When grilling chicken thighs, consider bone-in or boneless and flavoring options. Marinate overnight for tender results. Use smoked barbecue sauce for flavor and baste with a mixture to prevent burning. Turn every 7-10 minutes and cook until no pink remains.
The first thing to consider when grilling chicken thighs is whether you have bone-in or bone-in poultry, as this will affect the cooking time. Another important consideration is what flavoring you want to add to the chicken. Marinating chicken thighs in the refrigerator overnight or a few hours before broiling can create a delicious and tender result. If you plan to prepare your poultry pieces on an outdoor grill, but bad weather or other constraints make that option less appealing, grilled chicken thighs can be a great alternative.
While grilled chicken doesn’t have the same barbecued flavor as free-range broiled poultry, using a smoked variety of barbecue sauce at the end of the cooking time can create a similar flavor. Adding sauce too early when cooking chicken thighs can cause burns due to the usually heavy amount of sugar or honey in the sauce. Starting with marinated chicken thighs and turning them by brushing on a basting mixture before adding the barbecue sauce can help add extra flavor while preventing burning.
You can use exactly the same ingredients for both the marinade and the stuffed sauce. Since raw chicken thighs will soak in the marinade, it’s not a good idea to use the leftover marinade as a basting sauce. Instead, some of the marinade can be reserved before the rest is used on raw poultry to brush over the grilled chicken thighs as they cook. You can use melted butter or cooking oil in your marinade/basted sauce. Wine vinegar, minced garlic, mustard powder, and herbs or seasonings of your choice may also be added.
Grilling chicken thighs can make them crispier and browner than baking them in the oven, but because the oven heat required is much higher, you’ll have to keep a constant eye on cooking poultry. Standing in the kitchen and watching closely and turning grilled chicken legs so they get crispy without burning is crucial to a successful end result. Exactly how long it takes will depend on your oven, the distance of the chicken leg heating element, and the number of pieces you’ll be cooking at one time.
Usually, the rack should be positioned approximately 8-10 inches (20-25cm) from the oven’s heating element. If you don’t have a broiler pan, you can use a food-grade broiler basket with a cookie sheet placed underneath. Marinated chicken thighs should be turned using metal tongs every 7-10 minutes or so and basted with extra marinade, but also barbecue sauce on the last twist. As a general rule, boneless chicken thighs tend to take between 20-30 minutes to cook, while bone-in pieces can take another 10 minutes. The most accurate way to be sure grilled chicken thighs are cooked through is to make sure there is no sign of a pink color and that the juices are running away.
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