Smart tips for grilling the perfect chicken breasts

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posted on

July 31, 2020

Chicken breasts are a favorite in my family. Baked, fried, sauteed, stir fried, or grilled. They’re so versatile and almost always a hit.

In the summer, when I want to keep the heat down in my house and save energy, chicken breasts go on the grill.

I love grilled chicken, because I can make a huge batch quickly and eat it as leftovers throughout the week.

I typically go for the savings and buy the 5-pack or 10-pack and cook it all at once.

Then, I can make chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, cubed chicken, chicken and noodles, chicken quesadillas, chicken stir fry, chicken tacos, chicken ramen, chicken pizza … I mean, there are SO MANY options!

But… here’s the catch. It can be a bit of a challenge to master the art of grilled chicken breasts. They can easily be too dry or crispy on the edges.

You’re in luck this week. I have some great tips for grilling the perfect chicken breasts!

1 - Flatten the meat

Chicken breasts are often thick on one side and thin on the other. This leads to uneven cooking. To get the thick part cooked through, you end up with a dry crispy edge. Not the best, especially for leftovers!

The secret to juicy, evenly cooked chicken breasts is flattening them. It requires a little muscle and is a great way to de-stress.

If the chicken breast is large, cut it in half.

Then, pound it until evenly flat. You could use the smooth side of a fancy meat tenderizing mallet. But, a good old rolling pin, wine bottle, or cast iron skillet will also do the trick.

This can be a messy process. If you’d like to reduce the mess, you can sandwich the breasts in between plastic wrap, wax paper, or silicone baking mats.

The breasts should end up being ¼”-½” thick.

2 - Brine it

Most people marinate chicken breasts in some oil, vinegar, and spices for a few hours to add flavor and moisture. However, make sure the marinade has more fat than anything else. Otherwise, you may end up with tough dry meat.

I prefer to salt brine my chicken breasts. It gives the most moist and juicy breasts.

It’s easy. Mix together 4 Tbsp of salt for every 4 cups of water until dissolved. Put the salt water and breasts in a bag. Let it sit in the fridge for 1-3 hours. Remove and pay dry.

Now, with a salt brine, beware - do not salt the breasts otherwise they will be too salty. Just add some pepper and herbs of your choosing before grilling.

3 - Oil and preheat the grill

After flattening and brining, it would be such a shame for your chicken to stick to the grill. That’s why you should use a little oil on the grates.

Make sure the oil has a high smoking point. Avocado oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, and grapeseed oil are all good options.

Put some oil on a paper towel or rag. Using tongs, wipe the oil on clean grill grates.

Then preheat your grill at medium high heat.

4 - Cook on medium high heat

Flattened breasts cook quickly. They need about 4 minutes per side.

With chicken, it is important that the meat is cooked through. If you have one, you can double check with a meat thermometer. Chicken is done at 165F.

5 - Let them rest for 5 minutes

It’s worth the wait. Resting meat after cooking gives time for the juices to be reabsorbed and redistributed.

And there you have it. Wonderful grilled chicken breasts!

Pastured Meat

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Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Smart tips for grilling the perfect chicken breasts

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