Grilled BBQ chicken breasts that are moist and juicy are easy with a few simple steps. Fire up the backyard grill and enjoy one of our favorite and simplest grilled chicken recipes.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken—skinless boneless breast
BBQ sauce—your choice or use my Memphis Style BBQ Sauce
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Featured Comment from Basil :
"Best bbq'd SBCBs we've ever eaten. Perfect!"
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Everybody wants to grill juicy skinless boneless chicken breasts, but they all get dried-out hockey pucks. Let's get it right; it is not that hard to keep it moist and tender on your gas or charcoal grill with my simple step-by-step photo instructions.
👨🍳How to Grill BBQ Chicken Breasts—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Trim chicken breasts.
2. Thin to ¾ inches if thicker.
3. Optional brine if you wish.
4. Clean and preheat grill to 450° to 500°.
5. Pat dry the chicken and brush lightly with the BBQ sauce of your choice.
6. Place over direct heat. Flip every 5 minutes.
7. About 3-4 minutes before done, brush both sides with sauce. Remove from the grill at an internal temperature of 165°—about 30 minutes of total grill time.
8. Allow to rest for about 5 minutes before serving.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
⏲️How long to cook BBQ chicken breasts on the grill?
About 30 minutes of total grill time at the recommended grill surface temperature of 450°.
But total time will vary by the exact grill temperature and thickness of the breasts. The thinner breasts may be in the 25-minute range, and those huge thick ones may take 35 minutes.
🌡️When is chicken done and safe to eat?
According to the USDA, any chicken or poultry like turkey must reach 165° internal temperature to be safe. Chicken breasts are done at that temperature. Chicken thighs and drumsticks are more tender at 185°+ when the fibrous tissue has melted.
Should you brine
The brine will moisturize and tenderize the chicken and is recommended if you have time, especially if the chicken has been previously frozen, which may dry the chicken.
The recommended brine is relatively heavy in salt. According to Cooks Illustrated, this brine concentration is recommended for chicken for 30 minutes to 2 hours. The chicken gets saltier if over 1 hour, so I'm suggesting 1-hour maximum. Even 20 minutes of brining will do a reasonably good job of brining.
While we no longer recommend rinsing chicken, you should always rinse carefully after brining. Also, don't add any more salt after the brine is used. You can grill a chicken breast and keep it moist without the brine, but it requires attention and skill.
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Chicken Breast Recipes
For more grilled chicken breast options, see the complete guide to Grilled Chicken Breasts. For extra moist and juicy try Reverese Seared Chicken Breasts,
Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with chicken filets, and Grilled Honey Chicken Breasts for a fast and easy change of pace. For more oven chicken breast recipes, check out fast and juicy Convection Baked Chicken and super easy and fast Pan Seared Oven Baked Chicken Breasts.
How to serve BBQ chicken breasts
They can easily be served on a bun with condiments and more Memphis Style BBQ sauce. Served with chips or Grilled French fries. Other side dishes like a green salad, corn on the cob, or Grilled Mixed Vegetables.
How to store and reheat leftovers
Store any leftover BBQ chicken breasts in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days or frozen for 3 months.
Reheat them in the microwave, oven, or grill. If frozen, thaw first.
❓FAQs
Yes, but the final internal temperature for thighs should be 185°+ and will take a few minutes more grilling time.
A very light coat of BBQ sauce at the beginning creates a base for the last coat. You do not have to do that, but I recommend it. The sauce will adhere much better. It does not burn if you have the grill temp correct and don't overcook the chicken.
♨️Grill setup
A grill surface temperature of about 450° is best for any grilled chicken. A little less is fine, and a smidge more is OK, but never over 500°. You can NOT cook chicken properly on high heat. You will dry the outside long before the inside is even close to done or safe.
To get the grill temperature correct, you should use a grill surface thermometer. The hood thermometer is ALWAYS wrong. Please see my guide to controlling your Grill Temperature for more discussion.
If you don't have a surface thermometer (you should), medium to medium-high heat will be about 400°-500° on most gas grills. The cooking time will be different, but you will do OK if you get the end-point of an internal temperature of 165° correct with an instant-read thermometer.
Charcoal Grill
With charcoal grills, you need to be very careful about surface temperature. And, of course, times will vary. On most charcoal grills, you will need to adjust the venting and the amount of charcoal. And it is a good idea to have a cooler area on the grill surface to use if needed.
