Hello! This is my first time Grilling EVER! I must admit, the grill scares me a bit, but I believe I Nailed it!

Being the person I am, I of course decided to grill split chicken breasts not knowing that they are difficult to do properly. Thank the Lord I found Grilling Companion who gave 10 great steps for grilling the breasts perfectly! Check out that site for any and all grilling questions! After I found out the How To I started to search for a good simple recipe. That is where I found the Domestic Man  Domestic Man is ran by Russ Crandall. He started the Domestic Man in early 2010 because he felt that we as a society have lost touch with our lineage. That is when he decided to move to the Paleo Diet. His blog is filled with great Paleo Friendly recipes that you HAVE to check out! Just as I try to do, he focuses on creating and posting recipes that follow traditional dishes that are historically relevant and all follow the fundamental idea of a real food diet.

So, if I haven’t made the idea clear to you yet, go check out his page. 🙂

Now, to the recipe. The recipe (listed first) is again, from Domestic Man . The guideline comes from Grilling Companion. I have inserted my experience below the recipe. 

Ingredients 

• 2 split chicken breasts (I used 4 and doubled the recipe)
• 2 tablespoons each honey and sea salt
• 1 tsp each paprika, pepper, and garam masala (Domestic Man prefers Sadaf), mixed together
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne (optional, but delicious. Adjust to spice preference!)

Directions

To prepare the chicken, place them in a gallon-size ziploc bag, and pour in two cups of water that have been mixed with the salt and honey. If you still have room, add a little more water. Seal up the bag and refrigerate it for an hour and a half. If you’re going to cook more than two (I actually did four), you may need to use two bags – and increase the ingredients, of course.

• I didn’t do this step. Instead I simply rinsed my chicken, did not pat dry, place in a glass bowl and rubbed all ingredients onto the chicken. Then I let it rest/marinate for about 30 minutes. I did not plan ahead before cooking, therefore wasn’t able to follow exact directions. 🙂

Afterwards, remove the breasts, rinse them with cold water, and pat them dry. Rub the spice mixture on both sides, but use more on the meat side than the bone side of the breast. Let them sit on the kitchen counter for about 10 minutes before grilling.

Note: These are his instructions on how to grill below. If you are new to grilling or have never grilled anything with a bone in, please look below for more thorough guidelines.

Preheat your grill so that one side is on high heat and the other side is cool. Place the breasts bone side down on the hot part of the grill for five minutes, then move them to the cool side of the grill for ten minutes. Flip them over and put them back on the hot side for another five minutes. Check the internal temperature using a thermometer – if it’s at or above 160 degrees, you’re good to go. If it’s not there yet, put it back on the cool side of the grill and check it every five minutes.

Thorough Guidelines from Grilling Companion

Prepare a squirt bottle full of water. You can use something with a sprayer, or simply a water bottle that you can control the water amount with.

Preheat one half of your grill on high heat and the other half on medium-low.  Note, temperatures and times vary greatly because every grill is different! 

• I have a old grill passed down from my father. I honestly have no clue if it properly heats. I simply turned it all on and my husband showed me which parts he found to be Hotter or Cooler.

Once the grill is properly heated, place the chicken breasts skin side down on the high heat side.  This is where you want to have your squirt bottle and a watchful eye to knock down your flare-ups.

• I honestly used a washed out used beer bottle and gently poured the water I needed out of it. Classy I know. 

Grill the breasts skin side down for about 4 – 5 minutes with the lid open, you are mainly browning the skin in this step.

Using tongs, move the chicken breasts over to the cooler side of the grill and keep them skin side down.

Grill on the cooler side for about 6 – 7 minutes with the lid closed.

• I drizzled water over it throughout much of the process to keep the chicken moist and cooled down. It probably caused the chicken to cook slower, but my grill does not heat evenly, so I felt it necessary. 

Open the lid and use your tongs to turn the chicken breasts over and move them back over to the hot side of the grill.

Cook the split chicken breasts bone side down on the high heat side of the grill for about 6 – 7 minutes with the lid open.

Using tongs, move the chicken back over to the cooler side of the grill and continue to grill bone side down for about 6 – 7 minutes longer with the lid closed.

If you are new to this, you may want to use an instant read meat thermometer to test the breasts.  Shove that baby into the thickest part of the breast (without hitting a bone) and check for 160 degrees.  If they need to cook longer, leave them on the cooler side of the grill with the bone side down and close the lid. Check them again every 6 minutes or so until done.

Remove the chicken from the grill, place on a plate and let the breasts rest for about 5 – 8 minutes before serving.

The hardest part was that my Chicken was not all the same size. I tested the temperature multiple times to see where each of them were at.  I had to pull them all at different times. They all turned out delicious though! The honey crisped up the skin perfectly and created great flavor! Most importantly, the chicken was MOIST! My husband was extremely impressed. 😉

Living Satisfied!