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 can’t 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.
To prevent the fat from your chicken to drip out and catch fire, you should never pierce the chicken first unless you intend to grill them immediately. Tongs are really useful to help you keep the chicken moving so be sure to get one. Flare up is not that dangerous but if it does happen, simply move the chicken to the upper rack or remove them from the grill until the fire is out.
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 you’re 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.
You should grill the chicken at a medium temperature (230F-250F), not on the highest heat for about 45 minutes to an hour. It is recommended that you turn the chicken pieces every ten minutes. If you are using a BBQ sauce, add it about ten minutes before the chicken has finished cooking.
If you want to check whether the chicken is cooked properly, just slice deep into the meat and you should see that the juices are run clear. Avoid eating undercooked chicken because they contain salmonella which are bad for your health. You should also let the chicken rest for a while after removing them from the grill so that the juice inside will develop and you will have moister chicken.
