Easy Chicken Seasoning Recipe – These are our top choices for the 3 best homemade spice blends to make grilled or oven baked chicken taste amazingly good, with barely any effort! Everyone in the family is bound to love this delicious way to season chicken!

Best Seasoning for Chicken - Top down view two whole chicken breasts seasoned and grilled, resting on a white plate.

Best Seasoning for Chicken

We love all things chicken! BBQ chicken, chicken thighs, fried, stewed, shredded, and spatchcocked … If it involves fowl, we are fans. So it seemed only fitting that we feature a simple Best Seasoning for Chicken recipe, too!

Recently, we posted a chicken cooking tutorial called Cooked Chicken 101. In this post, we outline all the different ways to cook chicken, both boneless and bone-in, and what temperature to set them at and how long to cook them. That way, you can cook perfect chicken each and every time, no matter your cooking method. 

As a followup, today we’re sharing a post on our favorite 3 spice blends for chicken. Of course, you can put just about any seasoning on chicken and it will taste good, yet we do have some favorite herb and spice blends we’d like to share. These are my go-to seasonings for chicken that my family absolutely loves!

Seasoned grilled chicken breast on a plate. Chicken is cut in half to show inside of the meat. Next to the chicken is a serving of bean salad.

Our all-purpose chicken seasoning is great on all sorts of chicken-focused meals and can be used in a multitude of dishes. However, we’re also sharing our favorite all-purpose Mexican and Italian blends for when you’re cooking more of a specific style of chicken to go with a meal.

We hope you enjoy these 3 simple chicken seasoning blends and they make your midweek dinners much more tasty! 

Pro Tip: Don’t have time to create your own blend? No worries! When in a hurry, consider adding just lemon pepper, Mrs. Dash, Tajin seasoning, everything bagel seasoning, or Old Bay seasoning.

Best Seasoning for Chicken - Metal spoon above glass bowl with spice blend. In the spoon is a scoop of seasoning, held to camera.

What Ingredients You Need for 3 Flavorful Spice Dry Rubs

All-Purpose Chicken Seasoning

  • Lemon pepper seasoning (or combine lemon zest, black pepper, and salt)
  • Salt
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Paprika
  • Dried dill

Get the Complete (Printable) Recipe with Best Seasoning for Chicken – Ingredients and Quantities Below. Enjoy!

Best Seasoning for Chicken - Lineup of bottles of various spices including paprika, dash, oregano, and several more.

Mexican Chicken Seasoning

  • Ancho chile powder
  • Salt
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Ground cumin
  • Dried oregano
  • Cayenne pepper
Top down view three bowls, each with a different blend of chicken seasoning.

Italian Chicken Seasoning

  • Homemade Italian seasoning (combine rosemary, thyme, basil, and oregano)
  • Salt
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Crushed red pepper flakes
Top down view three bowls, each with a different blend of chicken seasoning.

How to Make Best Seasoning for Chicken

Set out a small bowl. Measure and add the herbs and spices.

Mix well.

Sprinkle the spices over boneless chicken pieces or bone-in chicken pieces.

Metal spoon above glass bowl with spice blend. In the spoon is a scoop of seasoning, held to camera.

Ways to Cook Seasoned Chicken

We love to grill chicken, particularly during the spring and summer. There is just nothing quite like that extra bit of smoky flavor and lightly charred grill marks!

For perfectly grilled chicken, first preheat the grill to medium heat, about 350-400°F.

  • Cook boneless and skinless breast and thigh pieces for approximately 4-6 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness.
  • Bone-in skinless thigh and breast pieces must cook for 12-15 minutes per side.
Hand sprinkling seasonings over raw chicken pieces laying out on a metal baking sheet.

No grill? No problem! If you don’t have a grill – or don’t want to use one – nothing else beats juicy and tender oven-baked chicken. Bonus: You don’t even need to flip the chicken! Place the seasoned pieces on a lined baking sheet or baking dish, and pop them into the oven.

First, preheat the oven to 400°F for boneless or 425°F for bone-in chicken breasts or thighs.

  • Cook thighs or breasts for 20-25 minutes, depending on meat thickness.
  • Bake bone-in chicken breasts or thighs for approximately 40-45 minutes.

For more cooking details and recipe ideas, check out our complete Temperature for Chicken (Chicken 101) Cooking Guide!

Top down view one whole chicken breast seasoned and grilled, resting on a white plate next two a side of bean salad.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to make chicken taste good?

The key to making the most perfectly flavorful, moist, and tender chicken is to A) season thoroughly and B) cook properly.

Chicken meat is rather mild on its own. So you want to be very generous with adding spices, and coat the meat evenly and entirely.

The internal temperature of chicken breast and thigh pieces needs to be 165 degrees F to safely eat. Any lower than that, and you run the risk of raw chicken, which is, of course, both icky-tasting and potentially harmful. However, overcooking results in dry and tough meat. Not so icky, but definitely unpleasant. So cook according to recipe instructions, and always use a meat thermometer to check the temp on the low end of the cooking time.

Is it best to season chicken before cooking?

Yes, you always want to liberally apply spices to the meat before cooking chicken.

How long do homemade seasoning blends last?

Store each batch of spice blend in an airtight container with a lid. Keep them at room temperature in a cool, dry place. They’ll last about as long as any other dried seasonings, and are freshest when used within 6 months or so.

One whole chicken breast seasoned and grilled, resting on a white plate next two a side of bean salad.

Looking for More Brilliant 5 Minute Fixes? Be Sure to Try:

Seasoned grilled chicken breast on a plate. Chicken is cut in half to show inside of the meat. Next to the chicken is a serving of bean salad.
Top down view two whole chicken breasts seasoned and grilled, resting on a white plate.
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Best Seasoning for Chicken

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Here are our top choices for the 3 best homemade spice blends to make grilled or oven baked chicken taste amazingly good, with barely any effort!
Servings: 4 batches of chicken per blend

Video

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

All-Purpose Chicken Seasoning –

Mexican Chicken Seasoning –

Italian Chicken Seasoning –

Instructions

  • Set out a small bowl. Measure and mix the herbs and spices together.
  • Sprinkle over boneless chicken pieces or bone in chicken pieces.
  • Cook chicken as desired. See links below for suggestions!

Notes

Don’t have time to create your own blend? And when in a hurry, consider adding just lemon pepper, Mrs. dash, Tajin seasoning, bagel seasoning, or old bay seasoning.
Store these spice combinations in separate containers with lids. Keep them at room temperature in a cool, dry place. They’ll last about as long as any other dried seasonings, and are freshest when used within 6 months or so.
For ideas on how to cook chicken, check out our Cooked Chicken 101 guide!

Nutrition

Serving: 1tsp, Calories: 7kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 0.3g, Fat: 0.1g, Saturated Fat: 0.03g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 437mg, Potassium: 37mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 0.1g, Vitamin A: 139IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 11mg, Iron: 0.3mg
Course: How To, Main, Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian, Mexican, Tex-Mex
Author: Sommer Collier
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