Chicken on the Grill

This is hands down my favorite of all time way to grill chicken. You're probably thinking someone who makes pasta as often as I do doesn't know sh*t about how to cook meat on a grill. This is true, except for chicken. I can freaking make some damn good chicken on the grill.

I start off with a salt water brine (at least two hours or overnight) and then I use garlic powder and cayenne pepper and I brush layers of BBQ sauce onto the wings as they cook. If you don't have BBQ sauce they are just as good with the cayenne and garlic powder. You can use any part of the chicken for this recipe. I've done it with breasts, drums, thighs and wings. (Wings and drums are my fave!!)

As far as amount goes: make sure to have enough chicken for the number of people you plan to feed, which is obvious but there's always one person that will ask if I am not SUPER clear, lol. The salt water brine ratio is 1 cup water : 1 tsp salt, so however many cups of water it takes to cover the chicken in an airtight container or ziplock bag + the appropriate amount of salt.

What you need:

• Chicken - whatever parts you prefer (bigger parts will take longer to cook than smaller parts)
• Salt (read above for brine ratio - it's 1 tsp salt per 1 cup water used)
• Garlic powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Your fave BBQ sauce

What to do:

1. Create your salt water brine. I place the chicken in a large ziplock bag and then use a measuring cup to add water one cup at a time until the chicken is mostly covered - then add 1 tsp of salt per each cup of water. (You can use Lawry's seasoned salt for even more flavor, I do that if I have it.)
2. Let the chicken soak in the brine in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight. 
3. Turn on the grill. I don't pay too much attention to the heat (as long as it's decently hot I start grilling) but the internet says for chicken it should be around 350 degrees F.
4. Remove the chicken from the salt water brine and season with garlic powder and cayenne pepper (I use it like salt and pepper - a good amount but not a ton.)
5. Throw the chicken on the grill and DON'T touch it. If you try to flip it and the meat clings to the grill, it isn't ready to flip yet. I usually close the grill and then let 10-15 minutes go by before tying to flip.
6. Once you can easily flip the chicken to the other side, brush the cooked side with a layer of BBQ sauce and close the grill and let cook for 5-10 minutes. (5 mins for wings, 10 mins for larger pieces like a breast.)
7. Flip again, brush with BBQ again. Depending on what bbq sauce you're using, there's a chance that cooking the chicken with it on for too long will cause the chicken skin to start to blacken (which is sometimes a good thing!) I would say to coat each side once or twice while flipping (and then you can always brush a little more sauce on it after you've taken off the grill.)
8. Before removing from the grill, cut through a piece of the chicken to make sure it's cooked all the way through.