Place marinade ingredients into a food processor and blend or pulse to a purée. Reserve 6 tablespoons of the marinade.
Place whole chicken onto a baking sheet or tray and gently insert your hand between the skin and flesh to coax the skin up.
Stand chicken on its legs and pour marinade between the skin and flesh, working the skin with your fingers to distribute it evenly. Place the chicken into an airtight bag, and pour in any marinade left in the processor. Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
Remove chicken from bag and allow it to come to room temperature for at least one hour before grilling.
Turn barbecue on high. When maximum temperature is achieved, turn off half the burners and place chicken on the “off” side. Allow to cook for 15 minutes before turning. Check for doneness at the 30-minute mark and cook longer if needed.
Remove cooked chicken from the grill and cut into portions. Brush with reserved marinade and serve immediately.
Easy Grilled Chicken
Ingredients
1 four-pound whole chicken, backbone removed
For the marinade:
1 cup fresh basil leaves
4-5 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
juice of one lemon
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Place marinade ingredients into a food processor and blend or pulse to a purée. Reserve 6 tablespoons of the marinade.
Place whole chicken onto a baking sheet or tray and gently insert your hand between the skin and flesh to coax the skin up.
Stand chicken on its legs and pour marinade between the skin and flesh, working the skin with your fingers to distribute it evenly. Place the chicken into an airtight bag, and pour in any marinade left in the processor. Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
Remove chicken from bag and allow it to come to room temperature for at least one hour before grilling.
Turn barbecue on high. When maximum temperature is achieved, turn off half the burners and place chicken on the “off” side. Allow to cook for 15 minutes before turning. Check for doneness at the 30-minute mark and cook longer if needed.
Remove cooked chicken from the grill and cut into portions. Brush with reserved marinade and serve immediately.
Easy Grilled Chicken
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A whole chicken marinated in garlic, basil, Dijon and capers, grilled tender and juicy…
Need a flavourful barbecued main? Try this EASY GRILLED CHICKEN!
Give this recipe for EASY GRILLED CHICKEN a try the next time you need a foolproof chicken main that is really, really tasty! It’s not just the flavour that gets our two thumbs up; that delicious chicken also gets to the table moist, tender and juicy. This recipe really is the best!
That said, we recommend you PIN this superior recipe to a favourite Pinterest board. You can also BOOKMARK the page for future reference. Try it once and you’ll be making it again and again, guaranteed.
Here’s why this EASY GRILLED CHICKEN recipe works:
MARINADE
The marinade for this recipe comes together with readily available ingredients. I especially like the robust flavour of the garlic and Dijon tempered with the lemon, capers and fresh basil. Don’t over-process the marinade when you pull it together in your food processor or handy chopper; a somewhat chunky marinade seems to deliver more memorable bites.
Another idea – double the recipe for the marinade so that you have extra. You can then brush onto the cooked chicken or keep it at-the-ready for the next time you make scrambled eggs. It’s also fabulous when used with a favourite goat’s cheese and grilled veggies for a quick sandwich. The marinade alone is a taste sensation.
SPATCHCOCK
This EASY CHICKEN RECIPE comes with a word of the day: spatchcock. This culinary term refers to poultry or game birds that have been split open and had their backbones, and sometimes sternums, removed.
A spatchcock chicken is often cooked whole as we’ve done here. You can open and remove the backbone yourself; go slowly and carefully using a sharp boning knife. An easier way is to have a butcher debone the bird for you. Either way, a spatchcock chicken will cook evenly with stellar results.
GRILLING
We suggest cooking this chicken using a radiant heat method. The idea, in basic terms, is that only one half of the barbecue is turned on and the meat is placed onto the “off” side. The lid is lowered and the meat cooks perfectly as a result of the radiant heat. This method is also preferred as there are no grill flare-ups or spot fires.
We tested this recipe a number of different ways. Best result was to start with the grill preheated to 500 degrees. The chicken was placed skin-side down on the “off“ side and grilled for 15 minutes before we flipped it and cooked for an additional 15 minutes. That makes the total cook time for this perfectly juicy, tender chicken just 30 minutes!
Place marinade ingredients into a food processor and blend or pulse to a purée. Reserve 6 tablespoons of the marinade.
Place whole chicken onto a baking sheet or tray and gently insert your hand between the skin and flesh to coax the skin up.
Stand chicken on its legs and pour marinade between the skin and flesh, working the skin with your fingers to distribute it evenly. Place the chicken into an airtight bag, and pour in any marinade left in the processor. Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
Remove chicken from bag and allow it to come to room temperature for at least one hour before grilling.
Turn barbecue on high. When maximum temperature is achieved, turn off half the burners and place chicken on the “off” side. Allow to cook for 15 minutes before turning. Check for doneness at the 30-minute mark and cook longer if needed.
Remove cooked chicken from the grill and cut into portions. Brush with reserved marinade and serve immediately.
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