📖 Recipe
Grilled BBQ Chicken Breasts
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Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoon BBQ sauce of choice
Brine (optional)
- 3 cups water - cold
- 1 ½ tablespoons table salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional
Instructions
- Trim skinless boneless chicken breast of any trimmable fat. Try to use chicken breasts of about the same size. And if you get some that are very plump, flatten them down a little with a meat mallet or the bottom of a pan to about ¾ inch thick.
- Optional Brine: Mix brine of 3 cups water, 1 ½ tablespoons table salt, 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar, and ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional). Add chicken, submerge, and refrigerate for 30 minutes (no more than 1 hour). Remove chicken from the brine and rinse lightly under running water. Please be careful and wash up the surrounding area and your hands.
- Clean and oil grill grates and preheat to a surface temperature of 450°-500°, which is about medium-high on most grills. I recommend a surface thermometer to be able to control your grill well.
- Pat dry the chicken breasts with paper towels.
- Brush lightly with the BBQ sauce of your choice.
- Place over direct heat.
- Flip about every 5 minutes. About 3-4 minutes before done, brush both sides with sauce. Remove from the grill at an internal temperature of 165°—about 30 minutes of total grill time. But total time will vary by the exact grill temperature and thickness of the breasts. The thinner breast may be in the 25-minute range, and those huge thick ones may take 35 minutes.
- Allow to rest for about 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
- This brine is relatively heavy in salt, so a maximum time of 1 hour please. Rinse to remove extra salt. The brine is optional but recommended.
- Total grilling time will vary by the exact grill temperature and thickness of the breasts. The thinner breasts may be in the 25-minute range, and those huge thick ones may take 35 minutes. But 30 minutes is average.
- If you have a breast that has a large variation in thickness, using a meat mallet to even things out a bit is a good idea. Try for about ¾ inches thick.
- I like a very light coat of BBQ sauce at the start to create a base for later. It does not burn, but omit if you wish.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Editors Note: Originally published August 1, 2011. It was in need of a rewrite, some better photo editing, and some clarification of technique.
ROSE says
Excellent! Everyone loved it!
DrDan says
Thanks so much for the note.
Dan
Ian says
Hi,
Hopefully you see this comment before I start cooking.
If I have the time to let the brine sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, would I still need to poke holes in the breasts? I do a similar brine when I make pork chops and have never poked any holes in them, regardless of how much time I let them brine, which is usually a couple of hours.
Thanks,
DrDan says
As you assumed, the holes are to speed things up some. If you have 2 hours or even one then now holes will be fine. But it is OK for them holes even at 2 hours.
Dan
Ian says
I erred on the side of caution and went with holes, even though I knew I was going to be brining the breasts for about 2hrs. They were great. I'm now thinking I'll do the same thing for pork chops the next time I make them to see if there is a difference.
If you are interested, my pork chop brine is 3 cups of water (2 cups brought to a boil + 1 cup cold water), when the water is boiling I add 3 tbsp of kosher salt, couple of crushed garlics, 1 tsp of peppercorns and a bay leaf or two, I put all that into the boiling water and when the salt has dissolved, I add the cup of cold water.
Thanks,
Ian
jen says
never heard of your site but google made it my top pic when I searched 'best barbecue chicken breast.' very yummy, I ended up brushing the chicken every few min with the sauce and it came out really thick and caramelized. thanks for the recipe!jen
Dan Mikesell says
Hi Jen,
Thanks for the note. I actually do similar to what you describe most of the the time, but you can get to a burnt point fairly easily and I hate to send people close to that point. So I went with a light base then adding at the end which still gives a nice coat with some nice caramelization. I do believe the brine is so important here to prevent the old "hockey puck" syndrome.
Dan
Christopher Smith says
Tried this yesterday amazing. The best chicken I have ever grilled. Thanks
Sylvia says
Can you make brine without salt v
DrDan says
No, the salt is required for a brine. It is what does the work of pulling the moisture into the meat.
N. Law says
Well worth you trying this one ! More often than not, trying to make B-B-QUE chicken without skin or bones turns out terrible. Very dry and the chicken on the outside is hard. However, this recipe will prevent that. It is simple to make and tastes great. Chicken remains moist and outside is NOT hard. I made it in the oven and I will definately try it on the grill.
DrDan says
Thank for the note and rating. I do believe the brine is so important for this to escape the "hockey puck" syndrome common with the skinless boneless breast.
Thanks for the note and rating.
