Soaking meat in a salt and water brine long remained a lure — but not a staple — in my cooking repertoire. It theoretically made sense, especially when grilling thinner cuts of meat, but if I’ve ever done it before, it didn’t leave much of an impression.
That changed for good this Memorial Day weekend when we hosted a cookout and I deliberately looked for a recipe for grilled chicken that includes a little brine time. This fairly simple concoction evoked accolades that almost assuredly stemmed from the combination of thin-cut boneless chicken breasts soaked in brine before being marinated and grilled.
“Very moist,” brother Joe, visiting from California, said. “It’s succulent,” neighbor Roger agreed. “Best grilled chicken I ever had,” brother Ray said (though “best ever” is his go-to compliment for new dishes). But the highest praise came from oldest sibling Jay (of “Uncle Jake’s Favorite Recipes,” to regular readers) who asked for a copy of the recipe.
I had originally planned a cookout using grilling ideas from Jay’s collection that I wrote about in 2020, including one for spice-rubbed chicken. But the brine bug bit me, and I ditched that plan for this offering from Alexandra Stafford at Alexandracooks.com.
I made two changes: I didn’t add the sugar to the brine, and I used thin-cut breasts instead of pounding regular ones flat. Which makes it relevant to point out a post-script in the chef’s recipe: Having tried the recipe with regular breasts pounded thin while skipping the brine, she concluded the flattening seemed to tenderize the meat enough to skip the salt water bath.
The thin chicken required no such physical tenderizing, so I can only vouch for how well this worked with the brine. I’ve had my share of grilled chicken breasts come out a bit dry, and this sure seems a way to avoid the problem.
I also used new recipes for grilled mushrooms and grilled potatoes —both from Jay’s collection —but those are for future articles as the NEPA grilling season unfolds.
A side note: The chef gave the full title of this recipe as “Simple (And Juicy! And Delicious!) Grilled Chicken Breasts.” Accurate, but a bit over the top for me.
Dobru chut!
Simple Brined, Grilled Chicken Breasts (alexandracooks.com, Alexandra Stafford)
For the brine: ¼ cup salt, ¼ cup sugar, 1½ quarts water (I skipped the sugar)
3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon honey
lemon pepper, salt-free if possible, to taste
2 teaspoons neutral oil or olive oil
kosher salt to taste
Place the chicken breasts on a clean cutting board. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap, parchment paper, or wax paper. Use a meat mallet to pound the breasts to a thickness of 1/2 inch. (I used thin-cut breasts that made this step moot). Submerge the breasts in the water and leave for 30 to 60 minutes; room temperature for under 1 hour, refrigerate if longer. Remove and pat dry.
In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, honey, and lemon pepper to taste (at least a teaspoon). Let the breasts marinate for 15 minutes or up to 24 hours.
Heat a grill medium-high. Brush with oil. Remove the breasts from the marinade, letting the excess drip off. Place the breasts on the grill. Season the top with salt and a little more lemon pepper if desired. Cook 3 minutes. Flip. Season the cooked side with salt and lemon pepper to taste, and cook for 3 minutes more or until the chicken is cooked through.
Transfer the chicken to a plate. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
