How to Brine Your Chicken
Chicken doesn't deserve its reputation for being a snoozefest of a protein. When done right, chicken — particularly grilled bone-in, skin-on — can be outstanding. It's the perfect canvas for so many flavors and, yet, its common mishandling can yield less-than-impressive results.
The real secret to juicy, flavorful grilled chicken is: BRINING! Yes, you probably hear a lot about brining your Thanksgiving turkey, but the same principles apply to your grilled chicken. And it couldn't be easier.
What exactly is a brine and how does it work?
Brines generally consist of water, salt, and sugar. The salt draws moisture out of the chicken, then, through osmosis, this lost moisture in the chicken is replaced with the water surrounding it. The salt hitches a ride with the water as it travels to the center of the pieces of chicken. The sugar is there to round out the intensity of the salt. We could go into water-soluble seasonings/spices/herbs at this point, but that involves science and heating up the water and extra time. Let's stick to the basics for now.
Why can't I just salt the chicken heavily?
You can sprinkle the exterior of the chicken with salt all you want, but if you just slap it on the grill like that, the salt is not going to make its way inside and, unlike a steak, chicken pieces don't have a high surface-to-interior ratio, so it's not enough to just season the outside. An added bonus of brining: It gives you a wider margin of error for cooking the bird. Not quite sure your chicken is cooked all the way through? It's okay if you grill it an extra five minutes. It'll still be juicy. Four to six hours of brining is ideal, but even a one hour soak will help rescue a sad bird.
What about a marinade?
Marinades work similarly to a brine, except the bottled stuff is often chock full of sugar, additives, and weird flavorings. Of course, you could make your own marinade, but then that requires more steps than a simple brine.
A Basic Brine
Sure, there are scientific ratios, weights, and measurements for a brine, but here's a simple, but still effective, method that's easier to remember:
For every 3 pounds of chicken:
Take 5 cups of tepid water and whisk in 2 big palmfuls of salt and a big palmful of sugar until they're dissolved.
Take a small sip of the brine (I know, ick, just stick with me here). It should taste like seawater — that is, almost unpalatably salty. Obviously, this is before you've combined it with the chicken parts.
For easy storage and no leakage, put the chicken parts into a gallon ziptop bag, put that bag into a big bowl, then pour the brine into the bag with the chicken. Push out as much air as you can, seal up the bag, gently roll the chicken around a bit, and then stick it in the fridge for 4 to 6 hours.
After the chicken's done brining, pat it dry before putting it on the grill.
Easy, peasy! Two pantry ingredients, water, and a bit of planning ahead gets you juicy, delicious-tasting chicken, no sauce necessary. Although if you decided to grill some lemon halves and squeeze those over the chicken before serving, I wouldn't hold it against you.
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