How To Grill Chicken Breasts
Two ways to ensure a perfectly grilled chicken breast is the proper cook temperature, 165º F, and starting with a uniform thickness breast. The latter is key. If one part of the breast is larger, it will need a longer cooking time meaning the thinner part will cook longer and dry out.
Wine Pairing For Grilled Chicken Breasts
Since there is no marinade for this grilled chicken recipe, and the flavors rely on the direct grilling and the savory poultry rub, we have a number of options for pairing here. Chardonnay is one of my favorite pairings for grilled chicken. They tend to be a little fuller in body and can stand up well to the grilled meat, and offer vibrant and lively flavors that balance out the dry rub on the grilled chicken. Viognier is another nice option, as is rosé if youre feeling up for something pink. For reds you cant go wrong with a bolder Pinot Noir, Gamay, or a Grenache for its fruitiness.
How To Grill Chicken On Stove
Learn how to make the best tender, juicy and delicious chicken breasts right on your stove-top in a grill pan or cast iron pan. I dont know where Id be without grilled chicken. I grill chicken all year for meal-prep and for so many recipes too. Grilled, skinless chicken breasts make a great addition to a healthy diet because they are low in calories and high protein. Eating chicken breast, without breading or skin, helps you eat fewer calories and even burn extra calories for effective weight loss. I always make extra and save it for salads, in burritos, pasta or meal prepping!
Because we dont always have access to the outdoor grill year round, I make the chicken on the stove-top most of the time. To make tender juicy grilled chicken you will need a heavy duty grill pan. A cast iron pan with ridges works best but if your cast iron pan doesnt have ridges, you can still grill the chicken on it too.
For the seasoning, I usually switch it up each time I make the chicken and dont really measure but for the sake of this recipe Ive included my favorite herb and seasoning mix. You can also used a packet of taco seasoning or your favorite herbs and spices and make it your own.
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How To Cook Chicken On A Gas Grill
Store your chicken in the fridge at a temperature of at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit, if not cooler, recommends the USDA. Then, when you’re ready to begin prepping, wash your hands thoroughly and clean your work surfaces.
Although most people tend to rinse their poultry, this is actually not recommended, as it can cause any bacteria to spread to other areas, according to the USDA. Rinsing or soaking your meat won’t destroy or clean any of the bacteria â only cooking will do that.
To give your chicken breasts some added tenderness, place the meat in a plastic bag. Using a meat pounder or rolling pin, pound the meat gently until the chicken reaches a uniform thickness. This will help the meat cook evenly on the grill.
Before grilling, you can either brine your chicken or soak it in a marinade of your choice in the fridge for anywhere from 30 minutes to as long as two days, according to the USDA. This can also help prevent dryness when grilling chicken breasts.
In the meantime, preheat your gas grill for at least 10 to 15 minutes on high heat. Then, remove the chicken from the fridge and brush the meat with a bit of olive oil, seasoning as you’d like. Place the chicken breasts on the grill, spacing as needed. Cook each side for about six to eight minutes, recommends the USDA.
What Temperature Should Boneless Chicken Be Cooked To
![Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts](https://www.grillproclub.com/wp-content/uploads/grilled-boneless-skinless-chicken-breasts-cooks-country-scaled.jpeg)
There is no single answer to this question as chicken can be cooked at a variety of temperatures, depending on the birds size and weight.
However, many experts recommend that boneless, skinless chicken should be cooked at a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
This temperature will kill any bacteria that might have been left behind on the bird and will ensure that the chicken is evenly cooked throughout.
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Recipe Notes And Tips
- To prevent the chicken from sticking to the grill, brush it with oil first.
- Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to four days. Place them in an air-tight container, or in a ziplock bag.
- Use homemade BBQ sauce or store-bought. There are some healthy low-sugar BBQ options available that you can buy at most grocery stores.
- Do not overcook the chicken to prevent it from getting too dry and rubbery.
- You can use chicken thighs, drumsticks, steak, etc. You can also use different proteins like steak, fish, etc.
- You may thin out the chicken breasts if you prefer.
- To check if the chicken is ready, you may use a food thermometer and check when the internal temperature reached 165 F
Brine Your Boneless Chicken Breasts For Additional Moisture
Brining your boneless chicken breasts will prevent them from drying out too much. When you salt the meat, it will change the protein and retain the moisture during grilling. This ensures that your boneless chicken breasts will remain juicy even if they are slightly overdone. You need to brine your chicken for about 30 minutes. Turn your charcoal grill up to heat it while the chicken is brining.
Should You Use Wet Brine or Dry Brine?
- Wet Brine Dissolve salt in water, add the boneless chicken breasts to them, and soak them. Wet brine will plump the chicken breasts and make the meat juicier. The disadvantage is that your meat will be less flavorful, and increased moisture slows down browning.
- Dry Brine Sprinkle salt over the boneless chicken breasts and allow the meat to rest for at least an hour. This salt will enter the meat. If you are trying the dry brine, do not cover it and place it on a wire rack on top of the rimmed baking sheet for maximum air circulation around the entire meat.
Dry brine allows the chicken to maintain its natural moisture, but the meat will not be very juicy or plump but still moist enough. It will also have a deep chicken flavor and will easily brown due to the surface drying during the dry brining.
The method you choose to brine your boneless chicken breasts depends on your preference. Most people prefer dry brining over wet brining, but you can try both to see which one you like better.
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How To Make Marinade For Grilled Chicken Breasts
A marinade is the perfect way to add flavor to grilled chicken . I try to allow for 30 minutes or more if possible! There are a few essential ingredients in a marinade.
- Oil: Most often the base of marinades.
- Acid: This helps tenderize the meat by breaking down tougher proteins
- Sugar: Helps with flavor and the caramelization process. .
- Seasonings: This is the flavor profile, you can use anything from Italian seasoning to curry powder to season your marinade. This may or may not include salt.
- Time: Give yourself time to allow your meat to marinade. The purpose of the marinade is not only to add flavor but to help tenderize your meat.
Grilled Chicken Breast: The Solution
One method is to marinate chicken cutlets, or chicken breasts pounded to an even thickness, and quickly grill them on high heat. We use this method for our cilantro lime chicken and it works fine.
Another way, which doesn’t require you to change the shape of the chicken breasts, is to brine the chicken first.
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How To Grill Chicken Breasts That Are Sooo Juicy
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How long do you grill chicken breasts for? Do they need to be brined or marinated? How do you get good grill marks? How do you grill the juiciest chicken breasts? All your grilled chicken breast answers are here!
With summer and grilling season coming up, its a great time to grill up some chicken as an entree, to put onto salads, or to use in your favorite chicken recipes. Its therefore a good idea that we take a moment to tackle the conundrum of grilling chicken breasts.
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Prepare Your Chicken Breasts For Grilling
Serious Eats
Chicken breast is a very unforgiving meat. As soon as it tips over its ideal temperature, it will almost immediately begin drying out. The physical shape of the breast isn’t kind in this respect, as its uneven height means the bulky center cannot be cooked through without the thinner portions of the meat overcooking first.
There’s an easy solution to this problem: Even out the height. This involves giving the chicken a nice beating, which is also great for relieving any pent-up aggression.
I like to put the chicken in a resealable plastic bag for the poundingthe thick plastic won’t break when whacked, and the sealed bag ensures chicken juice doesn’t splatter all over the kitchen.
Serious Eats
Once it’s safely in a bag, I go at it with a heavy skillet or a meat pounder, bashing the thicker parts of the breast until they match the height of the thinnest part. But don’t go too thin here keep the height around three-quarters of an inch. A chicken breast that’s pounded out too thin will be more susceptible to drying out over high heat.
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Is Organic Chicken Better When Grilling Chicken Breast
When it comes to cooking chicken breasts, there is no difference between organic and non-organic chicken. Organic means that the birds are raised without pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, additives or animal by-products, and have access to the outdoors. But, it doesnt necessarily mean that the chicken is healthier for you, tastes better or will cook better. Heres more on how to read the labels on a pack of chicken.
Remove The Loose Pieces Of Meat Called A Tender From The Chicken Breasts
![Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts](https://www.grillproclub.com/wp-content/uploads/grilled-boneless-skinless-chicken-breasts-americas-test-kitchen-recipe.jpeg)
If your butcher has not already done so, remove the loose piece of meatcalled a tenderthat runs lengthwise on the underside of the breast. If left on the breast, the tenders give it an uneven thickness, making it more difficult to grill properly.
Simply grill the tenders separately: Theyre small size ensures they will cook quickly, needing only 1 to 3 minutes per side, depending on their thickness and the heat of your grill.
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Final Preparation Of Your Grilled Chicken
At this point the barbecue is nearly ready. The food looks delicious and succulent. But you must resist the temptation to consume it immediately.
Take the chicken breasts away from the grill and wrap them in foil. Allow the barbecue to rest for at least 5 minutes. This ensures even distribution of the juices for a balanced taste. The small wait is worth it. Besides, since the food is very hot it should be cooled down a little. You will be well rewarded for your patience and forbearance.
After 5 minutes you can remove the foil and serve the barbecue.
While grilled chicken breasts are by themselves delicious and wholesome, there are other ways you can dress them up for a better taste. The simplest way is to add grilled veggies. This will make a great lunch or dinner. You can also stuff it inside sandwiches or add it to salads.
There are also many great marinade recipes for variety and fabulous taste.
Here is one very interesting and delightful variation which you are sure to enjoy.
How Do You Cook Boneless Breasts In The Oven
Boneless breasts are a common dish to cook in the oven. There are many methods you can use to cook boneless breasts in the oven, but the most popular method is to bake them in a dish of oil.
