Make The Best Grilled BBQ Chicken In Your Neighborhood With This Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to grilling chicken? ›

Grill over indirect or direct heat but keep the lid closed

If you're cooking a larger or thicker piece of chicken breast, grill over indirect heat before or after charring, especially if you want to be sure that it's cooked all the way through.

Pat the chicken breast dry to remove excess surface moisture that causes steaming instead of searing. Cook the chicken over direct heat for three minutes to get gorgeous grill marks and then move to indirect heat, cover, and grill to 165°F before removing from the grill.

The difference between grilling and barbecuing is that grilling is done with the grill lid open and barbecuing is down with the grill lid closed. With the latter, the meat is bathed in heat for 30 minutes to a few hours, keeping the food tender and juicy.

Olive oil helps to brown the outside of the chicken, bringing it to a beautiful golden color, while still maintaining the meat's internal moistness. This is especially important when grilling, as chicken can quickly become dried out when cooked directly over the grill's heat.

Instead, brine your chicken, soaking it in a saltwater solution a couple of hours before cooking. The salt breaks down muscle fibers, allowing the meat to absorb moisture but also preventing the fibers from contracting quite so much under heat, thus releasing that moisture.

Place your chicken breasts on your preheated grill, and close the lid. It's important to keep the lid of your grill closed while your chicken is cooking so that no heat escapes. Cook your chicken breast on the grill for 6-8 minutes on one side. After 6-8 minutes flip your chicken breast and cook for 6-8 minutes more.

Overcooking chicken and buying woody chicken breast are two of the main causes behind rubbery chicken. You can stop this from happening by: buying “slow-growing” chicken. cooking your chicken in moisture.

It's a basic technique—simply use your spoon or spatula to pick up hot oil or butter from the pan, then pour it over the meat as it cooks. This helps distribute the fat and juices, keeps moisture intact as the meat cooks, enhances flavor, and results in a more even cook.

Hoisin Sauce

An excellent alternative to the barbecue sauce is this Asian sauce made from vinegar, honey, sesame paste, flour, chilies and soy sauce.

The goal is to maintain a low enough grill temp so that the chicken cooks "low and slow." The chicken is done when the internal temperature of the chicken pieces are 160°F for breasts and 170°F for thighs, when tested with a meat thermometer.

Why does chicken taste better on the grill? ›

Grilled chicken typically provides a nice char, which gives the poultry more flavor and texture compared to baking or sauteing.

Unlike fried chicken, the grilling process in barbecue helps reduce fat content. The fat dropped during cooking eliminates excess calories, making it a healthier option compared to other cooking methods. Additionally, choosing leaner cuts like chicken breasts further minimises fat intake.

How do you grill chicken breast without drying it out? Brining is the secret to juicy grilled chicken breasts. It requires a bit of extra time, but the soak in the a brine helps to tenderize the meat, which makes it less tough once it's grilled. Also, a brine is a great way to add flavor if you want.

Aside from classics like salt, pepper, basil and garlic, you could try using chilli powder, ginger, cumin, cayenne, paprika, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Fat from the chicken can drip and burn, too. As a result, explains Harvard Health Publications, chemicals called heterocyclic amines and aromatic hydrocarbons from, and they have been linked to cancer. Reduce the formation of these compounds by putting chicken in foil on the grill.

If you set the temperature extremely high, the chicken won't cook properly on the inside but can burn on the outside. It will cook more thoroughly and evenly with lower heat. Fix: Choose medium heat on a gas grill or medium-low on a charcoal grill to cook your chicken.