Learn how to grill chicken perfectly by pre-cooking in the oven (low and slow) before hitting the grill. That way, you know it’s fully cooked and juicy so you can relax and enjoy your guests without worrying about feeding them under-cooked or dry chicken.
Recently I found a way to make grilled chicken foolproof. What do I mean? I mean, it’s a way of grilling chicken where you know for sure that the meat is cooked through, and you know for sure that it is tender and juicy, definitely not dry.
This method is great for if you’re having friends over because you can do most of it ahead of time. You can also make a big batch so if you’ve got a lot of friends, this recipe’s for you!
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
The Key To Perfectly Grilled Chicken:
The key to grilled chicken is to precook it in the oven ahead of time so you know it’s fully cooked and ready for the grill. Cooking it ahead of time also lets you cook it slowly, which yields nice, juicy, and tender meat. Plus, it gives you time to put your feet up during grilling season because most of the work is done beforehand.
Video: How To Grill Chicken Perfectly
What Kind Of Chicken Should I Use?
For this recipe, we’re using bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks. I prefer skinless but skin-on works too. I find that the skin doesn’t get really crispy on the grill no matter what I do. However, skinless can be either hard to find or more expensive.
Chicken breasts are not ideal for this method. If you really want to though, bone in and skin on chicken breasts are best. If you are planning on grilling boneless skinless chicken breasts, I have a separate post about that. They require a different method.
Want to grill a whole chicken? Get the instructions here.
Finally, if it’s wings you’re craving, you can learn how to grill chicken wings here.
How To Grill Chicken, Step-By-Step
Step #1
With a big group coming over, buy bulk packs of bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks. Get it with the skin on, cook it in the oven, then see the tip in Step #2.
Up to two days before the party, season the chicken with a spice rub (see printable recipe at the bottom) and bake at 300°F for about an hour.
Tip: After an hour of baking, test with an instant-read thermometer. The chicken should be at least at 165°F internally. If it’s over that, it’s ok. It’ll still be juicy!
Step #2
Then you remove the chicken from the oven and let it cool down a bit on the counter.
NEW TIP! – I just discovered this and had to edit this recipe to tell you about it! After the chicken has cooled a bit, but before adding sauce, simply pull the skins off if you don’t want them on. As I explained in step #1, I prefer skinless, but this is a great hack for when you can’t find them or there’s a sale on skin on!
Extra Tip – Use a pair of clean kitchen scissors (called kitchen shears) to snip away any skin that is attached to the bone.
Extra Extra Tip: These kitchen shears come apart for better washing, which is especially good for when we use them on chicken to make sure they’re sanitized.
This method of removing the skin after cooking is WAY easier than skinning the chicken before cooking and the skin also helps retain some moisture and adds flavor to the chicken meat while cooking. Win-win!
Step #3
Brush the chicken with your favorite BBQ sauce. I love this homemade basic barbecue sauce. It only has three essential ingredients but there are instructions for doctoring it up in different ways so you can customize it with additional spices like garlic powder and paprika.
Step #4
Refrigerate chicken until dinner time.
Step #5
Use tongs to transfer the chicken pieces to a grill at medium heat that is prepped for direct heat cooking. Cook, turning occasionally (I use nice, long tongs like these so that my hands don’t get too close to the heat), until there are grill marks on all sides and the meat is heated through, about 8 to 10 minutes total. You can baste them with sauce halfway through if you’d like but note that this can dislodge or hide the grill marks. I don’t usually baste midway through for this reason.
Note that you can instead broil the chicken. Put the sauced chicken on a pan that is safe under your broiler. Pre-heat the broiler. Put the chicken on the pan under the broiler, about 6 inches form the heat. Broil until dark spots are appearing, then flip the chicken and broil the other side until dark spots are appearing. Taste some chicken to make sure it’s heated through. It should take about 8-12 minutes total (4-6 minutes per side).
Step #6
Serve with lots of napkins and your favorite side dishes like hearty baked beans and potato salad.
Podcast Episode: Grilling Chicken
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this chicken, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
How To Grill Chicken Perfectly Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This grilled chicken is pre-cooked in the oven (low and slow) before hitting the grill. That way, you know it’s fully cooked and juicy so you can relax and enjoy your guests without worrying about feeding them under-cooked or dry chicken.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 6 lbs. skinless bone-in dark meat chicken (drumsticks and/or thighs)
- BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- In bowl combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, and brown sugar. Rub on chicken and then arrange in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour. Double-check that the chicken is cooked by cutting into the thickest part and making sure it’s not pink inside or using a meat thermometer to check that it’s reached 165°F.
