Are you always cursed with dry, overcooked chicken breasts every time you light the grill? Don’t feel bad, it happens to the best grill masters. The lean meat of a chicken breast can make for tricky grilling to get it cooked just perfectly. Follow these few easy steps and you’ll be on your way to mastering the art of grilling the perfectly cooked chicken breast that stays moist while cooking.
TIP #1 - Marination Adds Moisture
Marinating helps add moisture to the chicken breasts. With just 20 to 30 minutes of marinating time, you can add a ton of moisture to a piece of chicken. Marinate first and then light your grill. By the time the coals are ready, your chicken will be too. Don’t have a lot of time to whip up your own marinade? Check the fridge for a leftover vinaigrette dressing or add a commercially prepared chicken marinade to your grocery list.
If you have time to make your own, here’s a list of several easy, delicious marinades for chicken: https://www.springermountainfarms.com/recipes/6-quick-and-easy-chicken-marinades
TIP #2 - Equal Thickness of Breast
Chicken breasts are thicker at the top end of the beast than at the bottom. For more even cooking, flatten out the entire breast to the same or similar thickness. This can be done with a meat mallet or tenderizer, but that can sometimes damage the chicken breast due to thier already tender nature. For a gentler method, place the breasts between plastic wrap or parchment paper, smooth side up (side of breast that had he skin attached), and gently pound it out with the butt of your hand until the piece is a consistent thickness.
TIP #3 - Cook Hot & Fast
Set your grill up to cook hot and fast over direct heat, but be sure to create an indirect cooking zone too just in case you’ve got it too hot. This will allow you to move the breast pieces off of the direct heat so that they won’t burn or dry out. Sometimes the juiciest chicken breasts are created from searing the chicken over very hot coals and then finishing on the other side of the grill with indirect heat.
TIP #4 - Don’t Over Cook It!
Pull the chicken from the grill just as soon as it reaches 165°F. The chicken will continue to carry over cooking a few degrees higher, so leaving it on the grill can cause it to dry out. Be sure you have a good, calibrated instant read thermometer and insert it into the thickest part of the breast. If you have to test the temperature more than once, try to use the same hole or spot so you don’t lose too much internal moisture.
TIP #5 - Cover With Foil & Let It Rest
Cover the cooked chicken breasts on a tray or plate with aluminum foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving. This helps to keep it warm and at the same time allows the moisture that is being drawn to the surface of the meat during the cooking process to evenly disperse back through to the center of the cut of chicken. If you cut into it straight off the grill, it can lose all of the moisture that’s been pulled to the surface, causing the rest of the chicken to dry out.
