, or you can try your favorite dressings and mix things up!
Frequently Asked Questions
If using the blackening seasoning on bone-in chicken pieces, grill over medium heat for 35-40 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes. Lower the heat a little if flare-ups are a problem.
Use this fabulous spice blend to make chicken tenders, grilled shrimp, white fish, lobster, steaks, pork chops, veggies… You name it! Basically, anything that can be coated in spices and grilled is perfect.
There is a good bit of heat here, thanks to spicy cayenne pepper. However, blackening seasoning is not quite as spicy as typical Cajun seasoning blends that include additional spices.
Yes! Blackened grilled chicken is lean and nutritious, with no breading or frying.
Blackened refers to anything heavily coated and hard-cooked with a heavy Creole-style spice blend. In this blackened chicken recipe, the protein is covered with Cajun seasonings, then grilled to really sear those spices into the meat!
Transfer the cooled chicken leftovers to an airtight container and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Grilled Blackened Chicken Recipe + Video
Video
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless chicken breasts 4-6 breasts
- 2 ½ tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar optional
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoons black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to medium heat, approximately 350 to 400°F.
- Set out a small bowl to mix the blackened seasoning. Combine the smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, sugar, garlic powder, black pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, and Cayenne pepper. Mix well.
- Lay the chicken breasts out on a baking dish. Sprinkle them generously with blackening seasoning on both sides. Pat the seasoning into the chicken.
- Once the grill is hot, place the chicken breasts on the grill and cook for approximately 5 minutes per side. If working with larger chicken breasts, you may need to grill them for 6-7 minutes per side.
- Allow the chicken breasts to rest for 5 minutes before cutting, then serve warm.
Just made this seasoning and it is SO delicious. I want to put this on everything!
yummy looking chicken (why doesn’t mine look this good) and love a new or different way to spice up chicken and this works for me thank you
This was a hit with my family! It turned out so flavorful and was super easy to make, thank you for the recipe!
Very easy to make! the family loved it. The chicken was so good with the different spices. A must try for all who loved it grilled.
This grilled blackened chicken turned out sooo beautiful and super delicious! It is packed with flavors, so tender and juicy, and filling! Definitely a must-try!