- Let cool for 15 minutes. If your chicken is skin on, carefully remove the skin before grilling. For skin that is attached to the bone, cut it off with kitchen shears.
- Brush each piece with about 2 tablespoons of sauce. Cover and refrigerate up to 36 hours.
- 15 minutes before eating, prepare grill for direct cooking over medium-high heat.*
- Add chicken pieces and cook until grill marks appear on underside, 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook until heated through, another 4-5 minutes. Baste with more sauce halfway through if desired but this isn’t necessary and doing so can hide your beautiful grill marks.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
*Note: You can instead broil the chicken. Put the sauced chicken on a pan that is safe under your broiler. Pre-heat the broiler. Put the chicken on the pan under the broiler, about 6 inches form the heat. Broil until dark spots are appearing, then flip the chicken and broil the other side until dark spots are appearing. Taste some chicken to make sure it’s heated through. It should take about 8-12 minutes total (4-6 minutes per side).
This recipe was originally published in July 2014. It was revised and republished in May 2023.
Love how detailed this blog is! All the steps have been explained properly, which makes it easy for a reader to not only read but also, follow the instructions when grilling the chicken. More such topics will be helpful for chicken lovers. Thanks to the writer.
Tried this recipe last night and everyone loved it. Put my rub on chicken and refrigerated over night.Baked at 300 and left rest to cool before grilling. Great taste and grill marks set it off.
That’s wonderful, Audrey!
Always grill first then finish in oven. Use an in-oven thermometer to ensure doneness. Grill drumsticks until perfect color then finish in oven at 250 to 300.
Thanks for your feedback, Mike.
This is similar to how I prepare my Jerk Chicken. I find thighs and legs when they’re $0.99 per lbs, then rub generously with Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk Paste (as authentic as you can get without making Jerk sauce from scratch) and let the chicken marinate for a FULL DAY to let all those great Caribbean spices penetrate every piece of the chicken. Then I bake covered for 2 hours at 250 degrees, remove the chicken and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow the chicken to firm back up. Then it’s time for the grill (if you go straight from the oven to the grill your chicken will fall apart on the grill). Once cooled down I grill on medium heat carefully turning each piece to crisp the skin and not burn it. Crisp skin is what gives this chicken the perfect texture and flavor. You can feed an army for cheap and I can guarantee your guests have never tasted better grilled chicken.
Thanks for sharing your method with us!
Love this recipe, do you think i could grill them day before using and then put them in crock pot on warm to heat them up before serving, thanks
Thanks for the question, Donna. You might be ok, but they could also end up drying out from being heated so long. I think you’d be better off cooking them gently in the oven (at 300F for 20-30 minutes, until just cooked through) and then putting sauce on them and refrigerating, then grilling to reheat them. I have this recipe (https://cookthestory.com/how-to-grill-chicken/) which does that for dark meat pieces (legs and thighs) and it’s amazing!
I try not to use my oven unless absolutely necessary. I have a gas stove with an electric ignitor. And literally have to hold the knob in until it lights up. Is their any way I could like partially boil the chicken or something before grilling it???
You could poach the chicken, Lindsay, but I’ve only ever poached breasts though so I’m not sure how it would be with other pieces. If you’re trying to avoid the oven, I recommend grilling the chicken. So ahead of time, get the grill to a medium temperature, around 300F. Put the seasoned chicken on and close the grill. Flip it over every 5-10 minutes until cooked through, then sauce it and refrigerate like in the recipe.
Are you referring to an outdoor grill for the last step?
Sounds wonderful, I have about twenty coming and thought I’d try this!
I use an outdoor grill, yes. But you can also use a stove top or electric grill, or you can even broil it. You’re just trying to get that little bit of color. The outdoor grill will give you some smoky flavor too. But it’s not that important.
Made this for a backyard party with 60 people…totally no stress since it’s completey cooked the day before and everyone LOVED it! I’ve already gotten so many requests for the recipe!
Nina, That’s fantastic! I’m really delighted to hear it. Thank you!