DrDan
Ken Balsillie says
Question: Some meat is cooked to a "doneness" by touching a utensil to the surface of the meat~might this be true for SBCB as well? I realize this method might be in conjunction with the time. Thanks
DrDan says
I'm not a fan of the touch method. Almost impossible to be correct outside of very controlled conditions and lots of repetition. Like a profession cooking a steak of a set size and thickness over the same heat repeatedly. Also time is never good. I only give an approximate time for planning reasons. Always cook to a final temperature on meats especially chicken or ground meat. See https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/kitchen-cheat-sheets/#temperatures
DrDan
Bob says
Thanks a lot for the quick response, DrDan. We do have a meat thermometer and will be shopping for that grill surface thermometer. As for today, I'm going for it! Will let you know how it went.
Bob says
Pretty new to grilling, Dan. Do I leave the lid closed or open? Also, we have a 3-burner, brand new Brinkman propane grill, but it has no temp. gauge on it. Is there a way to tell without a gauge? Also, you talked about leaving brine for 1-2 hrs in fridge. do you mean chicken in brine, as long as it's in the fridge? Thanks a lot...going to try your recipe today.
DrDan says
So lets go in order. Lid closed. Temperature gauges on the hood of grills are useless anyways. Next time you order from Amazon or shopping at Lowe's or similar store pick up a grill surface thermometer (about $10). For now go with medium-high. Most three burner can get to 550 or so on high but medium is usually about 400ish. Here you would want to be 450-500 range. You MUST have a meat thermometer to be successful at all with grilling so you need that before you start. Overcooked will be hockey pucks and undercooked dangerous. A cheap $10-$15 one will do. And yes the chicken is in the brine in the refrigerator.
DrDan
Ana says
Can I use the oven instead?
DrDan says
Oven needs a little different technique. Check out https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/30-minute-skinless-boneless-chicken/ . Try this but cut back the spices some and coat top with sauce the last 5 minutes or so. I use cast iron but any oven safe pan that can tolerate as stove top should be fine.
DrDan
Jennifer says
This sounds very good, however I don't have sugar! Will the brine still be ok without it?
DrDan says
Skip the sugar... I only use it some times.
DrDan
Wendy says
My chicken came out fabulous!! Thanks
Bryant says
Just made this recipe to the letter. Now for the payoff. Review to follow...
Bryant says
Ok. Overall I was pleased. My grill temp was 550F at start. I wouldn't recommend getting grill as hot as you can, as I did. I have a three burner propane grill. Grill temp lowered to 450F after chicken was on. Also worthy to note I doubled this recipe, so two breasts would have cooked faster. Brine kept chicken from drying out. If I cooked again this same way, grill burning wide open, I would cook for about 16 minutes. 5 minutes on each side then 3 and 3. OR, grill temp of 475F start temp instead of 550F+. Hope you find this helpful.
Bryant says
Thanks for the recipe Dan!
DrDan says
Thanks for the notes Bryant. Yep I agree the the 550 was a bit high but do-able if you watch carefully. I like the 450-500 range better.
Thanks for the rating too
Dan
John says
Awesome tip about the brine, and the grilling! I have now done this 4 times. Will never sklp the brine again. Thank you!
Noelle G. says
Thanks for a great idea with the brining of the breasts...but now I am so curious... what's happening in the cast iron pan next to the chicken in your grill pics, it looks like homemade skillet fries and I would love the details on that as well :)
DrDan says
Hi Noelle, Thanks for the comment. The potatoes are grilled French Fries. The Recipe is at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/grilled-french-fries/
Sandy says
This looks great, but 30 min seems like an awfully long time to cook a boneless chicken breast. Am I wrong? We can normally do 5-7 on a side and it's done!
Any other info is appreciated
DrDan says
Hi Sandy,
The time is an approximation for reference and is my actual time . The variables are chicken size and thickness, temperature of the chicken at start and the grill surface temperature. Most of the chicken breast we get are about 10-12 oz. For these breast, you can't "sock the heat to them" or you will have burnt outside long before the 165 internal temperature you need for safety. Smaller would cook faster. I try to rest them some at room temp before cooking to help some too.
The grill surface temp should be in the 450 degree range. That was high on my old grill but medium to medium high on my current grill.
If you're cooking to the correct internal temp you are most definitely NOT WRONG. The skinless boneless chicken breasts can become "hockey pucks" so easy if over cooked.
Thanks for the comment.
DrDan