The Secret to Perfect BBQ Chicken Thighs

[Music] there are a lot of home cooks out there in america that think that they know how to barbecue chicken on the grill but today we're going to take barbecue chicken to the next level this is not just some backyard throw it on the grill with some bottled sauce chicken ah this is competition chicken that we're gonna show you how to make today and it all starts with using the right cut of meat now here i have chicken thighs and this is four pounds of bone and chicken thighs and as with any good barbecue we're gonna start with a rub okay and here i have my arrangement of ingredients this is beautiful it is isn't it wouldn't you want to cook and just have someone do this for you and you walk in i want to take a picture of that that's gorgeous we're going to start with some salt and sugar so this is one tablespoon of kosher salt and one tablespoon of light brown sugar we're also going to add a tablespoon of paprika and this is a teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of white pepper a little one two pepper punch all right and this is three quarters of a teaspoon of granulated garlic i'm just going to mix this together to make sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar now i'm going to preserve four teaspoons of this special spice rub for later it's a secret yeah one a massage perhaps aromatherapy three four all right so we're going to set this aside for later the rest of this spice rub i'm just going to put all over this chicken i'm going to flip the chicken over and make sure we get some on the bottom when i flip it over i'm going to move the chicken around a little bit to catch up any spices that have fallen into the pan okay so now we're going to put the rest of this spice rub on [Music] we're going to let this chicken sit for an hour and really absorb some of that flavor meanwhile we're going to continue on with some more mixtures because barbecue chicken this competition style chicken uses a two-step cooking method we're actually going to braise the chicken in that disposable pan on the grill then we'll take it out of the pan and we'll grill it to finish interesting so it's going to start off with kind of a wet cooking method and really get it nice and tender and stayed good in juicy so we're starting with half a cup of chicken broth to this we're going to add half a cup of barbecue sauce this is six cloves of sliced garlic a lot of flavor [Music] this is three tablespoons of worcestershire and last but not least a little hot sauce this is two tablespoons of hot sauce a little hot sauce yeah it's gonna be good that is our braising liquid and next we're gonna make a glaze because once that chicken comes out of the braising liquid we're gonna put it over the hot part of the fire and we're gonna brush it with this gorgeous glaze super glossy and gorge it's competition chicken it is so we gotta win you know it the glaze is gonna start with two tablespoons of apple jelly which i microwaved by the way so it's nice and fluid we're gonna add two tablespoons of barbecue sauce i see a theme one tablespoon of light brown sugar one tablespoon of hot sauce hello and the hits just keep on coming and one minced clove of garlic now i can smell that barbecue sauce it's got lots of smoky aroma and that's because we're using bullseye which is our winning barbecue sauce give that a smell oh that's a good glaze that's a great glaze you get that whiff of hot sauce at the end yes you do all right so we have the chicken we have the reserve spice rub we have the braising liquid we have the glaze and last but not least we're going to get some smoke here we have one and a half cups of wood chips and of course we're going to cover them in water and let them soak for at least 15 minutes that way they'll smoke rather than burn get them nice and wet and wood floats so i'm going to take a little plate and put it on top to help keep them submerged in the water [Music] all right bridget so i've been heating up this grill for about 15 minutes and what i did is i took about a cup and a half of wood chips and i put them in this cool little tray and that of course will give the chicken some good smoke flavor while it cooks if you're working at home with a different type of gas grill it doesn't have a smoker gray or you want to make this recipe on a charcoal grill don't worry just go to our website and go see our instructions for how to set up your grill now that the grill is good and hot it's the perfect time to give it a scrub down and of course when it's hot anything you cooked on the grill beforehand will flake off nice and easy i'm also going to oil the grill grates it's just always good to do that it's like seasoning a cast iron skillet the long times are a crucial part of this procedure some paper towels and a little bit of vegetable oil and just run them over the grill grates they catch on fire it's okay that absolutely happens all the time and now it's time to turn some of these burners down because we have them all on high to heat the grill up but for cooking we're actually going to turn two of the burners off completely it's almost like turning the