Yield: 6 servings
Grilled Sweet and Sour Chicken
Total Time: 2 hours 40 mins (includes brining time)
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
Brine:
- 2 quarts water (room temperature or cool water, not warm or hot)
- 1/3 cup (2.5 ounces) coarse, kosher salt (use half the amount for table salt)
- 1/4 cup (1.75 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 6 thin cut chicken breasts, about 2 pounds (or use 3-4 thicker chicken breasts and cut them in half lengthwise or pound thin)
Sweet and Sour Sauce:
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions:
- For the chicken, prepare the brine by whisking
together the water, salt, brown sugar and soy sauce in a large bowl
until the sugar and salt are mostly dissolved.
- Cut each chicken breast into 2-inch strips (so about two strips per
chicken breasts, depending on the size of the chicken breasts) and
submerge all the chicken pieces fully in the brine mixture. Cover the
bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours (or up to four hours). Any
longer than four hours and the chicken may be too salty.
- For the sauce, whisk together all the sauce
ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer over
medium-low heat. Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes to reduce and
thicken slightly (can simmer longer for a thicker sauce), stirring
occasionally. There may be a strong vinegar smell as the sauce simmers
and the vinegar evaporates – that’s completely normal (and the sauce
will not taste overly vinegary).
- Preheat grill to medium heat (on my pellet grill, I preheat to 350
degrees for this recipe). Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry
with paper towels. Discard the brine.
- Grill the chicken, turning once, until an instant-read thermometer
registers 165 degrees F (exact cooking time will depend on what type of
grill you have; it takes about 15 minutes total on my pellet grill for
thin cut chicken at this temperature). During the last two minutes of grilling brush the chicken liberally with the prepared sweet and sour sauce.
- Remove the chicken from the grill to a serving platter and drizzle
with remaining sauce OR serve the sweet and sour sauce on the side.
Notes:
You can use up to four pounds of chicken using the same amount of brine.
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