Simple Grilled BBQ Chicken
This sweet, tangy BBQ chicken recipe is a simple way to make slow-cooked, delicious, barbecue chicken on the grill. Barbecue chicken is one of the easiest and quickest ways to make great BBQ at home. All you need is some chicken, good barbecue sauce, and a grill.
One of our favorite ways to season chicken that will be grilled or smoked is to use our Smoked Chicken Rub to create big, bold, barbecue flavors.
The secret to making great BBQ chicken at home is to cook the chicken over indirect heat. To grill the chicken using indirect heat you’ll want to have high heat on one side of the grill and very little to no direct heat on the other side of the grill, where the chicken resides for most of the cooking time.
- Smoked Chicken Legs – One of the simplest ways to make tasty, smokey barbecue chicken for a crowd.
- Southwestern Grilled Chicken Thighs – These grilled chicken thighs have bold, southwestern flavors that deliver tender and juicy chicken in every bite.
- Roasted Greek Chicken Breasts – This roasted chicken breast recipe uses a traditional Greek flavor combination to make you feel like you’re eating dinner under the Acropolis.
For perfectly crispy skin and tons of barbecue flavor, use the Flip, Fire, and Paint technique. During the saucing portion of cooking, it’s ok if the chicken flames up as you turn it over, but don’t let them sit in the fire for more than 15 to 20 seconds at a time. This is why you’re using long-handled tongs.
For more helpful tips on making grilled chicken read Fall in Love with Grilled Barbecue Chicken.
A few side dishes we like to serve with this chicken recipe are Sweet Corn and Anaheim Peppers, Grilled Sweet Potatoes, and Orzo Pasta Salad.
Simple Grilled BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
Rub
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Mix the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika together in a small bowl. Rub the mixture on the chicken, make sure to get the rub underneath and on top of the skin.3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 4 chicken thighs
- Cook the chicken on a medium high grill using indirect heat for 25 to 35 minutes, with the chicken placed on a cooler portion of the grill.
- Turn the chicken every 8 to 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. The chicken will be ready for the BBQ sauce when it is firm to the touch but still, has some spring to it.1 cup BBQ sauce
- The final touch for this chicken is to paint on the BBQ sauce. You’ll want to have 1 cup of BBQ sauce, a silicon brush, and a pair of long-handled tongs ready for saucing the chicken.
- Once you have everything ready, brush a layer of sauce on one side of the chicken, then flip the chicken on to a hot part of the grill and paint the other side with sauce.
- Let the chicken cook on the hot part of the grill for a minute or two on each side and then turn it over, so the other side is sauce down on the hot part of the grill.
- The goal here is to crisp everything up while adding some color, and a layer of sauce to the chicken. Repeat this process until each side has been sauced and crisped three times.
- Take the chicken off the grill and let it rest for five minutes. Serve with the other cup of BBQ sauce on the side.
Mark is an experienced food writer, recipe developer, and photographer who is also Umami’s publisher and CEO. A passionate cook who loves to cook for friends, he can often be found in the kitchen or by the grill testing new recipes.
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