Tried your baked and grilled method again – marinaded in Italian dressing with salt and pepper for an hour. Baked at 350F for 30 minutes and then grilled 4 minutes each side and then basted with Very Very Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce for last 2 minutes. This marinade is awesome and smells so yummy! Used drumsticks with skin on. Obviously, both times my chicken was cooked through and what a grilling time saver! Thanks
Blanca, I’m delighted that you like this method. I love it too. Sooooo easy and failproof! Thanks for letting me know.
This is absolutely magnificent, scrumptious, delicious, super yummy grilled chicken. My husband would love it! Thanks for sharing Christine!
Has anyone ever grilled their chicken to get the marks and THEN marinated it (once it cooled down a bit of course) and then finished it in the oven after it’s marinated for the appropriate time? My thought is to mark the chicken but avoid burning it with any marinade drippings. And then it could be baked and served fresh. I have a catering job where this would be a more logical option but would love input.
Katy, I absolutely think you could do this with boneless skinless chicken breasts. I’m concerned that they might be dry in the end. But…pound them to an equal thickness (see how to do this, and more about grilling chicken breasts here https://cookthestory.com/how-to-grill-chicken-breasts-that-are-sooo-juicy/). Brush with cooking oil and season with salt and pepper. Then grill over medium-high direct heat until the marks show up. Put in a large container or ziptop bag with the marinade and refrigerate for 24 hours maximum. Remember that this chicken is not fully cooked so you need to be careful about it going bad. Now put it in a single layer on a pan and bake at 350F just until cooked through, probably 20 minutes.
I actually think that the reverse method would be preferable: Marinade the raw pounded chicken breasts and then bake at 300F until cooked through, 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool and then refrigerate or while still hot, proceed with the next step. Put chicken breasts on hot grill and cook just for a minute or two on each side, just to get those nice marks and that bit of smoky char flavor.
However, I’m guessing that this wouldn’t work as well for catering.
Can I use boneless pieces to slices for sandwiches?
Yes, boneless dark meat (like boneless thighs) will work. But they won’t need to cook for as long in the oven. Check them after 30 minutes to see if they’re cooked through.
Do you think that after I cook in oven and cool it completely I can freeze for a week?
Tonia, yes! Freeze in a single layer so that they defrost more quickly. Defrost in the fridge overnight, add sauce and then grill to heat through.
My mother taught me to precooked chicken before grilling yrs ago. Have you ever cooked it and then froze it Before grilling?
Lori, I haven’t but I bet it would work well. Defrost it first before grilling it though.
You solved my bloody-bone-vs-dry-meat problem. Although I marinated 6 larg quarters with 3 commercial marinades, and gave my family the choice, they didn’t notice the flavor differences compared to the all over perfect moist, tender, fully cooked, flavor-filled juicy yet crispy perfetion of this dish.
So I have questions on the mango lime chipotle sauce. Do you use one chipotle pepper from the can or one can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce? Do you include the adobe sauce? Also I have frozen mango – do you think this will be ok to use and how much do you think would be equal to one mango? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this BBQ sauce on the make ahead then grill chicken!
Lisa, the recipe calls for one chipotle pepper that is packed in adobo sauce. Just use one pepper and any sauce that is stuck to it. I do think that frozen mango will work. Go with 1 cup of small cubes. 2 cups if it is cubed larger.
Cover the chicken that’s in the oven with tin foil??? I would think it would be dried out if not…?
thanks
Rose, No, there is no need to cover it. You’re cooking it at a low temperature and it’s dark meat. It turns out juicy and delicious. Covering wouldn’t hurt it though. It just isn’t necessary at all.
Yes, I did use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks. The skin didn’t get too crispy, probably because I was afraid I would burn the sauce by turning the direct heat on the grill beyond 300. I also fear fare ups. My husband didn’t eat the skin, to save on added calories and saturated fat, so I should have made it exactly as you stated in your recipe i.e. “skinless”. Next time! Great recipe.
Nancy, Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. Glad you liked the recipe!
I made it! It came out perfectly. I placed on grill with sauced skin side up first then flipped at 4-5 minutes. I kept grill at 300 direct.
Nancy, So glad you liked it. You used chicken with skin on it? I usually use skinless for this because I’m afraid the skin won’t crisp up well. What did you think? How did it turn out?
Do you grill the chicken side side up for the first 4-5 minutes and then turn the sauced skin side down for the final 4-5?
I think that is what you meant by “underside” grill marks first.
.
Yes. Exactly.