Recipe Notes: Grilled Chicken Thighs

22 July 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, July 2018

Last summer I tried a recipe for grilled chicken drumsticks that worked very well. This year, Cook's Illustrated featured a version of the recipe customized for chicken thighs. We probably eat thighs more often than any other part of the chicken and having an easy recipe for grilling chicken thighs would be a good thing to add to our repertoire.

The chicken is coated with a flavorful paste before it is grilled. The magazine included recipes for a mustard-tarragon paste and a gochujang (Korean red chili) paste; the web site had a Garam Masala paste. I chose the mustard-tarragon paste which is made by mixing together Dijon mustard, garlic, lemon zest, minced fresh tarragon, salt, water, and pepper. The bone-in chicken thighs were trimmed of excess fat and skin, then smeared with the mustard-tarragon paste, more on the flesh side than the skin side. It was refrigerated while the grill was heated and cleaned. The chicken was cooked on the cool side of the grill (only some of the burners were left on) to an internal temperature of 185°. Instead of the 40 minutes indicated by the recipe, this took 60-70 minutes on our grill.  The chicken was then moved to the hot side of the grill to brown the exterior. Total time was a little over 2 hours.

The chicken was tender and moist, though not juicy, and held up well as a leftover. It may have been a little overdone. I didn't have anything in my notes about the flavor from the paste so it must not have been a highlight for us. While this is a simple method for preparing grilled chicken, I think last year's recipe for drumsticks provided a better chicken. Thus when we have a hankering for grilled chicken, I think that is the recipe that we will be more likely to use. It was faster, the portion size was fine, and the meat was more evenly cooked.