Ultimate Grilled BBQ Chicken Recipe

This chicken comes out tasting smokey, delicious, and has nice crispy skin. The spice rub mimics the flavors of a good BBQ sauce, so you don't have to actually put the sauce on there, which would make the chicken skin flabby. Also note that it's not technically barbecue, since we're not smoking it.

Ingredients

The Meat

• 1 Package Each, Chicken thighs and drumsticks, skin on. Should be 4 thighs and 6 drumsticks.

The Brine

• Quart of water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/4 cup kosher salt (1/2 cup table salt)
• 1-2 gallon size plastic ziplock bag

The Dry Rub

• 1 tbsp curry powder (not the madras kind)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp adobo powder (the kind without pepper)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp hot paprika (optional)

Preparation

Brine the Chicken

1. Put the water, honey, and salt into the bag. Mix it around until it's dissolved.
2. Add the chicken, mix around until it's nicely coated.
3. Put in the fridge for 1 to 1.5 hours.
4. Drain the chicken and pat dry with paper towels.

Deploy the Spice Rub

1. Mix all the ingredients together
2. Put the now-dry chicken into a big ziplock back (preferably 2 gallon size).
3. Pour the rub over the chicken, and mix it all around until everything is very evenly coated.
4. Put the chicken on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

Grill the Chicken

1. Heat up the grill, cook the chicken until it's nicely dark on each side, and registers 160-170 on an instant read thermometer. For best results, cook it on high temperature for the first 5-10 minutes, and then lower the heat to medium for the rest of the time. This will take around 20 minutes total, but really depends on your grill.

Notes

• Try not to flip the chicken for the first 10 minutes or so of grilling, you want the really dark grill marks and the skin to get really done.
• Better to overcook the chicken slightly to make sure the skin is crisp, since it's dark meat and can take it.
• You could make it even more smokey by using some wood chips.