Grilled Barbecued Chicken

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and cool, but today I woke to the sun beaming through my window. The skies were blazing blue. It was a gorgeous day. I couldn't let the opportunity to grill out pass us by. I got to work on the marinade straight after I finished my morning coffee. I have a favorite barbecued chicken recipe, but when I saw this recipe, I decided to test it out. This one uses butter. I've never made a marinade with butter. Hmmm. I love butter. Maybe it would be better. It was a close second to my favorite, even with the butter. A suitable substitute. I'll provide the recipe I used here and also my favorite recipe at the end of this post. You can decide which sounds best to you.

Here are the marinade ingredients: an onion, butter, cider vinegar, sugar, chili powder, salt, Worcestershire, pepper, ground mustard, hot pepper sauce, and garlic.



You could just combine them in a bowl. I decided to use my food processor to avoid chunks of onion on the chicken. Not that I mind chunks of onion, but certain 4 year old people in my house would take issue with a visible piece of onion on her chicken. Aren't I sneaky sneaky? Reserve 1/3 cup of the marinade for basting.



In a large, resealable, plastic bag combine the chicken and the remaining marinade. Refrigerate while it marinates, of course. Mine marinated all day. You could do this the night before also. That way, when you come home from work, it's all set to toss onto the grill. You can use any cut of chicken you like with this recipe. I happened to find chicken legs for $.99/lb, so we had drumsticks for dinner. Here are the chicken legs all ready for the grill.



My husband grilled these over medium heat, turning and basting every so often for about 30 minutes. The time will depend on the cut of chicken and the temperature of your grill. We used a meat thermometer and pulled them off at when the internal temp. hit 180 degrees. You can see just how tender and juicy these look. Flavorful too. They were a big hit and everyone left the table happy...this just wasn't quite as good as my favorite barbecue chicken recipe.



Grilled Barbecued Chicken from Country Woman Magazine

1 large onion, chopped
2/3 cup butter, melted
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
4 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 bone-in chicken breast halves (4 to 5 pounds), skin removed

In a bowl, combine the first 11 ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 1/3 cup for
basting. Place the chicken in a large resealable plastic bag; add remaining
marinade. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, turning occasionally. Drain and
discard marinade from chicken. Grill chicken, covered, over indirect medium heat
for 20 minutes. Turn; grill 15-25 minutes longer or until juices run clear,
basting occasionally with reserved marinade.

Yield: 6 servings.

For a printable copy of this recipe, click here!

And now for MY FAVORITE BARBECUED CHICKEN RECIPE! It has a bit more of a "kick" than the above recipe.

Kentucky Grilled Chicken from Taste of Home

1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons salt
10 bone-in chicken breast halves (10 ounces each)

In a small bowl, combine the first five ingredients; mix well. Pour 1 cup marinade
into a large resealable plastic bag; add the chicken. Seal bag and turn to coat;
refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Cover and refrigerate the remaining marinade
for basting. Coat grill rack with cooking spray before starting the grill.
Drain and discard marinade from chicken. Grill bone side down, covered, over
indirect medium heat for 20 minutes. Turn; grill 20-30 minutes longer or until
juices run clear, basting occasionally with reserved marinade.

Yield: 10 servings.

For a printable copy of this recipe, click here.