BBQ Chicken - with Pineapple Sauce
BBQ Chicken Recipes
BBQ chicken recipes are extremely popular in the South, as I assume they are everywhere in the United States. In fact, they’re probably popular all over the world. Barbecue chicken is so versatile that you can take it in practically any direction you choose. I have all sorts of recipes for barbecue chicken that represent several different cuisines, including Cajun, Creole, Mexican, Italian, Mediterranean, Thai, Indian, Caribbean, Hawaiian, and Chinese ingredients. Of course, our favorite BBQ chicken recipes are for southern barbecue chicken. That brings me to another point. What is barbecue chicken? Is it poultry that’s cooked on the grill, or is it chicken that’s coated with barbecue sauce? Does it have to be both in order to qualify as “barbecued”? I’ll leave you readers to discuss the particulars. I don’t really care what it’s called, but it’s yummy, and I like it! I’m not usually a stickler when it comes to variable cooking terms, but I’ll share with you how most older southerners handle the “barbecue dilemma.” If meat is coated with a hot/sweet/spicy sauce, it’s referred to as “barbecued,” whether it’s cooked in the oven, on the grill, on a smoker, or even in a crock pot. If it’s cooked on a grill sans the sauce, we usually call it “grilled chicken.”
Baked BBQ Chicken Recipe
This is a super easy BBQ chicken recipe that’s practically impossible to go wrong with. I’m not claiming that it’s as good as my grilled chicken recipes, but it’s an acceptable substitute when you don’t want to bother with cooking outdoors. To get some of the smoky flavor you’d get from the grill, you can add some Liquid Smoke to your barbecue sauce.
For a baked BBQ chicken recipe, I like to use thighs. The flesh is juicier on the thighs than on the breasts, so the pieces don’t dry out while cooking. Also, if you cook pieces that are all about the same size and thickness, they’ll all get done at approximately the same time.
Easy BBQ Chicken Recipe
Ingredients:
8 chicken thighs
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 bottle commercial BBQ sauce
2 teaspoons Liquid Smoke
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Rinse chicken parts and pat dry.
Combine dry seasonings and rub into chicken on both sides. If you have time, let the rubbed thighs sit in the fridge for about an hour.
Place chicken in a large glass baking dish and cover with foil. Cook for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine barbecue sauce and Liquid Smoke.
Remove chicken from oven and increase heat to 400 degrees. Pour fat off chicken and brush thighs with sauce.
Bake, uncovered, for an additional 15 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear.
Grilled Chicken Recipes
I have lots of grilled chicken recipes, and we use them often, especially in the warmer months. Actually, we can pretty much do outdoor cooking year round because of our mild winters. Still, we grill outdoors more often in the spring and summer, when it’s warm enough for us to dine on the deck. Smelling the meat cooking on the grill is a wonderful appetizer!
My grilled chicken recipes range from hot and spicy to sweet and mild to savory. It just depends on my culinary mood at the time. Sometimes I use a BBQ rub, sometimes I use a chicken marinade, and sometimes I use both. Sometimes I slather the chicken parts with a thick barbecue sauce. If you like to use a sauce on your BBQ chicken, consider the sugar content of the sauce. Sugar will burn on the grill, and you probably don’t want black chicken. Actually, I like a small amount of burn on my BBQ chicken, but not too much. Don’t add the sauce until the chicken is almost done.
Here’s an easy BBQ chicken recipe you can cook on the grill. We like to use a charcoal grill because we love the smoky flavor and aroma. For this recipe, I often use boneless, skinless breasts. They cook quickly, and if you pound them to the same overall thickness, they’ll cook evenly and be very tender.
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup bottled Italian dressing
1 stick butter
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup honey
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced bell pepper (any color)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper
Directions: Rinse and dry breasts and pound to even thickness. Marinate in Italian dressing for one to two hours.
Combine butter, parsley, honey, lemon juice, minced pepper, garlic, and black pepper and heat in microwave.
Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry.
Cook over clean and oiled medium hot coals for about five minutes per side. While breasts are cooking, brush with butter sauce.
Grilled Chicken Marinade
A grilled chicken marinade can really help your poultry. It can impart different flavors to the flesh, and it can help keep the chicken moist and juicy. I really like to use wines in marinades, and for this one, I like to use a crisp, fruity wine like Pinot Grigio. Many cooks like to use half oil and half wine in their grilled chicken marinade, but I find that with skin-on chicken, you don’t usually need as much oil in the marinade. Also, a split whole chicken, like I’m using in my BBQ chicken recipe below, won’t dry out as much as individual pieces will because there’s less surface area in ratio to flesh.
Ingredients:
1 cup white wine
½ cup oil
1 tablespoon mixed whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 green onion bulbs, minced
Directions: Combine all ingredients and pour over chicken. Marinate in refrigerator for up to four hours. Turn bag occasionally to rearrange chicken.
BBQ Chicken Recipe – with Pineapple Sauce
This is a great BBQ chicken recipe! Honestly, I think I could drink the sauce by itself. If you don’t feel like firing up the grill, cook the chicken in the oven. By the way, the sauce is wonderful on pork, too.
Does the BBQ Chicken look tasty?
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, 3-4 pounds
- recipe for grilled chicken marinade, above
- cooking spray
- 1 cup Heinz ketchup
- 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, with juice
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon (or more) cayenne
Instructions
- Rinse chicken and pat dry.
- Split chicken in half, lengthwise, down backbone. Trim away excess fat and skin.
- Place chicken in a gallon Ziploc and cover with marinade. Leave in refrigerator for two to four hours.
- Clean and oil grilling grates. Place coals on one side of grill and heat to medium-high.
- When coals are ready, remove chicken from marinade and pat dry. Spray chicken with cooking spray and place over direct heat, skin-side down. Brown both sides of chicken to leave grill marks.
- Move chicken away from heat and close grill lid. Cook for 45 minutes.
- Turn chicken over and cook for another 45 minutes.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the pineapple BBQ sauce by combining ketchup, pineapple, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, paprika, ground mustard, and cayenne. Simmer on stove until sauce thickens.
- When internal temperature of chicken reaches 165 degrees, brush with pineapple sauce and brown both sides of poultry over hotter part of grill. If you like more sauce, repeat the process with another coat of the pineapple BBQ sauce.
- Remove chicken from grill and wrap in foil. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.