This is a tray of grilled chicken thighs.  They are tender and delicious.  I’ve done this also with chicken breast but if you want to do this with chicken breast they must be butterflied and pounded to keep the tender quality these thighs possess.

In a large Ziploc, place your 12 chicken thighs along with the marinade of 4 minced garlic cloves, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, 4 sprigs of thyme, and lemon juice and olive oil.   It’s not complicated but it’s fantastic.  Rosemary is also wonderful. I’ve found that one herb of choice no matter what it is, remains ideal.  If you want to blend your herbs try Herbs de Provence and you will have a savory yet delicate flavor.  Seal your bag and squeeze all this together and give your chicken thighs a very good massage.  Keep going.  Now refrigerate the chicken for an hour although I’ve been known to be in a rush and leave it only for half an hour.

Heat your clean BBQ to very hot, but here make sure your grill hasn’t accumulated oil as you will be fighting a grease fire soon enough.  Douse a paper towel with Olive oil and quickly rub your clean grill, coating it with oil so your chicken doesn’t stick. Take all your chicken that you’ve removed from the marinade and discard ziplock and it’s contents and individually place them on the grill.  Close and let heat and make marks on your chicken.  Turn BBQ down to a more medium heat because you want your chicken to cook as well as remain moist.  So after about 8-10 min they should be ready to turn.  Let cook for another 10-15 minutes depending on how large our pieces are.  Always follow guidelines for proper meat temperatures and if you are more comfortable using an instant thermometer to make sure you should do so.  As well if your BBQ is like mine you will have to rotate the pieces allowing them all to have a turn at the magic spots that create that beautiful reddish brown caramelization.  Yum.  This also makes crispy edges if you do it right. As you can see on my tray, there are a few pieces that don’t have that crispy brown.  Shame on me! Squeeze a little more lemon on and I’ve been known to ribbon fresh mint and sprinkle on as I’m serving.  It’s too good!

Ingredients

12 deboned chicken thighs, salted and peppered

5-6 large cloves garlic crushed

3 lemons juiced

4 sprigs thyme, rosemary or any herb you love

1/4 cup olive oil

olive oil for greasing your grill

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper