This Is The Secret To Perfect Grilled Chicken, According To An Expert

Barbecue is an American summertime tradition. Who doesn't love that flavorful bark on a cut of juicy, smoky meat? The mix of smoke and char you get from grilling comes together to create a unique flavor you can't get from other cooking methods, and, for many people, it is unbeatable. While any food can be tasty on the grill, some home cooks have a pervasive fear of cooking chicken, or more specifically, undercooking chicken, and that tends to hold some people back. Others who aren't worried about undercooking fear the opposite, grilling chicken until it becomes too dry and overdone. To help make it easier, we decided to turn to an expert to find out how to make the perfect grilled chicken.

Tasting Table spoke to Chef Diervion "Tank" Land, sous chef at Boone's in Atlanta, and asked what the secret was to making the best grilled chicken. "The biggest secret is: Don't chase temperature, chase carryover cooking," he told us. We've talked about this before and recommended you slightly undercook foods on the grill to allow carryover cooking to do the rest of the work for you.

Chef Land continued, "Most people cook chicken until it's already done on the grill. By the time it rests, it's overcooked. Instead, remove the chicken a few degrees before your final target temperature and let the resting period finish the cooking process." He's not the only pro to suggest this either, as Ina Garten also recommended letting carryover cooking finish chicken to ensure juicy results.

The size of the meat and the initial cooking temperature both affect how much additional cooking occurs after removal from the heat. A thick chicken breast cooked at 425 degrees Fahrenheit should be pulled earlier than a smaller breast cooked at a lower temperature.

If you pull a 250-gram chicken breast when it reaches between 155 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit internally, carryover cooking could bring it up to around 170 degrees. That's slightly above the recommended temperature of 165 degrees for cooked chicken. This will all depend on the size of your chicken and the heat of the grill, but if the chicken has reached at least 150 degrees internally, it should be safe to pull and allow to finish with carryover cooking before slicing. Always check your temperatures with a reliable meat thermometer to be sure.

Chef Land explained the importance of understanding timing. "Mastering rest time is often more important than mastering grill time," he told us. "Fire creates flavor, but patience creates great chicken. That's the difference between grilled chicken that's simply cooked and grilled chicken that's memorable." The benefits become clear when you compare chicken allowed to finish via carryover cooking to chicken cooked fully on the grill. "The reward is noticeably juicier chicken, better texture, and more retained flavor," Land said.

Chef Land offered these practical tips. "Grill over two heat zones whenever possible," he said. "Cook until the thickest portion reaches approximately 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the grill." After that, there's just one more step. "Rest loosely covered for 5–10 minutes" until it reaches 165 degrees. With that in mind, try some of these grilled chicken recipes and see how it works out.