Guidelines For Grilling Moist Chicken

by Jack Mason

Grilling chicken for your family and friends can be really fun and rewarding. To grill chicken into tender and juicy meats,you need to learn the tricks on how to bring the chicken to the correct temperature without undercooking or burning it. It is important that you realize that you cant simply take a chicken breast out of the fridge and throw it on the grill and expect it to turn out moist and juicy.
If you take a look at most of the grilled chicken recipes, you will notice that the marinade part plays a very important role. To ensure that your chicken gain the maximum flavor from the marinade, you need to marinate for at least several hours before putting them on the grill. If time is short for you, you will need to use an injector to insert the flavor deep into the meat. Since most of the grilling recipes are designed for both outdoor and indoor grilling, grilling your chicken over charcoal will work too.
As a golden rule, you should avoid piercing the chicken beforehand unless you intend to grill them immediately as the fat will drop out and catch fire. Tongs are really useful and you should get one to help you move the chicken around. If a flare up happens, you should immediately move the chicken to the upper rack with the tong or remove them from the grill until the fire is gone.
The best way to reduce the risk of having a flare up is to trim all unnecessary fat from the foods you grill, including oils in marinades or sauces. If youre using charcoal, make sure that there is no flames because they will burn the chicken. Let the coal turn gray about 1/2 through the coal first before placing the chicken on the grill.
Temperature around 230F-250F is the perfect heat for grilling chicken and the cooking time should take no more than one hour. Make sure that you turn the chicken pieces every ten minutes so that both sides can be cooked evenly. If youre going to use BBQ sauce, make sure that you add it ten minutes before the chicken reached its cooking time.
The easiest way to check whether the chicken pieces are fully cooked is to slice deep into the chicken and see if the juices run clear. Never eat undercooked chicken because they contain salmonella which is bad for your health. When you finished grilling the chicken, transfer them to a plate and let them rest for a few minutes so that the juice inside can really develop and the chicken will become moister.

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Need some recipes to help you getting started? Take a look at our tasty grilled chicken recipes.

How To Grill Chicken For An Explosion Of Flavor!

What is the best way to grill chicken? What is the best grilled chicken temperature? And how long to grill chicken is long enough? This is one of the most common grilling questions.

How long to grill chicken depends on a few things… the cut of the chicken, whether it is a whole chicken or maybe just legs and quarters, perhaps it is boneless breast, and how well done you like it. Some people like their chicken falling off the bone, and some like it DRY as a bone! So how many minutes to cook it is up to you and your desired outcome. Generally a good rule of thumb is to grill chicken no less than 30 minutes, turning several times for even cooking.

Grilled Chicken

First things first though Are you grilling on a charcoal or a gas grill? Are you grilling pieces or a whole bird? Are you grilling or just ‘cooking’ on the grill? Because today, you can boil, braise AND grill on most grills. So these things will make a difference with your time and preparation.

I’d like to cover the how to cook chicken on a grill part first. This will work for chicken breasts, leg quarters, wings or even entire chickens. Chicken leg quarters are more cost effective and can be substituted for chicken breast in any recipe. Chicken leg quarters have a higher fat content that will give you a juicy and flavorful choice for the grill.

Steps for grilling Perfect Chicken

1. Marinate or Rub. The best way to grill chicken is with a marinade. Wash the meat first. With cuts of chicken, rub it with some good seasonings to taste (I like garlic salt, and pepper) and then marinate it with Italian Dressing. Or if you dont have that, then just use garlic, a small amount of vinegar, olive oil and some onion for your own home made marinade. Let it marinate for about an hour. If you choose a rub, Brush each piece with olive oil and season with your favorite rub or seasoning salt and pepper.

2. Prep the grill. Make sure it is clean by taking a wire grill brush and cleaning the racks. Take Pam grilling spray or a good dose of olive oil and rub it on the grill racks BEFORE you light the grill. Be careful though Dont apply oil to the open flame. Oil is flammable and too much will give you an out of control fire that you may not want!

3. Prepare the FIRE! For Chicken, only heat one side of a gas grill or push coals to one side if you are using a charcoal grill. This is called indirect heating.

4. Preheat the grill to medium high heat which is 325-350 degrees. Grills cranked to high will easily reach 450 degrees. Chicken parts render off a lot of fat during cooking, too much heat will result in lots of fire.

5. Time to Cook on your already heated grill. Place the chicken directly over the heat and grill with the lid open for about 3 minutes per side.

6. Move the chicken away from the heat source to the other side of the grill. With the lid down, cook the chicken about 40-45 minutes for breasts and quarters, 30-35 minutes for legs and thighs. The best way to tell is with a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of the piece. Although the normal temperature for grilled chicken to be ‘done’ is 165 degrees, 170 will ensure the chicken does not have any of that slight pink color that most people are hesitant to eat.

7. Add BBQ sauce or glaze during the last 10 minutes and let it set while you prepare your table to serve.

8. Bon Appetit!