Charcoal grilled chicken breasts: a brine, followed by a marinade, followed by careful grilling makes them juicy and flavorful.
Charcoal Grilled Chicken Breasts
Course: Dinner6
servingsIngredients
4 cups cold water
4 Tbs coarse salt
3.5 lbs boneless chicken
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbs vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil
1 finely chopped green onion
Oil, for brushing the grates
Directions
- Brine the breasts: pour water into a large container, and thoroughly mix in salt. Make a quick guess as to whether or not you have enough water to cover your chicken. If you don’t, add enough batches of water and salt until you do. Add the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Drain and discard the liquid.
- Marinade the breasts: place the basil, pepper, vinegar, oil, and onion into a gallon-size Ziploc. Tip and hold the bag with one hand, shake all the ingredients into one of the corners, then massage it together with your other hand. Add the chicken, squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and manipulate the chicken all around so that it gets evenly coated. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours, flipping the bag every now and then.
- Prep the grill: brush and oil the grates. Create a triple layer of charcoal along one half of the grill. Record the number, so that next time you can just start out with that many briquettes. (For me, that’s 70, which fills my chimney starter almost all the way. This will vary, depending on the size and shape of your grill.) Ignite the charcoal, let it burn until the coals are gray with ash, 10 minutes. Then, spread the coals over one half of the grill surface. Try to space them as evenly as you can; this is important. Adjust the grill rack so that it’s about 4 inches over the charcoal. (For me, that’s position two of four, if you’re counting from the bottom.) Put the grates in place. Close the lid, vent it, and let the grill heat up for 10 minutes.
- Grill the breasts: place breasts on grill, over direct heat, with larger breasts centered over the coals, and smaller ones toward the coals’ edge. Close the cover. Flip every 4 minutes. As you go, reposition the chicken to promote uniform cooking, if necessary. Your grill should reach at least a solid 225°F in between flips; add briquettes by 10s if and when you need to raise the heat. As you continue to flip, make sure to turn the lighter side of each breast face down. If any of the chicken starts to get too dark, move it to or toward the indirect side of the grill. During each flip, use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of the thickest part of the smallest breast. When it reaches your desired temperature (which for me is 160°F, because I expect the temperature to ramp up 5° as the chicken rests), move the chicken to a platter, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Continue in this manner until all the breasts have come to temperature.
Notes
- Substitutions: another acid (wine, fruit juice, Worcestershire sauce, or a combination of these) for the vinegar.
Social Learning
I know that it seems like a lot of trouble to brine and then marinade, but it works for me. I can get juicy-enough breasts without the brine, but then the grilling has to be perfect. The brine makes the grilling much more forgiving. As an added bonus, the brined breasts will continue to be juicy if you reheat them as leftovers. Speaking of leftovers, I usually double this recipe. I can go through leftover chicken like crazy, eating it hot or cold, or turning it into anything from chicken salad to Chicken Divan.
I use a chimney starter to ignite the coals. You can do this by filling the underside of the chimney with crumpled up paper, fully saturate the coals with lighter fluid, or a bit of both. If you don’t have a chimney, you can mound the coals or stack them into a pyramid.
I think it’s best to rely on a thermometer, but you can use other hints to clue you in to the chicken’s doneness. For instance, raw chicken is completely limp. As you place your first piece on the grill, note just how limp it is. If you lift it by the center, the ends will completely droop. When the chicken is done, the breasts will droop only slightly. If you cook them to the point that they are completely stiff, you’ve probably overcooked them and you’ll find them to be dry. If you pay attention to this droopiness factor, it will become quite obvious to you, and you’ll know that the chicken is probably done just by the feel of it in your tongs.
Marinade
The marinade, on the other hand, seems essential to me. If I intended to add a glaze or barbecue sauce, I might be inclined to skip the marinade … but on the other hand, two layers of flavor is better than one.
I don’t like to add garlic to the marinade. I feel it gives the chicken a taste that’s reminiscent of smoked meat – and don’t get me wrong, I love smoked meat, but that’s simply not what I’m usually after when I grill chicken breasts.
The Backstory
There are many astonishingly different methods for making charcoal grilled chicken breasts. This is the one that suits my tastes and works well with my grill.
I have grill large enough to feed an army. Once I fire it up, I always feel that I need to get the most out of it as I can. So aside from doubling this recipe, once it’s finished, I might also grill burgers or brats or corn or whatever – not that I’m planning to have all of that for dinner, but I’ll stock up my fridge with things that I’ll eat all week.
Adult Lunchbox
Don’t even think twice about taking charcoal grilled chicken breasts to work for lunch – just do it. You can reheat them in the microwave if you want to, but they’re also great cold. You could toss them into a green salad, or you could make a nice dipping sauce for them.
Charcoal Grilled Chicken Breasts
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. References: Hey Grill, Hey; Kingsford. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #15 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
Keep up with us on Bloglovin’
Grilled chicken is one of my favorites. I do the same and grill up a lot at once. I love cold chicken. I tried the pickle juice brine about a month ago and I have to say that was really good. It does not leave a pickle taste in the meat when cooked. It came out very juicy and tasty.
I’ll have to try that!
They look wonderful. I love brining!
Thanks!
Those chicken breasts look incredibly delicious! We love brining and grilling on a charcoal grill. JT just did some Ribeyes on Friday and some ribs on Sunday and the charcoal really adds a smokiness that you just can’t get with a gas grill. Totally worth the effort.
Thanks, Eva! Couldn’t agree more!
The extra brining step definitely makes a difference!
It really does. I was surprised how much.
Yes, yes, yes! Great recipe.
Thanks!
Jeff, chicken breasts dry out so easily-it’s a great idea to brine them first. Brining in my opinion also allows the marinade to soak in more deeply too.
Nice recipe.
Velva
Thanks!
I’m not big on chicken breasts since as you allude to they can dry out if you’re not careful and they don’t have much flavor. But here you’ve solved both problems by brining and marinading. If you’re going to grill breasts, this is definitely the way to do it.
Thanks, Frank!
I’m all for a brine and marinating. Truly makes a difference and I do love the security of knowing even if the chicken cooks a bit too long, it’ll still be juicy. Delicious! 🙂 ~Valentina
Agreed!
My favourite lunch when I was at college was cold grilled chicken salad. My Dad cooked the chicken on our coal BBQ on a Sunday and he made plenty so I had it for my packed lunch on a Monday. Delicious! And I know I would love this too Jeff. Many thanks for posting!
Neil, (mechanical breathing sounds) I am your father.
The brine is the key! I used to save brining only for the Thanksgiving turkey, but now I’m a convert for chicken breasts, too. This is a fantastic recipe – and the leftovers would make excellent toppings for a salad!
Thanks, David!
Brining makes all the difference! I like to brine, then cook them sous vide before grilling — I really like how juicy they are! Your chicken looks amazing!
Oh wow, I never thought about brining before sous vide. Thanks!
Thanks Ron!
This chicken recipe is an absolute winner! The perfect blend of savory herbs and spices creates a mouthwatering flavor that’s impossible to resist. The crispy exterior and juicy interior make it a delightful culinary experience. Definitely adding this to my go-to recipe list
Thanks, Tanha!