Start this in the lemon brine early in the day, and by evening you’ll have moist, lemony chicken. It’s a classic flavor combination!
I’m not usually the one to do the grilling in our family, but I must have learned a little something watching over the years because this chicken turned out pretty well.
My parents have been brining the Thanksgiving turkey for the last few years. (Brining is soaking the meat in a salty, spicy solution before cooking.) It makes for very moist, flavorful meat. I would love to tell you that I always fix chicken this way, but the truth is I don’t usually plan that far in advance. (That’s why I don’t have a list of crock pot recipes for you too!)
I had to take photos outside to get the last bit of natural light. The chicken looks pretty good; the taste was even better!
Adapted from: myrecipes.com
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Chicken that’s moist and full of flavor
Ingredients
- 4 quarts water
- 2/3 cup kosher salt
- 3 lemons, quartered
- 1/8 cup dried parsley
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 – 5 pounds chicken, cut up (I used a jumbo package of thighs)
Instructions
- Place water and salt in a large dutch oven, heat just enough to dissolve salt.
- Squeeze lemons over the dutch oven, add the fruit as well as the juice.
- Add parsley, onion, garlic, and pepper.
- Add chicken to dutch oven. The water should just cover the chicken.
- Cover dutch oven and refrigerate 6 – 8 hours.
- Grill or bake as usual. I used indirect heat on a gas grill for about an hour and then medium direct heat to crisp up the skin.
It looks like this chicken thigh is haning out of Wee Dax’s mouth like some kind of giant poultry stoggie, but it’s an optical illusion. He was just hoping I’d turn my back.
This sounds great. I haven’t had brined chicken in years and I think it’s about time!
This recipe looks delicious AND it fits the paleo autoimmune protocol (a rare thing). So, thank you! I recently started a weekly Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable through my blog, and I would love it if you linked up this recipe. I’m trying to expand resources for the AIP community. Here’s the link: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2014/03/26/paleo-aip-recipe-roundtable-20/
Thanks, Eileen, I’ll do that. I appreciate the invitation!
I’ve brined turkey, but never chicken before. Do you think it would work on a whole chicken?
Julie,
Yes, I think it would work well with a whole chicken. Let us know if you try it. I’m just partial to thighs. I like the texture and flavor better than breast meat, so I usually go this route rather than a whole bird.