Grilled Herbed Chicken

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This recipe for grilled herbed chicken has become my go-to chicken recipe when grilling chicken during the warmer summer months.  The herbed marinade is bright and seasons the chicken perfectly for summertime meals.

First things first, let’s talk about a little grilling.  This summer I decided to “woman-handle” the grill, and take control, I mean why should it be the Lenny”s job.  My goal was to master grilling, and I am happy to say, I am just about there.  Or at least the master of the home grill.  There are two items that are a must for perfecting the grill, and those items are a temperature gauge for the BBQ, and a meat thermometer.  You NEED these items regardless if you use a gas or charcoal grill.  Trust me.  All of my grill recipes moving forward are going to be based on temperature control.

What helped make grilling a whole chicken easy is having my butcher butterfly it.  Which I know I should learn how to do, but it is just one more thing right now.  After lightly browning each side of the chicken (on the grill) I placed a salt slab on top of the chicken.  If you do not have a salt slab, wrap some clean bricks with foil, and use them.  The chicken cooks quickly and evenly being placed under the weight.  I grill the chicken to 165 degrees, then I remove it and let sit for 10 minutes.  It will continue to cook, but will still be moist when you serve it.

What provoked this particular recipe was the cleaning out of the refrigerator.  We were getting ready to leave town for a bit, and I had a bunch of mixed herbs that I hated to toss in the compost, so chopping began.  I basically made a marinade out of Italian parsley, chives, rosemary, basil and sunflower oil and let the chicken bath in it for four hours.  You are probably wondering why sunflower oil instead of olive oil?  The reasoning is the clean flavor as well it can withstand the high heat of the grill, and won’t burn.  Since that first time making this recipe, I have made it many times, using whatever fresh herbs I have on hand.  I always have Italian parsley as well as chives as the base, and then toss in whatever else is around such as cilantro, lemon zest, or thyme.  Really it is a recipe you can play with.

Before tossing the chicken into the marinade, I saved some of it, mixed it with mayonnaise to create an aioli.  It was great to dip the chicken in or to serve with some roasted potatoes.  That is a hint, that you will want to serve roasted potatoes as a side ….. just saying.

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Grilled Herbed Chicken

Ingredients:

a handful of fresh Italian parsley
a handful of fresh chives
4 medium sprigs of rosemary, leaves only
a handful of fresh basil
1 cup sunflower oil
1 cup mayonnaise
1 4 – 5-pound chicken, butterflied, washed and dried

How To:

Place the herbs in a food processor, chop until finely minced.
With the food processor running, add the oil.
Pour all of the marinades, except 1/4 cup, into a large ziplock bag. Set aside the 1/4 cup of marinade.
Add the chicken to the ziplock bag, seal and gently shake.
Place in the refrigerator and let sit for 4 hours.
Mix the remaining 1/4 cup of the marinade with the mayonnaise to create an Aioli.
30 minutes before grilling take the chicken out of the refrigerator and set aside.
Preheat the grill to 375 – 400 degrees.
Remove the chicken from the bag and place bone side on the grill. Grill just until you have some golden grill marks.
Flip the bird over.
Place either a salt slab or clean bricks wrapped in foil on top of the chicken. Cook until golden brown, and the temperature (when measured in the thickest part of the bird) will be between 85 – 90 degrees.
Remove the weight.
Flip the chicken over, and cover with the salt slab or bricks, and grill until the temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Remove the chicken and place on a serving platter.
Cover with foil and let the chicken rest for 5 – 10 minutes.