No matter what your apron says, no one will want to kiss the cook if you don’t know how to grill chicken. Grilled chicken is so easy to cook and so satisfying to serve. This is why it’s the star of cookouts and barbeque parties. Here’s how you can serve a decent batch of chicken when it’s your turn to man the grill.
What To Grill For Dinner Tonight? Chicken!
Step-By-Step Chicken Grilling For Beginners
Just follow this simple guide for perfect grilled chicken you can serve:
- After prepping the chicken, pre-heat the grill on high for 10 minutes.
- Stick-proof the grill by brushing it with cooking oil.
- Remove the chicken meat from the marinade and shake off excess before putting it on the grill.
- When setting chicken down on the grill, make sure you put the skin side down first.
- Make sure you lay out your chicken pieces in such a way that there are equal spaces on all sides of each piece.
- Dry-heat the meat in order to imbue the chicken with the nice, smoky flavor of the fire.
- Sear each side of each piece for five minutes before flipping.
- Sear for another 2 – 3 minutes to give each piece those lovely grill marks.
- From the original high-heat setting, lower the heat to medium.
- Avoid poking the meat with forks. Use tongs instead when handling the meat.
- After the searing stage, it’s time to make sure the inner part of the meat gets cooked. Don’t over-flip the chicken meat. Just flip it once.
- Different pieces of chicken meat cook at different times depending on the part and its size. Chicken thighs cook for 15 minutes on each side, for a total of 30 minutes. Chicken breasts with bones also cook for 30 minutes. Boneless chicken breasts cook for only for 6 to 8 minutes per side.
- In the last 5 minutes of grilling, brush the top with a glaze for a delicious finishing touch. Only one side should be glazed to avoid messing up your grill with burnt bits of sauce.
- Make sure you cook until well done. To avoid health issues like salmonella, never grill a chicken only to rare or medium. To make sure it’s well-cooked, cut a small slit in the meat and check the color inside. You can also use a food thermometer to check if the internal temp is at 160 to 170 degrees.
- Remember to serve the chicken on a clean plate. Never re-use the plate you used to store the raw chicken in while prepping.
Bonus Section: Beginner Grilling Marinade Recipes
We can’t just leave you with merely knowing the basics of how to grill chicken. You also need to know the secret to great grilled and flavorful chicken lies in its marinade. Marinades imbue the meat with deep flavor and keep it juicy and moist. Truly, the art of successful grilling begins with the prep work, and this involves marinating your meat.
Here are three simple ingredient marinade recipes to get you started.
Lemon Herb Marinade
- 3 tablespoons of oil
- juice of one lemon
- salt and pepper to your liking
- 3 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
- 3 teaspoons of minced garlic
Honey Chipotle Marinade
- 3 tablespoons of oil
- salt and pepper to your liking
- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons of honey
- 1 can of chopped chipotles in adobo sauce
Teriyaki Marinade
- 1/3 cup of soy sauce
- 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 3 tablespoons of olive or peanut oil
- half a teaspoon of garlic powder
- half a teaspoon of ground ginger
Combine all the ingredients in a re-sealable bag together with the chicken and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours before grilling.
When you want a video to guide you on chicken gas grilling for dummies, here’s a resource from WaysandHow you can consult:
These easy steps ought to help you master chicken gas grilling 101. Learning how to grill chicken properly is a welcome skill in any backyard or outdoor gathering since grilled chicken is a staple beloved by all. Chicken beats pork and beef in terms of consumption, hence its popularity on the grill. Serve a batch of chicken with a perfect sear and well-flavored meat, and everyone will know you’re the boss of the cookout.
Do you have your own unique way of grilling chicken? Care to share your process? Please provide us your comments in the section below.
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