How to Grill the Best Grilled Chicken Thighs in 4 Steps!

Recently, I had some of the best boneless and skinless grilled chicken thighs and want to share with you exactly what I did to achieve such juiciness and robust flavors. I’m here to give you some easy tips and tricks of how I did it.I cooked my boneless and skinless chicken thighs on a gas grill. However, any type of grill will work well for making juicy and well seasoned chicken thighs. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Trim off any excess fat. 

This is easy! And, it is not very time consuming. Simply use a sharp knife and trim away. Use a cutting/scrapping motion to do so. 

Step 2: Decide which seasoning blend you want to use. 

Use a seasoning blend that you really like or make your own. Anything with garlic adds a wonderful flavor. Try to make a blend of garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, to taste. It’s that simple!  Also, if you’re alright with adding beer to your food, then marinate the chicken in some beer either in a bowl or a bag. Just enough to cover it. This will help to tenderize the meat and give it a wonderful flavor.

If you are using beer to marinate the chicken, use a light beer. You will want to stay away from any dark beer or IPA beer. IPA stands for India Pale Ales. They will make the chicken much too bitter and I learned that as the chicken cooks, the IPA beer only becomes more bitter! Nobody wants bitter chicken. That’s why lighter beer is better. However, certainly feel free to pair any kind of beer as a drink to go with your chicken. There are no rules with your beverage! 

Step 3: Oil the grill grates well and preheat the grill to high.

Using oil from a spray bottle seems to work best. However, you can also wipe oil on the grates using a rag or a paper towel. Next, heat the grill to high heat (between 400- 450°F). Close the lid to keep the heat in. Cook for 7-8 minutes on each side. Use a meat thermometer to ensure the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and that no pink color remains. 

Step 4: Decide if you want to use a sauce 

A barbecue sauce works well and will give you that nostalgic summer flavor. The thing about barbecue sauce is that you don’t want to put it on until a few minutes toward the end. Since barbecue sauce contains sugar, the sugar will burn too quickly on the grill and will give the chicken a bitter flavor. If you already knew that then, Great! However, a lot of people are unaware of that knowledge and continue to wonder why their chicken does not taste good. Simply, use a basting brush and baste both sides of each chicken thigh. Here are the ingredients for a barbecue sauce. Simply mix these ingredients together. It makes 6 servings.

For the Barbecue Sauce:

  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons hickory liquid smoke
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

I hope these steps help you to make some juicy and flavorful grilled  chicken thighs for your next time manning the grill!

2 thoughts on “How to Grill the Best Grilled Chicken Thighs in 4 Steps!”

  1. I discovered years ago when I was responsible for grilling chicken for crowds, this truth (I saw it on ” america’s test kitchen” back long before they fired christopher kimball) the day before the grilling, marinate the chicked in a brine solution overnight in the refrigerator–because of the quantity involved, i used a five gallon bucket. the next day, before you put it on the grill, rinse it thoroughly. This makes the moistest chicken you have ever had.

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