“The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression.”–Gary Larson
How to Grill Chicken
Whether you’re wanting to grill a whole chicken or grill the chicken in pieces, you’ve come to the right place. Chicken is one of the most popular meats to grill — probably because cooking chicken any other way is time consuming (roasting) or messy (frying). Here are instructions for grilling chicken as a whole or piece by piece.
Before we talk about putting the bird on the grill, let’s talk about marinades. Marinades are cheap and easy ways to add flavor to your food, as well as to tenderize the meat in some cases. When grilling chicken, the simplest marinades contain three ingredients — an acid (lemon juice), a salt (garlic salt), and an additional flavor (like cilantro or onions). Use this basic marinade recipe (acid + salt + flavor) to create your own unique marinade.
Once your marinade is prepared, place the chicken (or chicken pieces) in the marinade for up to 24 hours. If you marinate the chicken much longer than this, the meat will be soft and probably inedible. I prefer to marinate my meats for around 6 hours, as I find any more than this unnecessary.
Grilling a Whole Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken, between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds. The supermarket will generally label chickens meant for grilling whole as “broiler-fryer” chickens.
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh herbs (if not using a marinade) like rosemary, sage, or thyme
- Olive oil
- One onion
Prepare your grill first, creating an area of hot coals on one side of the grill and an empty area on the other. This is accomplished by creating a bed of hot coals, then sweeping them to one side once they are the proper temperature. You’ll be cooking your chicken over the “empty” side of the grill, using indirect heat.
Remove the giblets from the cavity of your chicken and rinse the chicken under cold water. If you’re not using a marinade, this is the time when you’ll be adding your seasoning. Pat the chicken dry, and season the exterior (and interior) of the chicken with salt, pepper, and fresh herbs like rosemary, sage, or thyme.
If your grill rack is clean, you can now prepare the grill rack to “receive” the chicken. First, using a towel, coat the grill rack with olive oil. Once the grill rack is covered in oil, take one half of an onion and rub it over the grill rack. This adds a little flavor to your chicken and (if anyone looks at you funny) this is how the real professionals do it.
How to Grill Chicken
Place your chicken (breast side down) on the “unheated” section of your grill.
Cook the chicken, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes or until the skin is golden brown.
Turn the chicken breast side up, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes more, or until the entirety of the chicken skin is that beautiful golden brown color.
IMPORTANT: Check for doneness before consuming chicken. You can test doneness by cutting into a big piece of meat and looking for clear juices. It is an even better idea to invest in a meat thermometer, and not to eat the chicken until the interior meat reaches a temperature of 170 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Grilling Chicken Pieces
I recommend a marinade when grilling chicken pieces — hell, I recommend a marinade when I’m grilling anything, but for chicken pieces I especially reccomend a marinade as a way to season because it is unlikely that seasoning over the grill itself will do the trick. This is because of the lower heat involved when cooking pieces as opposed to a whole chicken.
If you’re not going to use a marinade, you can start out by rinsing the “skin-on, bone-in” chicken pieces you plan to grill in cold water before patting them dry and placing a “dry rub” on the exterior of the meat. This “dry rub” should consist of salt, pepper, olive oil, and an herb of your choice. I’d use thyme if I were you.
Unlike cooking a whole chicken, you should prepare a bed of medium to medium-hot coals for grilling your chicken pieces. Avoid coals that are too hot.
Just as with grilling the whole chicken, prepare the grill rack with olive oil, the rub an onion over the grill rack.
Place the chicken pieces, skin side down, on the grill uncovered. Turn frequently, and remove when the skin is golden brown all over, or when the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you wish to use a “barbecue sauce”, add it to the chicken when there’s about ten minutes left to grill, otherwise the sauce will start to burn. If you notice your chicken burning, move the piece to a colder part of the grill.
As with any meat, check for doneness using the “clear juices” method of cutting a large piece of meat and looking to see if the juices run clear, or by checking the temperature with a meat thermometer.
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