Grilled Beer Marinated Chicken | Picture the Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best beer to use for beer can chicken? ›

The most popular choice is lager — something middle of the road, and not too hoppy or bitter. I have a deep abiding love affair with fruit-forward sours, so that's what I reach for when grilling beer can chicken, both because I like to drink it and because the acidity works well with the grilled chicken.

The key steps to really juicy grilled chicken are kitchen essentials — lessons that even the most seasoned griller should revisit each year. Pound the chicken thin for more even cooking, brine or marinade for flavor and color, and grill over direct heat for grill marks, but finish over low heat to keep them juicy.

A marinade infuses the chicken with flavor prior to cooking and makes sure it stays extra juicy and tender (never dry).

Here's the easy way - use a zone system on your grill. With a gas grill, only turn on the burners on one side of the grill and leave the other side off. With a charcoal grill, push all the coals to one side and leave the other side empty. Put the chicken on the no-heat side of the grill and close it.

You can use any local wheat beer or Hefewizen style beer. I find this style of beer works very well in this marinade. One of the best things about using a beer in a marinade is that it pretty much guarantees that you will end up with a food that pairs well with the beer that you used.

Substituting the beer would be simple, I could half fill a mason jar with chicken stock or choose a lemon based soda to achieve the same moist result.

Remove Marinade Before Cooking: To prevent flare-ups on the grill and ensure properly browned meat when sautéing or stir-frying, wipe off most of the excess marinade before cooking. Keep just a little marinade on the meat surface to maximize flavor.

Most recipes for marinating meat and poultry recommend six hours up to 24 hours. It is safe to keep the food in the marinade longer, but after two days it is possible that the marinade can start to break down the fibers of the meat, causing it to become mushy.

Cook your chicken breast on the grill for 6-8 minutes on one side. Flip your chicken. After 6-8 minutes open your grill lid and flip your chicken breast with tongs. A great tip is to only flip your chicken breast once so that it stays nice and juicy (and creates delicious grill marks!)

While poking holes in your chicken while marinating it can be helpful, it's not mandatory. Mostly, this method helps if you don't have several hours to spare when marinating your poultry. Poking holes in your chicken can allow the marinade to penetrate better in a shorter period.

Should chicken be cold or room temp before grilling? ›

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it hang out at room temperature while the grill heats. If the chicken is too cold when it hits the hot grill, the meat will tighten and end up tough and may stay cold and raw near the bone even after the rest of it is beautifully cooked.

You can marinate chicken anywhere from 2 hours up to 24 hours, though marinating chicken for even 15 to 30 minutes can impart flavor and moisture into smaller pieces of meat. Generally, bone-in cuts of chicken, such as wings, drumsticks and breasts, will require a longer marinade time than their boneless counterparts.

When making a marinade, limit the amount of sugar you mix in. This isn't limited to just the crystallized kind -- ingredients like honey, syrup, molasses, or vinegar with added sugars can also cause food to burn.

While all grills are different, most of the time you'll be golden if you grill your chicken breasts for about 9-10 minutes, flipping the chicken breasts over at the halfway point so you get beautiful, even sear marks on each side of the chicken.

How do you grill chicken breast without drying it out? Brining is the secret to juicy grilled chicken breasts. It requires a bit of extra time, but the soak in the a brine helps to tenderize the meat, which makes it less tough once it's grilled. Also, a brine is a great way to add flavor if you want.

The best beer to pair with fried chicken would probably be a pale ale or German-Style hefeweizen. They go well with fried foods in general and won't overpower the chicken but have enough flavor to complement it. I'll go with a classic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Craft beer can chicken is one of the simplest recipes I know and it packs a lot of flavor, especially if you are using a floral IPA. This isn't your typical dry, bland chicken breast! The flavor of the beer enhances the spice rub, leaving you with a tender, moist bird with perfectly crisp skin.

However, not all beers are created equal, Light beer does not add a lot of flavor to the meat. Heavy, dark beers add a little too much, often bitter. The best sort of beer to soak your meat in would be an amber or nut brown ale, not too light and tasteless but not too dark and bitter.