Rosemary and Lemon Brined Grilled Chicken Breasts
Without a doubt, the most amazingly delicious chicken. This brine is a variation of My “I Challenge ALL Claims to the Ultimate Brine” Turkey Brine, brine. This dish is very easy but does require planning. Interestingly, I came across an article discussing brining, the day I made this for dinner. This article stated although there is a lot of salt in a brine it doesn’t stick to the meat and therefore does not make this a high sodium meal; woo hoo!
Serves 6
10 Cups water
½ Cup fine salt
¼ Cup white sugar
5 Cloves garlic, smashed
5 Sprigs of fresh rosemary
The juice and zest of one lemon
5 Bay leaves
6 Bone-in chicken breasts
– Combine the water, salt, sugar, garlic, rosemary, the lemon juice, the lemon zest and bay leaves in a pot; bring it to a boil and then turn off the heat and set it aside to cool.
– When the brine has cooled, place it in the fridge to come down in temperature completely.
– When the brine is cold, place the chicken breasts in it, completely submerging them.
– Return the chicken breasts and brine to the fridge and let them sit for 24 hours.
– After the chicken has been in the brine for 24 hours, take it out and rinse it well.
– Let the chicken breasts sit in clean, cold water for 7 minutes.
– Pat them dry and then preheat your BBQ to medium-high.
– Place the breasts down on the grill bone side down and grill for 10 minutes.
– Turn the chicken breasts over and rotate them on a 45 degree angle or a 90 degree angle after a few minutes to get perfect grill marks.
– You can tell the chicken is cooked when the juices run clear or when the temperature reaches 165.
Notes:
- By grilling the breasts bone side down for about 10 minutes you are ensuring the centre of the chicken will get cooked and if the chicken does get a char on it, it will be on the bones.
- Play around with this brine, its another great way to experiment with herbs.
