Who wouldn’t want moist, tender grilled chicken breasts with perfect sear marks? We all love those juicy bites when eating grilled meat. Still, grilling is a skill that needs perfecting every day. So, It wouldn’t hurt to learn how to grill chicken breast on a gas grill.
Grilling boneless and skinless chicken breasts can be problematic, since they mostly end up dry or overcooked. As you know, that is a grilling disaster. What is the secret to having juicy, moist chicken breasts?
Find out how to grill chicken breast on a gas grill.
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Grilling Tools Needed
You need a few cooking tools to make your grilling experience successful. They are:
- Metal tongs for turning and placing your chicken pieces on the grill.
- Meat thermometer to get the right internal temperature
- Grill brush to clean the grills before and after cooking.
- Oil spray
- Heat resistant cooking gloves
- Aluminum foil
- Fire extinguisher
Preparation
To have the perfect juicy chicken breasts, you can either pound them to have an even thickness and quickly grill on high heat. Pounding helps the chicken breasts to cook evenly. The second method to get juicy bites without altering the shape of your chicken breasts is brining.
To brine your chicken breasts, make a solution of 4 cups of water with two tablespoons of salt and soak your chicken breasts for 30 minutes to allow saltwater to go into the chicken. Do not soak your chicken breasts longer than 30 minutes, as this will cause your chicken breasts to be too salty.
Brining will give you perfectly salted chicken breasts, thus there is no need to salt your chicken breasts after grilling.
Make sure your chicken breasts are not cold when you want to grill them. Your chicken, just like any other meat, should be close to room temperature before you grill. When you grill cold chicken breasts, the outside will cook faster and even burn before the center is cooked.
Preseason your chicken. Rinse the brine from the chicken, coat both sides of the chicken breasts with light olive oil, and then sprinkle your chicken with your desired seasoning. The olive oil or any cooking oil will help the seasoning stick to your chicken and increase the sear marks.
Always season your gas grill with neutral oil before you start grilling your meat because neutral oil won’t leave your chicken breasts with a noticeable taste or smell.
How to Grill Chicken Breasts
Preheat your gas grill to medium-high temperature until it reaches 350-400° F. A hot grill will allow your chicken breasts to sear and cook evenly. You should have a surface thermometer to get the degrees right as most hood thermometers mostly give wrong temperature readings.
It is important to grease your cooking grates with cooking oil so that the meat doesn’t stick when grilling. Add your chicken pieces directly on the grills using your tongs to prevent getting burned, and make sure you leave space between pieces. Close the lid so that they can start to cook and check the cooking progress every 5 minutes.
Rotate the chicken pieces midway during cooking to get the perfect sear marks we all love. You can check if the chicken pieces have grill marks before you rotate. Once the parts have browned, turn them over and continue grilling on medium heat so that they can finish cooking. Not checking on your chicken breasts will increase their chances of burning.
Remove the chicken from the grill when the internal temperature of the chicken pieces reach an internal temperature of 165° F and wrap them with foil. This will ensure your chicken pieces continue to cook after you remove them from your gas grill. Finally, cut and serve your chicken breasts after 5 to10 minutes.
Internal temperature above 165° will dry your chicken breasts, and a lower temperature means that your chicken will be under-cooked, thus dangerous if consumed. This is why you should have a meat thermometer when grilling meat.
How To Light A Gas Grill
But what if you are new to using gas grills? Worry not, center, as they are simple to use. Follow these steps to get your gas grill ready.
1. Step one
Keep the lid of your gas grill open before lighting it. If you close your lead while lighting, you risk causing gas fumes to build up, which causes a fire hazard as the gas grill may explode.
2. Step two
Hook up the gas to your grill according to the type of your grill by attaching the gas line to the propane tank. You can follow the instructions found on your gas manual, as gas grills differ.
3. Step three
Turn on the gas by turning the valve found on the top of the propane tank. Depending on the make of your grill, you may have a secondary valve that should be opened to receive gas. Open the valve and wait for the gas to travel to the grill.
4. Step four
Turn the knob found on the front of the grill. Then press the igniter button to ignite the grill. You can follow the manufacturer’s instructions found in the manual, as different grills have different designs.
Once your gas grill ignites, you are ready to amaze your family and friends with perfectly seared grilled chicken breasts. A gas grill will offer you endless possibilities of experimenting and grilling several barbecues recipes. If you’re out camping, you’ll enjoy your outdoor activities after enjoying some scrumptious meal
