Chook Me!

How to grill chicken successfully?

I have a basic charcoal grill nothing fancy, but have always had trouble grilling chicken. How do I do it successfully? I don't need a recipe for a marinade or anything like that. I just want to know how to grill legs and thighs on the grill without it taking me three hours because I'm so scared of serving raw chicken, which is also a problem I have. Sometimes certain parts of the leg are cooked but the wider top part is sometimes raw. And how do I keep it from sticking to the foil. Should I use foil? I always use foil because I don't know if it's good to have the chicken right over the coals. Thanks.

Public Comments

1. i always used to have your problem. The key is to marinate it and grill it on a lower heat for about an hour. Buy one of those digital thermometer and the internal temp should be 170 for chicken. If you have good quality chicken, they'll turn out really tender and juicy. remember: lower heat and longer duration, in general....so put the chicken on first you are grilling other things like steak or hamburgers.
2. well you could marinate and cook the chicken in advance but not fully so it could still grill it! or you could wrap the chicken in some heavy duty foil for a little bit and then after 10 minutes or so you could remove the foil and then grill it!
3. A thermometer would always tell you the trueness of it being done. So it sounds like you a afraid to burn the chicken. No big, I've burnt my share, and sadly burn a couple everyone once in a while. But the first thing you must do is learn about heat control. Using a Weber classic charcoal grill, you have 2 heat controls, the vent on the top and the one on the bottom. Use them! If the fire is too hot, shut them, too cold, open them. Stack the coals in the middle of the grill, I never use lighter fluid, I use a charcoal chimney. If you use lighter fluid, just be sure to wait at least 30 minutes for the fluid to burn off, and not get into your food. Your charcoal should be glowing pretty well red when you add the chicken, NO FOIL NEEDED. Arrange the chicken on the outside of the grill, so its not directly over the coals, and cover the grill, with both vents half open. This should be about right, the top vent may need to go to 1/4 open depending on heat and amount of charcoal used. Check every 5-8 minutes or so to turn. Once you can feel the chicken is not so... squishy, its time to turn up the heat. You need the heat to really get into the bone area, so hotter heat is needed. If you don't get the chicken hot enough to cook the bone, you will always have dry, or uncooked chicken. get the chicken over the heat, keep the top off, let it get hot, a bit of flame broiling is OK, adds flavor. Move the chicken constantly, put some on the center of heat, move some off and so on until the chicken is feeling more firm than squishy, and you will see the meat pulling from the bone on some of the legs... Try this out, until you can get it right, chicken legs are cheap anyhow. OH don't use high burning marinades until you know how to grill correctly, use just slat, pepper, garlic, and seasonings like that. You can add the marinade on after its cooked and quick cook it onto the meat if you must, or just use as a sauce to go over the meat. Marinades cause more flames and burnage. Sugars burn, oils burn, fats burn!
4. Honey, The best chicken is slow cooked . NOT fast and furious. You're doing it the right way. The way company would LOVE it!
5. 165 degrees for chicken....
6. Lower heat, turn often, and cook right on the grill. You will get a much better flavor than in foil and it will cook quicker. Check with a fork when you think it is done. Check near bone. Or remove bones before grilling. It's thinner and will cook very quickly.
7. pressure cook your chicken first to make sure it's cooked through. spray the grill with Pam for grilling...before you light it of course
8. always boil the chicken 1st!! then season & grill.
9. It's not necessary to use foil but if you prefer that is fine. To keep the chicken from sticking you can lightly oil the meat with cooking oil.....but not too much. I just oil my hands and rub it all over the meat then season it for cooking (this also helps to keep the seasoning on the meat). As for the thorough cooking you can use boneless chicken which will cook faster. If you chose bone in meat then you may try putting it in the microwave for a short time to heat and partially cook the inside meat and bone (not my favorite option). Personally I prefer to simply leave the meat on the grill for a longer time to ensure that it is fully cooked. Raw chicken can be VERY harmful to anyone that eats it, so please be careful to make sure it is cooked through. You can also make some cuts close to the bone in the meat to allow the heat to get into the deeper areas allowing it to cook inside faster. Good luck and God bless.
10. I have always boiled my chicken first for about 15-20 minutes then let it set in the bbq sauce i am going to use and then grill until done. that way there is less grease dripping down on the coals and less flare ups. when the chicken is pulling away from the bone it is done.
11. what I do if I'm in a hurry to cook on my grill outside, I put the chicken in a glass pie plate and stick in micro for 3 min. It par cooks it so it's about half done. I finish it on the grill and noone but us knows about it, it doesn't change the taste cause you season it on the grill not micro... hope this helps. Oh by the way, boiling the chicken first, takes out all the nutrients your need in your food. Why boil it away when you can nuke it for 3 minutes and still keep the flavor and not water log it. yuk, boiled chicken is nasty, and everyone can taste it was boiled cause it's toooooo soft.
12. usefoil. and nonstick spray 45 min, depnding on size of pieces. just opn the middle after 45 min to check for pinkness, also flip it over after 30 min, or halfway through the desired cook time.