How to Grill Chicken Breasts on a Gas Grill

Hey everybody. I'm chef Tom with atbbq.com and today on Tips & Techniques we're going to talk about how to grill chicken breasts on a gas grill. We are getting back to basics. This is gas grilling 101, how to cook a boneless skinless chicken breast on your gas grill. And really what I mean to say is how not to overcook and dry out a boneless skinless chicken breast.

It's an honest mistake, one that we've all made, but with a few simple tips and techniques, we're going to make sure that you get juicy flavorful chicken every single time. Now we'll start by talking about selection of chicken. Generally speaking, you want the least amount of stuff added to your chicken when you're buying it because it gives you more control over the cooking process. So I'll look for chicken breasts like these that say on the package no added water or no added solution. And if that's not an option, just choose something with a lower amount of that water or solution added.

Often these companies that are selling you your chicken are assuming you're going to overcook your chicken so they pump it full of some sort of solution to try and help counteract that. But in the process, you just end up paying for the solution when you could just simply pay for a better quality chicken. So while branding is not a bad idea, and we're going to move on to that next, you don't necessarily want it to be done to your chicken before you get a hold of it.

Now, brining and marinating are both great options for quickly adding flavor and moisture to your chicken. A marinade in its simplest form is an acid that uses that acid to break down the chicken and add extra flavor. Whereas a brine in its simplest form is just a saltwater solution. We're using a brine product called Cattleman's Grill Butcher House Brine, that happens to go beyond just salt, add garlic, onion, a little sugar, all good things. But if you just want a simple brine, a quarter cup of salt and one quart of water is going to get it done in about half an hour's time.

So we'll get these fully submerged and let them soak for about 30 minutes. Well, now that the chickens had a soak in the brine, I want to rinse off the excess brine off the surface. And the reason that we do that is because there is a lot of saltiness to it. So if you wanted to go on and season this with something other than just brine, you'd be over-seasoning it if you didn't rinse it first. And really the brine is about what it adds to the chicken, not what it adds on the surface of the chicken.

Now, before we move on to seasoning, I'm just going to take a look around and see if there's anything that needs trimmed off of the breast. Like this hard material right here that would've been around a little knuckle area. It's just not pleasant to chew on.

And look you can do this before or after the brining process, but we're just going to make sure we clean up anything like that. The other one that's fairly common that I don't see on these is every once in a while, you'll pick up a bit of a line from that breast bone that's again, just kind of unpleasant to chew on. So now moving on to seasoning.

First, we're going to hit this with just a little bit of fat, in this case, some extra virgin olive oil, but any sort of binder will work and it can sometimes depend on your flavor profile. Maybe you want to use sriracha or a hot sauce. There's any number of ways you can go into seasoning today. We've got the Cattleman's Grill Blackening Seasoning, and again, we've already brined these, so let's not go overboard on the seasoning on the surface.

From here I just want to make sure that the rub looks like it's attached to the meat before it goes to the grill. So just give it a minute or two to sit until it looks wet on the surface. Today, we'll be cooking on the Napoleon Prestige 500 Gas Grill. We've got it set up for two zone cooking. So one half of the grill, the burners are over medium-high heat. The other half they're completely off. That way we have a direct and indirect cooking zone.

We're going to start by getting a little fat on the grates, this is just a vegetable oil, something that's got a little bit more high heat, to withstand the high heat I should say. So the chicken's got this nice gloss to it and now we're ready to put it onto the grill. A sizzle at first touch is always a good sign.

So starting to get some nice grill marks on our chicken here, creating a good crust. And that's a combination of leaving the lid open and closing it because you do want to make sure you get some color on the outside before the internal is fully cooked. Now that we've got good color and a nice sear on one side and they're flipped over, the next part is the most important part of this entire process and that is make sure you don't overcook the chicken.

And in order to do that, an instant-read thermometer is going to be your best friend. Now there're tons of options out there for different instant-read thermometers, but buy yourself a good one that you can trust and know I'm never going to take this chicken past 165. And honestly, that's kind of on the high end for me for a chicken breast.

Now that is what the USDA would recommend 165. I often pull my chicken breast at 155 and let them carry over cook up into that 161/165 range, but that's where you're going to get the juiciest white meat. So the other tip that's worth keeping in mind is you're always want to be aiming for the middle part of the thickest part of the breast.

We're creeping up on 160 on the last one so we're going to pull this off. Now, one last tip before you slice into your chicken breast, go ahead and let it rest for about five minutes. Got to give it time for these juices to redistribute from the center all the way out to the edges. And then what you get is juicy tender flavorful white meat.

Works every time. Just a quick recap of everything we touched on. Protein selection, try to go for minimally processed, not anything that's been pumped full of a solution if you can help it. Brining and marinating go a long way in a short amount of time. Trust your thermometer, and that means if someone tells you a specific time to cook your chicken, you're not paying attention to them, you're not listening to times, you're watching your thermometer. Your grill changes from day to day, just depending on the temperature. So even at your home, it may never cook exactly the same. And then finally, rest that meat at the end and save the juices.

Thank you guys so much for watching. If you enjoyed the video, hit that subscribe button. If you have any questions or comments or there's anything you'd like to see me cook, let me know in the comment section down below, and let's be good to one another. For more recipes, tips, and techniques, head over to atbbq.com/thesauce.

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Yield: 4 servings

8 oz (1/2 bag) Cattleman’s Grill Butcher House Brine

2 quarts cool water

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Saica Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cattleman’s Grill Blackening Seasoning

Whisk the Cattleman’s Grill Butcher House Brine with about 1 quart of water in a Briner Mini Brining Bucket.

Place the chicken in the brine. Fill the container nearly to the top with the remaining water. Slide the plastic lid down over the chicken and lock in place to keep the chicken submerged. Place a lid on the Briner Mini and store in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat your Napoleon Prestige P500 Gas Grill. Turn all burners to high heat. Close the lid to preheat for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the brine. Rinse under cold water. Pat dry with towels.

Rub a thin layer of Saica Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the chicken. Season with Cattleman’s Grill Blackening Seasoning. Let sit until the seasoning appears wet on the surface.

Turn off two of the burners on the grill to create an indirect cooking zone. You may or may not need to finish over indirect heat.

You might also enjoy: How to Make a Basic Brine

Place the chicken breasts on the opposite side of the grill, over the direct medium-high to high heat. Grill with the lid open until the chicken is browned on the surface. Flip, then close the lid and continue cooking until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the thickest part of the chicken breasts reaches 155ºF-160ºF.

Remove the chicken from the grill and let rest for about 5 minutes before slicing.