Thursday, June 04, 2009

How to Grill Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - Grilled Chicken Recipe


Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts on the grill.

One of my buddies saw my chicken photo and wanted the chicken breast recipe. It's a super simple grilled chicken recipe that I started doing last year when cooking for larger groups.

What I do is either buy the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them in two or three pieces all close in size, or Food Lion here sells them cut like that and called chicken tenders or strips I think.

There are several reasons for doing the chicken in small strips on the grill:

1. The chicken strips cook faster than full chicken breasts or bone in chicken. The time is in the same range as hot dogs.

2. Since the chicken grills quick, it stays moister (unless cooked too long).

3. The chicken has less fat and is healthier with no skin (which can be a problem though with larger pieces which can get dry).

4. The small grilled strips really can be finger foods - just a little messy with the sauce but not bad.

How to Make Boneless, Skinless Grilled Chicken

Before grilling marinate the chicken for an hour or so or do that in the morning or the night before. You can use your favorite marinade, but I generally use bottled Italian dressing - the oil based type and not the creamy. This just adds moisture and also keeps the chicken from sticking to the grill.

Heat the grill to medium hot or with coals burned down well if using charcoal. Let the grates heat too, because cold grates make foods stick. You can also spry Pam on the grates, but with the marinade, the chicken is not bad to stick.

Grill for around 4 minutes and flip the chicken strips. Put barbecue sauce on top and grill again around 4 minutes (or a little less). One last flip of the chicken to sauce the other side if you like and just enough time to heat.

Times vary on grills and the size of the chicken pieces. The chicken will look white and not pink. And, it really does not take long with the chicken cut this way.

As far as the barbecue sauce, we used John Boy and Bill's Original BBQ sauce here. It's excellent. We also like Stubbs. Kraft or any other type you like works well. One favorite here at our house is Chef Hymie Grande bbq sauce. It just happens to be diabetic sealed, but it tastes fabulous. I get that when my parents eat over. Just try some different barbeque sauces and see what you and family and friends like.

This is one of my many quick and easy barbecue recipes and tricks for rocking the grill. You can find more articles here at the blog and at my web site Yes You Can Grill. It really doesn't have to be hard to make and take forever to cook to be delicious, although I do have some more labor intensive and time consuming grill recipes that are worth the extra effort for sure.

24 comments:

smoked chicken recipe gal said...

Love those sauces! Have you tried Sweet Baby Ray's? mmmmmm.

Anonymous said...

We LOVE Sweet Baby Ray's!

hopelesspirate said...

Sweet Baby Rays is the only BBQ sauce allowed in the pantry at our house! Soooo good! ^_^

Anonymous said...

Cyndi: the Char-Broil infrared grills (I think you reviewed a couple and liked them) do a great job on these cuts - because the infrared energy "turns to heat when it hits the meat" s the cooking happens right on the surface with much much less hot air to dry it out.

CA said...

Hi CB - Yes. The Char Broil Urban and the Char Broil electric both do a fabulous job on the grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts. I've cooked a ton on both of those grills with great results. Super easy. Very moist.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe! This was THE BEST bbq chicken I have ever had!!! So moist and tender! had many compliments tonight from our guests!!

Diane Hall said...

I have spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect juicy boneless, skinless chicken breast. This sounds wonderful and I will be making it tomorrow. Thanks so much. I will be spending a lot of time visiting your wonderful site.

Diane from Oshawa, Ontario

Belle said...

Thanks for your post.

J.Q. Rose said...

We grill almost every night, but I never think to marinate the chicken in dressing. Gonna do it tonight! Mmmm...sounds delish...Thanks for sharing.

Janet Glaser aka J Q Rose

Beth said...

So you use bottled dressing and BBQ sauce and wait to apply the sauce while cooking?

Thanks!

CA said...

Hi Beth - It depends on the size of the chicken. If they are good sized breasts, then I let them sit in Italian dressing, put them on and sauce. With chicken strips which are smaller and thinner, I might just soak in BBQ sauce and then grill, since those grill so fast that the sauce doesn't have time to set up if it's not on there fast.

Larry Russell said...

Just finished (last nite) with a neighborhood block pary of 32. Told wife earlier that I was tired of doing ribs and thought I would do chicken this year. Got on the computer and found your receipe for strips.
End result------ GREAT SUCESS. Not a negative comment only compliments. So easy,so tasty and so quick. Easy to overcook. Becareful of the clock. Larry in The Villages

Anonymous said...

So no seasonin the chicken

Perry P. Perkins said...

Okay, since so many folks mentioned Sweet Baby Rays, I gotta share this...

This is certainly not a "healthy option" so use is sparingly, but it's one of the best sauces I've EVER tasted was:

1 cup Sweet Baby Rays (Honey)
1/2 cup pure honey
4 Tbs butter

Heated and well mixed...wow!

-Perry

Anonymous said...

Delicious! Just finished, marinated fillets in Italian dressing overnight, then cut into 3 pieces and grilled 4 min per side, BBQ sauce on 2nd side. We used boars's head sweet BBQ, we love sweet baby ray's but bought this on sale and is was sweeter if you like sweet sauce, must try this! Thanks for the recipe!

Unknown said...

Our print company often has cookouts and we've used this blog many times. We followed these grilled chicken instructions and had a wonderful company cookout. Thanks.

Jayna said...

Thanks for this easy way to grill skinless boneless chicken breasts! This will be my first time to grill chicken ever since my hubby is the local grill master..lol..Also saw quite a few positive comments regarding Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. We were attending a NASCAR race and in the midway a group working for Sweet Baby Ray's were giving away a bottle to each person. The last day of the races we drove by their booth with the BBQ sauce in our golf cart and a guy flagged us down and asked us if we would take a "few" bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauces off his hands?! Of course we said yes and lo and behold he loaded not one but TWO cases of every type of Sweet Baby Ray's sauces! Since then we have become super fans of Sweet Baby Ray! I'm very finicky regarding BBQ sauces and theirs is the BEST! Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Famous daves devils spit for the win. Rich n sassy if you dont like it spicy

Anonymous said...

Sweet Baby Ray's sauce is good but the best is Head Country BBQ sauce from Ponca City, OK. Tried them both and although they taste similar it is Head Country that rules in our household.

Javier Oniel said...

That chicken looks great! I can't wait to try it out at home. I'm sure my kids will love it. But I think I'm gonna make the marinade a bit more flavorful 'cause my kids like a strong and savory taste.

Anonymous said...

I have been using my Char-Broil infrared BBQ for 2 years now. Best BBQ I've ever had. Every turns out better and I'm no master chef.

BBQ Sonoma County said...

This sounds so good! I might need to make a visit to my favorite barbecue in Sonoma County! They have amazing chicken! I'll have to try this recipe on my own this weekend! :)

Poame said...

Thank you for the information!

Anonymous said...

Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce is a MUST with this recipe.