Best BBQ Chicken

Wow, talk about putting pressure on a recipe, huh? Calling it “The Best”. Well, lucky for this chicken, this recipe lives up to it’s name. I have barbecued chicken many, many times in the past 10 years. I’ve marinated & basted in a variety of different ingredients. However, I’ve never done my chicken this way before. I would have never thought to season the chicken, grill it, and then lather it with a wonderful homemade barbecue sauce. This was a first for me, but it will definitely not be the last. Grilling the chicken this way was fast and extremely flavourful. Since the sauce isn’t applied to the grilled meat until the last 5 minutes of grilling, there isn’t any burnt sauce on the chicken, it is just beautifully baked on.

[print_this]

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil for grates
• 2 Tbsp paprika
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• course salt & ground pepper
• 1 chicken (about 3 lbs) cut into 10 pieces (I used chicken breasts)
• 2 cups Simple Barbecue Sauce (see below)

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium. Lightly oil grates. In a small bowl, combine paprika, chili powder, 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper; sprinkle spice rub all over chicken. Reserve 1 cup barbecue sauce in small bowl for serving. Keep remaining sauce in another bowl for basting.

2. Grill chicken, turning often, until cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes (if browning too quickly, move to cooler part of grill). During final 5 minutes of cooking, baste chicken with barbecue sauce. Serve chicken with reserved sauce.

Simple Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 24-ounce bottle of ketchup (about 3 cups)
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 2 Tbsp gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 Tbsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, and simmer until sauce is thickened and reduced by a third, about 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before using. To store, refrigerate, up to 2 weeks. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

Source: Everyday Food via The Bitten Word

[/print_this]