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The Best Ever Grilled Chicken Recipes In The World!

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I'm always looking for grilled chicken recipes because chicken is something everyone likes, it's fairly inexpensive and it's versatile! Most folks probably cook it in the kitchen; either using their oven, skillets, crockpots, or maybe a George Foreman grill. Personally, even if I'm incorporating it into a rice or pasta dish, the best ever grilled chicken recipes, for me, use an outdoor grill -- at least for the chicken. Living in the South, it's easier for me to do, but I know diehards up North that grill year round regardless of the weather.

The best part about grilled chicken is that extra flavor your get; especially over charcoal. The oven relies too much on sauces and creams add flavor. A little bit of smoke does wonders for my taste buds! There's no turning back for me. I'll even cook casseroles out on my Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) because a) it's fun, and b) it adds additional flavor.

I'm going to explore a few of the grilled chicken recipes I've included on my site, but even better, I'm hoping you all will join in and share some grilled chicken recipes of your own below. I love trying new ideas, so if you try some of mine, I'll be sure to try yours as well.

Grilled Chicken Breasts

I have to be honest with you; I'm not a fan of grilled chicken breasts because they can end up dry and tasteless. I also have to admit that over the years, that's been mostly my fault. I cooked everything the same way -- hamburgers, steaks, hot dogs and chicken breasts. Full tilt high heat. Great for red meat but not so great for grilled chicken recipes.

I don't have any personal chicken breast recipes to share since I tend to cook either dark meat or the entire chicken but I can tell you this...the most successful attempts I've made were when I did a quick sear and then moved the chicken breasts to either low heat (with the hood down) or to indirect heat (with the hood down). This way you keep the juices inside the chicken where they belong, and you don't overcook it.

A chicken breast only needs to get to about 160° F to be done. Since it keeps cooking even after you take it off the grill, I don't recommend keeping it on the warm side of the grill while other stuff finishes off. Put it on a plate and foil it if you need to keep it warm.

Grilled Chicken Recipes - Thighs and Legs

OK, now we're talkin' my kind of grilled chicken. I've always loved dark meat because it's so moist and juicy. It needs to cook to a higher temperature (around 170° F) so it's harder to overcook. And when you do, it's still juicier than breast meat.

I can take a couple of chicken thighs and throw them on my Bubba Keg at 600° F over natural lump charcoal and get a taste that's beyond this world. I'm just tellin' ya. It's a fact!

On the other hand, I have a basic, but really good marinade I use for thighs and legs that you should try. This one is not spicy so it's safe for those sensitive palates. This is one that you don't want to do overnight because it has lemon juice in it and the chicken will begin cooking in it. BAD! BAD!

Ingredients:

Whatever kind of chicken you like - but I use this on thighs all the time.
2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder (when I reached for this I realized I had used onion powder in the wing marinade by accident -oops)

Mix all of the ingredients until well blended. I use freezer bags. You can use a dish if you prefer.

Cooking:

I've cooked this indirectly for 30 minutes, or I raise the grate to the highest level and cook directly (takes less time). I don't let the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) get above 350° F although in a less efficient grill you probably want the temp up as high as 450°. I'll leave you to experiment with that. The Bubba Keg gets hot and stays hot even when the fire goes out.

The most important thing to remember is that you've gotta keep the lid down and don't constantly peek or you just lose precious heat. And please, if you're cooking on a gas grill, give it a break just one and try these recipes over coals. Even a cheap kettle grill will turn out chicken with a taste beyond belief. If you have something that cooks well with natural lump charcoal, even better!

Grilled Chicken Recipes - Wings

This may be the best grilled chicken marinade recipes I've got in my arsenal. I love it, and so does everyone I share this with. It's got sweetness, spiciness and it's simple to cook. No sauces to worry about while cooking or after plating. This spicy apricot wing recipes is something you just have to try!

Ok, this one requires some advanced preparation since there is a marinade involved. I'm telling you, it's worth it. I've always loved wings, but hate them when they're fried. This was one of the dishes I prepared for a Labor Day party my wife threw at her barn. Again, no leftovers to deal with :)

Ingredients:

1 dozen whole wings - separate them yourself!
1 cup of apricot peach preserves
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dijon (I used spicy brown) mustard
2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder (I accidently used onion powder but it turned out great)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you really like heat)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preparation:

After you've separated your wings, mix all of these ingredients together until well blended. It may be a bit lumpy from the preserves. Don't worry too much about that. By the way, I've done this recipe with a variety of preserves and it always comes out AWESOME.

I put the wings into a freezer bag and poured in some of the marinade. Got the air out, sealed it up and mixed it up until everything was coated.

Stick them in the fridge for 4 hours or so. This marinade can be done overnight as well. Even better!

Time to Cook:

Set your grill up to cook indirectly. On my Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) I used a platesetter. If you have a regular charcoal grill, just set it up so you have a void area on one side. These can certainly be cooked over direct heat, just try to keep the temperature in the medium range. Cooking indirectly will keep the flare ups down and you won't have to "tend" to them as much.

You'll want to cook the wings (indirectly!) at about 450° for 30-35 minutes. Turn them once during the cook. On the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) , they cooked faster because it's essentially a convection oven. So, make sure you monitor them, but don't open the lid every two minutes!

There is something about lump charcoal. All the chicken I cooked has this black, silvery coating on them. If you still cook on a gas grill, you really have to try your favorite meat cooked over lump. It's unbelievable. These wings were phenomenal! I cook them all the time at home.

Grilled Chicken Recipes - Spatchcock Chicken

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a cooking method. So, brine your chicken, put a rub on your chicken, or do whatever it is that you do to your whole chicken before cooking it -- it doesn't really matter.

Spatchcocking is similar to filleting and is a great cooking method for your grilled chicken recipes. Grilling an entire chicken can take a long time and is subject to undercooking or overcooking. Both are extremely undesirable results. So what we do is cut the backbone out of the chicken so we can lay it flat. This exposes all parts of the chicken to the heat.

I have an entire article on spatchcock chicken already so I won't go through the entire process here. The keys to this are tha the dark meat, which takes longer to cook, is closer to the fire than the breast because you open the chicken at the back bone, lay it on it's ribs, and press down on the breast bone to break it. Laying flat on it's ribs, the legs and thighs are lower than the breast, which is also protected some by the ribs.

On an indirect fire, at about 350° F, it will take about 50 minutes to cook an entire chicken with the breast meat reaching about 160° F when the dark meat hits the 170° F mark. Perfection!

Whole Grilled Chicken Recipes - Beer Can (Beer Butt) Chicken

I'm not entirely sold that this is necessary. It's really more for the novelty of it. I've successfully smoked an whole chicken on the grill without a beer can, and also in a loaf pan with apple sauce. I've also done various methods brining the chicken, and not brining the chicken. It's really up to you.

Again, this isn't one of my grilled chicken recipes. It's a cooking method you can use with a variety of chicken recipes. Mounting a chicken on a liquid filled can is supposed to keep the cavity moist. Some also claim that it imparts some flavor, although I've used various things from beer to Dr. Pepper and didn't really notice.

The thing I don't like about this technique is getting the HOT can out of the chicken when you're done. You may not like that part either. Here are a couple of places I've written about this in more detail

Bubba Keg Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken from Weber Grill Recipes

Beer Butt Chicken on a Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill)