I love to grill, but when I grill chicken over charcoal my chicken turns out dry. The chicken looks pretty good on the outside, but it's dry and tough on the inside. When we camp I usually use the campsite grill and use a bag of charcoal. What tips do you all have for juicy, grilled chicken?
Depends on what part of the chicken really...it can be difficult to keep the breast from drying out. I cook everything except the breasts using indirect heat for about an hour, then throw the breasts on over the coals and cook quickly. A marinade can help also.
Cook'em inside the kitchen, maybe parboil for awhile, or cook'em covered up with moisture til almost done, then take'em outside to the grill and finish off.
Or cook'em on the grill, covered and wrapped up in foil with moisture inside the package until almost done, then unwrap and finish them on the grill to give them "the look".
I think the key is to keep them covered or wrapped up while cooking, then just finish them on the grill to give them the grilled appearance.
I'm with you, I can't stand dry chicken.
That was a good question, how about posting your results after a few tries and let us all know.
Marinate and don't grill to death. Get a good insta-read meat thermometer and cook only to 170 degrees. Take the chicken off the grill and wrap in foil. Let rest for 5-10 minutes. In that time, the temperature will rise and the meat juices will have a chance to redistribute. Hubby used to call it "cardboard chicken" before I discovered this method.......
I agree w/ everything oakie said. I too wrap them first and cook, then unwrap and char a little. I also use the highest heat for that, with a short time. Too many things get BBQ'd at lower heats and are cooked forever, while that may be ok with a roast, I find if I do the chicken in foil w/ a maranade and then grill it out of the foil for a little after, at high heat, it's great. For thin cuts, like chicken tenderloins, really only a few min on each side and they're done. No skin, no bones, so they are easy to overcook. I would erally like to try smoking, I think that would give really moist results.
Season and wrap in foil to cook. When done, take from foil and, brush outside with some sort of fat or with a sauce with sugar and quickly brown on the grill.
And second, brush outside with buter (or some sort of far or oil),put on a very hot grill and sear the outside and then move to a less hot part of the grill to finish cooking all the way through.
I too, love BBQ chicken when it's moist ...... at home we use a Weber kettle which I think works the best, you still get the taste from the charcoal but it doesn't dry out. When camping, I've used the foil method, but I just can't get it the same as on the Weber. Recently I broke down and bought Weber's little Smokey Joe just to grill chicken while camping. It works great, my wife thinks I'm crazy to bring a BBQ camping. I allways start with a hot fire to sear in the juices and then turn the heat down to finish cooking the chicken.
Jim, Renee, and the pup
Travelling the left coast, looking to retire in Cambria (SLO) in the near future.
2003 F-350 XLT SRW Crew Cab SB,
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2004 Lance 845
I have a great marinade and the chicken never dries out when I grill on a gas B-B-Q.
Marinade: about a cup of salad oil, a cup of soy sauce, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, heaping tablespoon of chopped garlic. Marinate for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Grill for 8 minutes on each side......yum!
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