grill into an oven so that the chicken can cook more slowly so it's nice and tender and also has time to really absorb that smoke flavor sounds great here is our chicken so it's been sitting with this spice rub for about an hour and here is our braising mixture so much flavor yeah and this is just so cool to be able to do this on the grill braised chicken so that it gets nice and tender we're going to put the chicken on the grill and as a reminder the heat's over here and the smoke's here so plenty of smoke is going to waft over the chicken so it can absorb that flavor but the pan itself is not over any heat that's because we want this to cook gently and slowly more like a simmer like a true braise not a boil the slow simmer is also going to help that fat to render out that's right chicken all right and that makes the good skin at the end all right all right i'm gonna put the lid down and we're gonna cook this for about half an hour sounds good so we have cake pan chicken not cupcake chicken nice [Music] the chicken's been on there for about 30 minutes let's take a look i can smell it now i can see it oh gorgeous isn't it you can see that bubbling no hard boil there that's right and so the grill registers between 350 and 375 degrees and now we're going to take this pan of chicken off and now we're going to start to put the chicken right back on the grill again on the cool side because we want to cook it slowly and want it to still absorb some more of that smoke and i'm going to put it on the grill skin side up and now we're going to take a little bit of this glaze about half of it we're going to brush it onto the chicken and this is going to start to make that deep glaze oh yeah and that's how you get that shellacked look that cupcake chicken is known for i'm going to save about half of this glaze for another application later on and another little trick up my sleeve is you remember that four teaspoons of spice that i saved yes i'm going to put it on the chicken at this point and of course the spices will be a little fresher and it'll melt right into the glaze and make it delicious that's how you get that lacquered top it adds to it so i'm gonna put the lid down we're gonna cook it for about 15 minutes more before we add a second shellac [Music] let's take a look at this chicken oh hello you can see it's really starting to get that nice mahogany looking top and as promised i'm going to put that last layer of glaze on oh you are in for a treat so good now i'm going to put the lid back down and we're going to cook this for another 25 to 30 minutes until the chicken registers 175 degrees okay [Music] hello hello cupcake yeah some good-looking chicken this chicken is officially done i'm gonna get these off the grill now when you're taking these off the grill you want to handle them pretty gently because that skin is actually pretty delicate i like to grab the chicken by the sides and put it on the platter oh those look good smells so good too yeah you can smell some of that smoke flavor coming off them all right so these need to rest for about 10 minutes or so before we can dig in of course we're going to cover it with foil to trap that heat [Music] oh finally finally time to eat i'm not gonna say anything i'm just gonna put two big pieces on your plate look at that load it up no it's the smell of the spices and the smoke definitely the smoke but i also get some of that garlic in there too and plus i mean it is the most gorgeous looking bbq chicken ever yes i would agree with period bar none the meat is incredibly juicy look at that and all those flavors really penetrated the meat from the spice rub but also that braising liquid that was key i love that the skin is rendered in all that braising liquid and then gets browned and glazed you've opened my barbecue eyes and if you'd like to try your hand at our barbecue chicken thighs well start with a spice rub and sprinkle it all over chicken thighs and let them sit for one hour to allow the spices to penetrate the meat out at the grill heat wood chips until they begin to smoke then braise the chicken thighs in a pan not a cupcake pan right on the grill in a mixture of chicken broth barbecue sauce worcestershire and quite a bit of hot sauce then move the chicken thighs directly onto the grill grates brush with a glaze made with more barbecue sauce hot sauce and a little apple jelly and then sprinkle the meat with more spice rub so there you have it from cook's country our own blue ribbon worthy barbecue chicken thighs mic drop thanks for watching cook's country from america's test kitchen so what'd you think leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make or just say hi now you can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our channel see you later alligator

Channel: America's Test Kitchen

Views: 691,775

Keywords: bbq, barbecue, bbq chicken, bbq chicken thighs, bbq sauce, barbecue sauce, grilled chicken, how to grill chicken, how to make bbq chicken, how to make barbecue chicken, chicken thighs, grilling, cooks country, cook's country

Id: mVflRHd0GBg

Length: 9min 45sec (585 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2019