Catalina Glazed Grilled Chicken Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to successfully grill chicken? ›

To grill: preheat your grill to medium high and lightly oil the grates. Place chicken skin-side down and grill for 5-6 minutes until grill marks appear. Flip your chicken and cook for another 6-8 minutes more until the internal temp reaches 165 degrees F.

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.

Chicken breasts are usually thick on one end and thin on the other. This makes it hard for the chicken to cook evenly. Use a meat mallet, rolling pin, or can of soup to pound out the chicken so it has a uniform thickness all around. This will make it easy to cook the chicken evenly and avoid overcooking.

We recommend marinating your chicken in buttermilk or yogurt overnight, but if it's urgent, then an hour will do. However, the texture of the chicken won't be as even as chicken marinated overnight. The process is simple: you only have to immerse the chicken in a container with enough yogurt or buttermilk and seal it.

All it takes is 30 minutes in a simple brine solution of 1/4 cup kosher salt dissolved in 4 cups water. This is all the time you need for the chicken breasts to absorb enough moisture so they can better hold up to the heat of the grill without drying out.

Too much salt in a marinade can cause the chicken to dry out, even if it's been marinating. Salt draws moisture out, and if you add too much, it may counteract the benefits of a marinade. If using a salty ingredient, such as soy sauce, wait to add it in during the last hour of the marinating process.

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.

Always marinate chicken in the refrigerator instead of allowing it to sit at room temperature where bacteria can begin to form. Ideally, place marinating chicken on the bottom shelf of the fridge to prevent any possible leaks or spills onto the foods below.

Overcooking might play a role in your chicken's tire-like texture. Leaving chicken in a pan, oven, or grill for just a little too long can suck the moisture right out and leave you with a dry, rubbery bird. Without moisture, the protein fibers in the chicken become elastic.

Should you cover chicken when grilling? ›

Uncovered Grilling

Even removing the lid too often from the grill results in heat escaping and the temperature dropping. This may lead to uneven cooking of the chicken. Keeping the lid closed on the grill to cook the chicken more evenly.

Velveting is a simple process of using baking soda or a mixture of egg whites, cornstarch and oil to marinate and tenderize economical cuts of steak, chicken and other meats before cooking. Velveting meat softens fibers to reduce toughness and enhance juiciness for maximum flavor and tenderness.

The best tenderizer though, is a salted yogurt marinade. The salt has the same effect as in a regular brine, but the lactic acid in the yogurt further tenderizes the meat. A 15-minute marinade with one cup of yogurt and one teaspoon of salt makes for the most tender chicken breasts imaginable.

Chinese stir-fried chicken is extra tender due to the velveting technique. Chicken is sliced into thin, even-sized pieces and then marinated briefly in a mix of baking soda, cornstarch, wine, and seasoning. This seals in moisture and tenderizes the chicken.

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.

The goal is to maintain a low enough grill temp so that the chicken cooks "low and slow." The chicken is done when the internal temperature of the chicken pieces are 160°F for breasts and 170°F for thighs, when tested with a meat thermometer.

If it is the whole chicken, you should grill it approximately for 40 minutes or even more. Chicken breasts can be cooked faster. I barbecue chicken until it is 160 F internally. I then rest it covered and watch the temperature rise 5 or more degrees.