Grilled Chicken on the Char Broil Bistro - Fast Food at Home

Tonight we had fast food, and it was on the Char Broil Patio Bistro. Food Lion had some thin cut boneless chicken, and I know that can be quicker than waiting in line at the drive through plus healthier and tastes better too.

The Bistro grill is electric, so I just heated it up and then went in and got the chicken ready. It heats up hot and fast.



Regular old chicken does not have a whole lot of taste. Sorry chicken folks. Love chicken, but I doctor it up. That really is the nice thing about boneless chicken is that you can do that and get all different flavors.

Tonight I used Cowboy Cajun Rub. It's kind of like a seasoning salt but not salt. It's spicy but not burn you up hot. My mild son can handle it, but it still has a beautiful kick. My step dad brought it back when he went out to Wyoming to his home state earlier this year.



Some of us are saucy here (and others not as much). I sauced some of the grilled chicken with Bob Evans Wildfire. Again, that may sound super hot. It's not. It's a good flavor kick but fine for all but the most timid.

These boneless chicken pieces were very thin cut, so it only took about a couple of minutes on each side to knock them out. Then we had them on buns like burgers but better for our diets especially since the doctor does not like my tri levels.

Get more info on grilling boneless chicken recipes and stuff at my Yes You Can Grill site. I have more ideas there - my basic go to boneless chicken recipe. It's similar, but I did a dry rub here and then sauced. No marinade. This is the super fast food version of chicken on a grill, and YES it was delicious.

There are so many things you can do on grills that are super easy. I do some gourmet dishes as well, but I'll always have quick and easy grilled dishes too, because some days you just don't feel like standing there a long time and having to check and double check.

Bacon Weave Pork Loin on Electric Patio Bistro by Char-Broil

My plans tonight were to smoke a half pork loin wrapped in bacon. I cut pork loins in half when it's just me and the boys, and that works out fine.

Since the cat was not acting right, and I thought he better go see the vet, we did that first. The news was bad. They had to put down Sugar who has been with us 16 years. What a bummer.

I didn't feel much like smoking or eating for that matter, but we needed something for dinner, and the meat was all thawed out.

The Char-Broil electric Patio Bistro had been real easy to use yesterday, so I thought I'd do our loin on there and not have to bank charcoal or watch temperatures close. Good call. It was easy to do my little bacon wrapped pork loin, and I was thankful.



I did a bacon weave on the pork loin and then heated up the Char-Broil Bistro. Then I had a brain fart and unplugged it for some reason. So, you can make mistakes and still turn out good food. Stuff happens.

Anyway, we ended up eating late, since I waited 45 minutes to check my pork loin that was not grilling due to me pulling the plug. So, I turned it back on and went another 45 minutes and then checked every 10 minutes after that with a basic food thermometer until we hit right under 160 degrees F. You can go lower, but the boys don't much like pork loin to look pink, so I cook it more towards well.



I also sauced the grilled pork loin the last 20 minutes with Chef Matt Barbecue sauce which is one of my all timve favorite bbq sauces. I order that online, and it has to be PayPal for payment, but it's worth the effort for sure.



The electric grilled pork loin turned out really good and was real easy to do on the Patio Bistro by Char-Broil. I had some Baxter's wood chunks on the grates to give a little smoke flavor and with the bacon and barbecue sauce, this was a kicking loin.

Char-Broil Patio Bistro Electric - A Score Especially if You Can't Play with Fire

CB hooked me up with the Char-Broil Patio Bistro, since I am always on the look out for a good electric grill.

Now, some people say, "Cyndi, electric isn't really grilling."

I say, "Well, my hair isn't dirty blonde either, but I like it that color. And, there are people who do not do well with fire and others who can't have fire due to regulations in their areas or where they live. Why cut them out of the outdoor cooking fun?"



Nailing an electric grill is difficult, because the United States was first on with using electricity and uses the 110 standard versus the more powerful 220 like for the washing machine. So, it's hard to get heat and especially with any size on a grill.

Char-Broil did a great job with the Patio Bistro which is large enough to hold my grill wok which is pretty good sized and with room left over.

Also, it hit 550 degrees F on the warm up and much faster than expected. I was looking at around 350 F so opened the lid to drop the temperature back down a bit lower for crab.

The top range on the thermometer is 650. I did not run it max out, but it did do a sear on some country style pork ribs. So, yes, it does crank some heat out. That's with the lid down. Heat is lower if you're grilling open style.



No. You do not get a charcoal flavor or smoked flavor with electric. You don't with gas either. I compensate for that with Baxter's wood products. His wood chunks and sawdusts work great in foil packs on gas or electric to provide some extra smoke flavor. And, he has loads of great wood types too.



I must confess that trying out something totally new on a new grill is not a super idea. The crab balls were not spot on in a wok. Basically they needed more binder - eggs etc.

But, I think the best bet for crab would be a casserole in a toss out aluminum pan grilled lid down like in the oven or maybe with mini muffin pans and a little more grease or oil.

As far as the taste, the crab balls were delicous. But they did not turn out so pretty and did not hold together well. But, that wasn't a grill problem.



Fortunately I did have a couple of extra country pork ribs that I put on after I made the wacky grilled crab balls, and they grilled up really nice on the electric Char-Broil Patio Bistro.

Char-Broil has done well with electric grill models. The ratings have been high online. This is the next generation patio electric grill model, and I give it the thumbs up. It has a good amount of space, hits high temps, will do a sear, and the little warming shelf is a nice extra touch.

I do all sorts of grilling and smoking and even have a fire pit in my yard where I use wood and grates or Dutch Ovens. But, that is not the reality for everyone. If you can't have flames or just are not comfortable with charcoal and gas, get an electric and go for it. And, if you always wanted blonde hair and didn't get it, go get you a box of color too. Life is too short not to make some fun of it.