Orange Barbecue Grilled Chicken 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.

Whether you're working with breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or wings, pat the meat dry. This is especially important for skin-on chicken or marinated pieces, as this can help sauce to stay put. Applying a rub can also be useful, much like working with a thicker sauce.

While all grills are different, most of the time you'll be golden if you grill your chicken breasts for about 9-10 minutes, flipping the chicken breasts over at the halfway point so you get beautiful, even sear marks on each side of the chicken.

Focus on searing the meat and then cooking it until it reaches a safe inside temperature at the thickest part. Sauces are best applied near the end of cooking to prevent burning. Only baste it with sauce during the final five minutes of cooking. The taste will blow you away without any burned mess on your grill.

That would be when the meat is about 10 minutes away from being done. You want to give the sauce enough heat to begin to caramelize, adding rich flavor, but not enough heat where it will reach the burning stage. Begin brushing on the sauce, adding two or three more coats until you remove the meat from the grill.

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.

One of the keys for grilling the perfect, juicy chicken breast is to use organic chicken breast and marinate your chicken for 2-4 hours. As far as marinating chicken breast goes: The longer you marinate your chicken the better! A great marinade requires: Fat: from oil or even full fat yogurt or buttermilk.

Steps to BBQ Saucing Chicken

You want to baste the chicken with just enough sauce to cover it, but not too much that it is drenched in BBQ sauce. Coat one side and then allow the chicken to cook for 4 to 5 minutes before turning the meat over and coating the other side. Choose a thick sauce.

Spices: With big bold flavors, the subtly of spices in bottled sauces tends to get lost. Adding garlic or onion powder are standard flavors for barbecue, but get a little creative and try out different chile powders, peppers, cumin, or dried herbs to add body to the sauce.

Is 10 minutes enough to grill chicken? ›

You should grill chicken breasts for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Keep your grill on medium heat between 425 and 450 degrees, says grill manufacturer Weber.

Typically, a good rule is to flip your chicken breasts within the first 5 minutes, let them cook for another 3-4 minutes, and then flip them again and cook them until they hit 165 degrees and the juices run clear on the bottom of the breast.”

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.

A: I would poach or sear the chicken first and add it to the sauce.

The best time to put the BBQ sauce on is when the chicken is almost ready. If you do it when the chicken is raw, the sugar in the sauce will cause it to brown faster than the meat, and the outside of the chicken can burn. I brush the sauce on the chicken during the last few minutes of cooking.

With a gas grill, keeping the lid down will hold in heat, bringing up temperatures quickly. Every time you open the lid you vent all the built-up heat from the grill and slow the cooking process. It is usually best to leave the lid down as much as possible on your gas grill since grilling is best done fast and hot.

BBQ sauce can be used as a cooking ingredient, especially in slow-cooked dishes like stews, soups, and chili. It adds flavor and depth to the dish while helping to tenderize the meats.