Grilled Bone-In Chicken Breasts

By norsegal8

Flavorings can be added to these chicken breasts before or during cooking: Rub them with a spice rub before they go on the grill or brush them with barbecue sauce during the final two minutes of cooking. Although they won’t be quite as plump or deeply flavored, the breasts can also be grilled without brining them first. To do so, simply omit step 1 in the recipe below and sprinkle the breasts generously with salt and pepper before placing them on the grill. Also, if the fire flares because of dripping fat or a gust of wind, move the chicken to the area without coals until the flames die down.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup kosher salt (or 6 tablespoons table salt)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 split bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, 10 to 12 ounces each
• Ground black pepper

Preparation

Step 1

1. In gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag, dissolve salt and sugar in 1 quart water. Add chicken, then seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible; refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from brine, rinse well, dry thoroughly with paper towel, and season with pepper to taste or spice rub.

2. Meanwhile, ignite enough charcoal briquettes or hardwood charcoal to fill slightly less than two shoeboxes and burn until completely covered with thin coating of light gray ash, 20 to 30 minutes. When coals are medium-hot (you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill surface for 4 seconds), spread coals out over half of grill bottom, leaving other half with no coals; position grill rack over fire.

3. Place chicken, skin side down, on rack directly over coals; grill until well-browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Move chicken to area with no fire and cover with disposable aluminum roasting pan; continue to cook, skin side up, 10 minutes. Turn and cook 5 minutes more. To test for doneness, either peek into thickest part of chicken with tip of small knife (you should see no redness near bone) or check internal temperature at thickest part with instant-read thermometer, which should register 160 degrees. Transfer to serving platter; serve warm or at room temperature.

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