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!
Rosemary and Lemon Brined Grilled Chicken Breasts
- Total Time: 24 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
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!
Ingredients
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
Instructions
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.
- Originally published on August 23, 2014!
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 15 Minutes
- Category: Main
- Method: Brine
- Cuisine: American
