101 How to grill chicken thighs

[ponyo]

salmon, steaks, burgers, or any thick meat on the Weber charcoal grill. The best and the easiest method is indirect heat and not direct. Most people think they need to place the meat directly on top of the charcoal and the flame. You can do that but then you have to keep flipping and moving the meat to avoid burning it. Which means you're tied to the grill. If you use the indirect method, you don't need to monitor the grill at all. You can relax inside the house with the A/C and only come out to remove the finished food. To cook indirect, simply place the lit charcoals in Weber charcoal baskets and then place your food around it. I like to drop some apple or cherry wood chips on top of the charcoals before I close the lid to give the meat some smoke flavor. Close the lid and keep all the vents fully open. For chicken thighs, set your timer for 40 minutes and go back inside the house to chill. When 40 minutes are up, go back outside and remove the cooked chicken from the grill. Doesn't get any easier.

Cooked chicken thighs. Rubbed with Weber Kick'n Chicken seasoning. I didn't touch, flip, or move the chicken at all. I stayed inside the house the entire time.

Served with potato salad and Nando's Peri-Peri XX hot sauce.

Any leftover thighs can be pulled and used for chicken salad, sandwich, tacos, nachos, etc. At $0.89 /lb for chicken thighs, it's one of the cheapest and easiest meal you can make on the grill.

 

[sdifox]

Those are briquettes, not charcoal

 

[ponyo]

Those are briquettes, not charcoal

charcoal briquettes. There's also some lump charcoal underneath the briquettes you can't see. The lump was leftover charcoal from my last picanha steak cook. I reuse all my charcoal.

 

[Luna1968]

good start for a rookie, but here is a pro tip for you. you need a pan of water in that to keep the bird moist.

 

[ponyo]

good start for a rookie, but here is a pro tip for you. you need a pan of water in that to keep the bird moist.

I bet you're the type that likes to waste beer making beer can chicken. What's the water pan going to do other than waste my fuel, lower the cooking temperature, and extend my cooking time? Chicken thighs are moist by nature and impossible to overcook or nuke. If I wasn't lazy, I would brine the thighs but I feel like the return isn't worth the effort with thighs. I could spritz the thighs during the cook but again, that would extend the cooking time and wouldn't add much to the finished product. Better method is to sauce the thighs towards the end of the cook for flavor but I don't like to do that because: 1) it's more work 2) you lose the crispy skin.

My preferred method is to cook the chicken indirect at the highest temperature possible. This way you end up with crispy skin on the chicken and not rubbery skin. I like the sauce on the side to dip.

 

[Luna1968]

I bet you're the type that likes to waste beer making beer can chicken

only with coors light. i drink the good stuff.

 

[TXHokie]

I like to debone my chicken thigh before grilling. That way after it's done I can just put in between two slices of garlic bread and it's a sandwich. I'm lazy like that.

 

[zinfamous]

^^ yeah if you're adding water to the grill to "keep your chicken moist," then you have some learning to do.

Thighs or legs need no help, first of all. Second, I like dry-brining chicken (just a whole bunch of salt), whole or parts, overnight in the fridge before roasting or grilling. ...Honestly, I've never felt the need to do that with grilling.

Also, I don't want to live where Newcastle is considered "the good stuff." That's so ~90s.

 

[ponyo]

only with coors light. i drink the good stuff.

I like Coors Light. It agrees with me. Beer snobs and hipsters can drink whatever premium beer they like.

I like to debone my chicken thigh before grilling. That way after it's done I can just put in between two slices of garlic bread and it's a sandwich. I'm lazy like that.

Lot of people like to debone and remove the skin. I like to keep them both because 1) crispy skin is great 2) my dog likes the whole thigh with bones. I know vets and people say not to feed chicken bones to dogs as it's dangerous but my dog likes it and seems to have no problem with it.

^^ yeah if you're adding water to the grill to "keep your chicken moist," then you have some learning to do.

Thighs or legs need no help, first of all. Second, I like dry-brining chicken (just a whole bunch of salt), whole or parts, overnight in the fridge before roasting or grilling. ...Honestly, I've never felt the need to do that with grilling.

Also, I don't want to live where Newcastle is considered "the good stuff." That's so ~90s.

You know I'm addicted to smoking so I've played around lot with water pans in various cookers. IMO, unless you're smoking on offset, you don't need water pan. Even then, you can spritz instead of using water pan. The only reason stickburners require water pan or spritzing is because of the incredible volume of air that moves through the offset. All other types of cookers don't move enough air to benefit from the moisture from water pan. And if you're grilling, using water pan is stupid. If you're smoking on stickburner, yes, you can benefit from water pan to add moisture in the air. Grilling is not smoking.

 

[Luna1968]

^^ yeah if you're adding water to the grill to "keep your chicken moist," then you have some learning to do.

Thighs or legs need no help, first of all. Second, I like dry-brining chicken (just a whole bunch of salt), whole or parts, overnight in the fridge before roasting or grilling. ...Honestly, I've never felt the need to do that with grilling.

Also, I don't want to live where Newcastle is considered "the good stuff." That's so ~90s.

I live in a very dry environment, a water pan does help. what works for you at 90% humidity does not work so well at 12% humidity.

as far as the comments of making the skin rubbery, well you rookies have a whole lot of learning to do. I would train you but you couldn't afford it. <new castle.