Al's Famous BBQ Chicken

I started this blog to illustrate how easy it is to grill just about anything, but one thing I am known for is my grilled chicken. For years I've been grilling chicken for family, neighbors, and friends. So many people have asked me how I make my chicken so juicy, tender, and flavorful. The descriptions go on, but the important thing is that you can make this chicken just as good as I can. Here is a step by step process:

Step One: Dry Rub Marinade!

For those that know me well, know how difficult it is for me to give exact measurements for any recipe I use, but this time I actually measured everything so I can share it with you.

Recipe:
8 LBS Bone in Chicken Thighs and/or Drumsticks. (I prefer thighs)
1 TBL Paprika

1 1/2 TBL Brown Sugar
1/2 TBL Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Dry Rosemary
1/4 tsp. fresh ground Black Pepper
1/8 tsp. ground Dry Mustard
1/8 tsp. ground White Pepper
1/8 tsp. Cayenne (for a little more spice you can add more)
1/8 tsp. Lemon Pepper
Pinch Smoked Paprika
To make it spicy add 1 TBL Crushed Red Pepper

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly then rub onto chicken. Place chicken on a plate or in a baking pan and cover with plastic wrap or place into Ziploc plastic bags. Let marinate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

For the best flavor, I would recommend cooking over a Charcoal BBQ, but instructions here included gas grill application.

Preheat grill on high heat. Add chicken to grill and immediately reduce temperature to low heat. Rotate chicken frequently for about 30 to 45 minutes. When chicken is just about done, brush your favorite BBQ sauce on top of chicken let sit for about a minute, rotate and brush again.








Repeat the application of BBQ sauce until a nice caramelized appearance like the picture to the left.













Then transfer chicken to a large pot, cover chicken with a slightly thinned BBQ sauce and transfer pot into oven on 250 degrees. Leave in oven for about one hour or so then enjoy.

Note: The last step is not necessary, but if you have a large crowd coming over preparing ahead of time is great. It will leave your grill open for sides and other meats you wish to cook. Check out my grilled potatoes - coming soon.

Several people have asked for my BBQ sauce recipe as well, but unfortunately I do not have a homemade BBQ sauce developed yet. For now, my favorite is KC Master Piece - Hickory Brown Sugar. I then add a little bit of Pepsi to thin it out to my liking. This sauce is sweet which some people do not like. Rule of thumb, use your favorite sauce and you can't go wrong.

Grilled Pizza

So the other day I grilled a stir fry and it was quite amazing on the grill. Because I love grillin' so much, I decided to challenge myself a little and try grillin' unusual things. Yesterday, I grilled some garlic bread, but this was not much of a challenge.

I also decided to grill a pizza. I made it a little too big, so I had to fold it in half. Truthfully, I cannot make a good pizza dough so I bought this pizza from Papa Murphy's. Either way, it was fantastic and had a nice smoky flavor from the grill.

It did not take as long as I thought to grill and since I folded it in half, it made it easy to thoroughly cook.

This looks a little more like a calzone so the next time I try grillin' a pizza, I will make (buy) it a little smaller and will not fold it. Either way it was fun and I can't wait for the next grillin' challenge.


What shall I grill next?

Send me your challenges and I will post pictures and comments on how to accomplish it. Just remember, not everything can be grilled, but the list of items that cannot is small.