This will help to ensure that the skin is crispy and golden brown, while the meat is cooked through. Another popular method is to roast them. Roasting them will give them a crispy outer crust and a tender center.
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How To Store Leftover Chicken
Let the grilled chicken sit a room temperature about 10 minutes to cool off, then refrigerate or freeze based on the times below.
- Refrigerate in a sealed container up to 34 days.
- Freeze whole, shredded, or chopped pieces tightly sealed up to 34 months. I like to freeze in separate smaller bags for easy leftover portions.
Here Are A Few Ways To Tell If Your Chicken Is Cooked:
The most important factor to moist grilled chicken is to not overcook. Grill chicken according to the heat and times in this recipe, and watch carefully.
- Internal temp: The internal temp should reach 165° F to be safe. Pro tip: You can cook chicken slightly less to 160° and let it rest 5-10 minutes under foil. It will continue to cook to a safe temp and be moister.
- Visual check: Cut into the center of the chicken breast with a knife. It should be white, with just the slightest hint of pink. If its pure white and looks stringy inside, its overcooked. Note: using this method while the chicken is still cooking or before resting will cause some liquids and moisture to drain out.
- Test for firmness: Remove chicken from the grill. Once cooled slightly, press in the center with finger. It should have a little bit of give but also not be squishy feeling. Note: this method takes practice is the least accurate.
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Why This Bbq Chicken With Marinade Is The Best Recipe
- Effortless and so easy: Once the chicken has marinated overnight and the grill has been fired up, the barbecue chicken is cooked in no time and ready in less than 30 minutes!
- Delicious and packed with bright flavors: The garlic stands out in the marinade and makes the chicken filled with rich savory flavors. Your favorite store-bought or homemade BBQ sauce gives the chicken sweet robust elements.
- Healthy and family-friendly: Naturally low-carb and high in protein, the entire family will want to devour this healthy chicken breast recipe. Who doesnt like barbecue?!
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Temperature Ranges For Grilled Chicken
Depending on the cut, beef and pork require a wide range of grilling temperatures, but the temperature for grilled chicken is more straightforward.
For the most part, chicken should be grilled at 350º to 450º F over direct or indirect medium heat.
The only exception is when youre smoking the chicken. Often used with wings or whole chickens, smoking meat involves indirect cooking over very low heat, 225º to 250º F, with the addition of smoldering wood chunks. Its another temperature range to have in your grilling toolbox, but for the most part, chicken finds itself right in the middle to upper limits of the medium temperature range.
Now, lets look at the different cuts and get grilling.
Mike Lang
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How To Get Extra Tender Chicken
The big issue with boneless skinless chicken breasts is that they dry out when grilling and cook unevenly. This creates tough chicken breasts. This can be solved by doing two things. First, pound the chicken breasts so that they are even in thickness with a mallet. If your breasts have the tenderloin attached, consider removing them and grilling them for the kids to eat like chicken tenders. My little kids love dipping the tenders in sauce and two of them are perfect for a small children’s dinner.
Pounding before brining is the key to extra tender and juicy chicken. Try it!
A Brine For Chicken Breasts And How To Cook Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts On The Grill
![Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast with Red Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast with Red](https://www.grillproclub.com/wp-content/uploads/grilled-boneless-skinless-chicken-breast-with-red-pepper-almond-sauce.jpeg)
- Pounding the chicken breast to an even thickness results in more even cooking throughout.
- Brining the chicken breast helps the meat retain moisture during cooking.
- Drying the breast well before grilling leads to quicker browning.
In our constant quest to deliver the best of the best via the Serious Eats grilling recipes, with fancy dishes like homemade merguez sausage and peppered duck breast, it’s easy to lose sight of the basics. And there’s one really basic basic that no grilling recipe collection should be without: grilled chicken breast.
Despite their ubiquity, chicken breasts are arguably one of the most difficult of the standard meats to grill. It’s all too common of an occurrence to find yourself with dry, chewy, cardboard-y meat. This is all correctable, though, and chicken breasts can be fantastic on the grill it just takes a little know-how. This article will tell you everything you need to know about how to grill chicken breasts, including how long to cook them and a couple easy tips to ensure you don’t end up with tough, rubbery, dried-out grilled chicken.
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Dress It Up With Sauces
So, now we have beautifully moist and evenly cooked chicken breastsno small achievement. But for all of this work, in my opinion, chicken is still rather dull on its own, so let’s pull out the sauces.
I smothered these particular breasts in an arugula pesto, which added a nutty, peppery kick. Some other flavorful toppers to consider: mango-habanero barbecue sauce, cilantro pesto, or chimichurri.
You can also introduce flavor with more complex brines, like an apple brine, or the nice spice rub on these blackened chicken breasts.
No matter how you gussy up your chicken, all of it will do little to help a poorly grilled breastwhich should be something we no longer have to tolerate, ever.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2012. It has been updated with new information based on further testing.