Beginners Guide to Grilling Chicken Thighs

Today I'm doing a beginner's guide to grilling  chicken thighs, which is one of my favorite meats   and it's real easy to do. Hi I'm Ryan from the  Grill Top Experience helping you cook with fire   like a pro and one of those things is starting  with easy replicable recipes and chicken thighs   is where it's at. I always tell people to start  with chicken thighs because it teaches you all   the right lessons and how to manage your fire but  it's really forgiving and so it's hard to mess up   so you can still enjoy dinner as you're learning  through the process. Let me show you two different   recipes one of them is if you have a lot of time  and preparation and being able to get that perfect   flavor all the way through the chicken. The other  one is if you're short on time and got to get   dinner out right now, and that's gonna be on the  gas grill. Let's go ahead and get started I'm   starting with the gas grill because most people  have one. It's the most common grill in America   and it's pretty easy to use because you can  manage the fire with just the turn of a button.   For this one we're going to set up  for indirect I've got a three burner,   so that means I'm going to put all the meat  in the middle, higher heat on the outside,   with lower heat in the middle and that's  going to help avoid some of those flare-ups. Most chicken thighs that you purchase need to be  trimmed this one has a bunch of extra skin that   you don't want to leave on there the other thing  to remove is any big chunks of fat that won't   render well. You wouldn't want this for your first  bite so we're going to go ahead and remove it. Do the same thing for the other thighs as well.   I sent Mrs. GTE to get some Killer Hogs Barbecue  rub and she came back with ChickaLicka Bam Bam.   We both really liked it, but you can use whatever  your favorite rub is. The biggest benefit of this   method is it's really easy to switch things up  to change the flavor profile to the one that   you want. This rub doesn't have much salt  so I added just a bit directly on the skin.   Chicken thighs stick to these grates like bare  skin on vinyl seats in the summer. So I coat them   with a thin layer of oil right before I put the  meat on and it usually keeps things from sticking.   Putting the meat over the low  burner should avoid flare-ups,   but having the other burners turned up higher will  keep the temperatures up to crisp up the skin.   A dome temperature of around 400 degrees  Fahrenheit or 205 degrees Celsius is about right.   After a few minutes of cooking give them a turn.  Just to make sure they're not sticking. The one   thing that everybody needs when they're cooking  chicken is a good instant read thermometer and   I'm going to link to the one that I like to use  down in the description below in case you're   looking for one. They're pretty inexpensive you  need a decent one on amazon for 20 to 30 dollars.   The reason why it's so important is because you  want to get to 175 degrees Fahrenheit to make sure   that it's safe to eat and it's about the perfect  tenderness when it reaches that temperature.   You can get an idea of how the temperature  is going based on the way the skin looks,   but it's not a perfect tell. The instant read is  the safest and best way. I know it's tempting to   just check one and consider them all done, but  you need to check each piece of meat. They're   different sizes and are going to cook at different  rates. Remember, you aren't checking the skin   temperature. Get that probe into the center of the  meat but away from any bones for an accurate read.   Chicken thighs are pretty forgiving and it'll be  okay if you go over just a little bit. I also like   to turn up the heat and put the chicken skin side  down to help render the last bit of fat from the   skin and get it extra crispy. Just watch things  carefully just to make sure that you don't get a   flare up and ruin your work. These came out great  with bite through skin and were a big hit around   the house if I have the time I'll always go to  my kettle and use charcoal and real wood to be   able to maximize the flavor, but it's a bit of an  investment. It takes a little longer to get the   kettle up to steam and ready to cook and get good  smoke, but I also have some chicken marinating   inside. I'll quickly show you how I set that  up. Before we talk about setting up the kettle   this chicken needed to be trimmed as well and it  really depends on the job that the butcher did.   This batch had more trimming than I'm used to and  sometimes you'll barely need to trim your chicken   at all. Marinating your chicken enhances the  flavor and can help tenderize the meat, and I've   shown a few different ways of doing that on this  channel, that included yogurt or the shoyu chicken   that I'm making here. People have asked if you can  use another brand of soy sauce or if it has to be   Aloha Shoyu, I've tried them and the other  brands are not nearly as good for this recipe.   This recipe is also pretty common in Hawaiian  plate lunch and you almost always see it in   Hawaiian backyard barbecues. The trick here is  to not skimp out on the marinade time plan on 8   hours or as long as overnight for best results.  However if using boneless skinless thighs you   can get away with a couple of hours and a  link to that video in the description below. Setting up the kettle is easy but takes a little  bit of preparation and practice to get it right.   To get the right temperatures, I tossed three  quarters of a chimney of lit charcoal on one   side of the kettle, to give me a  hot and a warm zone for cooking.   The vent settings are usually closed by  about half on the top and the bottom.   Put the chicken on the cooler side of the grill,  and you won't have any flare-ups because it's   not over the fire. You still get the benefits of  the convection heat and the smoke coming off the   charcoal without the risk. A common question that  I get when I tell people what I've cooked is: Did   you smoke it? Smoking generally means cooking at  225 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of   time and that is bad news for chicken. You almost  always end up with a gummy skin that'll come   right off the chicken thighs, but if you cook a  little bit higher but still over charcoal and wood   you can get that same smoke flavor into the meat  and get the crispy skin that everybody craves.   After about an hour and once the chicken  thighs are almost up to temperature,   remember we're shooting for 175 degrees  Fahrenheit. I put them directly over   the fire to get a bit of char to help render  that skin. Your luck can change very quickly   though and you're going to watch everything very  closely to make sure it doesn't burn even though.   The fire's burned down watch how quickly  the skin burns on this one chicken thigh> The grill grates had a chance to heat up and  that burned the skin rather than crisping it.   Try to find a spot over the charcoal that is a  bit cooler and you're going to get great results.   Put them back on the indirect side,  and I took them off when they each   reached 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Just  like that, you've learned how to make   chicken thighs a couple of different ways.  If you want more tips consider subscribing.  [Mouth Noises] These are really good!

Channel: Grill Top Experience

Views: 274,113

Keywords: grilltop experience, grill top experience, gte, beginners guide, how to grill chicken thighs, beginners guide to grilling, beginners guide to grilling chicken thighs, easy grilled chicken thighs, chicken thigh recipes, chicken thigh temp, chicken thighs marinade, chicken thighs seasoning, gas grill chicken thighs, grill chicken thighs charcoal

Id: kPwVP3XPDkY

Length: 6min 22sec (382 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 04 2020