What's For Dinner: Pan-Roasted BBQ Chicken Thighs

We eat a lot of chicken around this parts. As in several nights a week. I love chicken in that it's a nutritious source of lean protein and it lends itself quite well to a wide variety of recipes.

For a simple dinner, I'll season boneless, skinless chicken thighs with salt and pepper, place them in a lightly oiled glass baking dish and bake them in a 425-degree oven for 20 minutes. Easy-peasy.

This recipe for pan-roasted BBQ chicken thighs takes my simple recipe a couple steps further, but still cooks up in less than 30 minutes. To add a little crispness to the skinless chicken, the thighs are first roasted on the stovetop before being basted with barbecue sauce and finished in the oven.

On a weeknight when time is of the essence, a simple recipe like this one is a total godsend. I usually start a batch of rice in the rice cooker right before putting the chicken on the stove, so that it's ready to go once the chicken is out of the oven. Place a serving of chicken on a bed of rice, garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro, and dinner is ready to be served.

Pan-Roasted BBQ Chicken Thighs (printer-friendly version)
makes 4-6 servings

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (just over 1 pound)
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
fresh cilantro, chopped [optional]

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Add the grapeseed oil to a cast iron skillet and heat over high heat. Use a paper towel to remove any excess moisture from the chicken thighs and trim any excess fat. Season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and place them in a single layer in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 10 minutes. Flip the chicken over and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

2. Coat both sides of the chicken with barbecue sauce (about 1 tablespoon per side per piece) and place in the oven. Bake for 3 minutes, then remove from the oven and coat each side again with barbecue sauce. Bake for an additional 3 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the barbecue sauce begins to blacken around the edges. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro. 

What's For Dinner: The Best BBQ Chicken

Cancel your weekend meal plans--you're going to want to make this recipe for the best barbecue chicken immediately!

D's parents came up from Michigan to visit us this past holiday weekend, and that meant I finally had an excuse to cook up the parted-out whole chicken we had bought a while back at the farmers market. (Don't freak out; it had been resting comfortably in the freezer.) I figured it was about time we initiated outdoor grilling season given that summer's just around the corner.

The grill time for this recipe is actually quite minimal, and if you don't have an outdoor grill, you could use a stove top grill pan instead. Most of the cooking time takes place in the oven, so this recipe isn't exactly ideal for an offsite picnic.

 

But, what this recipe does feature is flavor. And (avert your eyes, m-word haters), the chicken meat is so dang moist! I don't know why I haven't brined my chickens in the past, but, man, am I a convert now! I don't think I've ever had such a flavorful bite of chicken before. And, while you can always take the time to make your own barbecue sauce, I went the lazy route this time around and used my favorite retail brand that is made of the same ingredients I would use if I were making it from scratch.

The best BBQ chicken, really? Don't believe me? You'll have to try it out for yourself.

The Best BBQ Chicken (printer-friendly version)
makes 4-6 servings

8 cups (2 quarts) water
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 or 3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 sprig fresh sage leaves

1 sprig fresh oregano
1 whole chicken, cut into parts, bone in and skin on

1 16-ounce jar barbecue sauce

1. Make the brine: in a large (preferably 4 quarts or more) lidded container (such as a Dutch oven or casserole dish), mix together the water, salt, brown sugar, garlic cloves, and fresh herbs. Add the chicken, cover, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Then preheat a grill pan or outdoor grill to medium heat. Brush the grates with a neutral oil (such as vegetable oil) to prevent the chicken from sticking. Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry, and place on the preheated grill. Grill for 5 minutes, then flip, and cook for 5 minutes more.

3. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake the chicken for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and brush both sides generously with barbecue sauce. Return the chicken to the oven and bake for 15 more minutes, then remove the chicken from the oven and brush again with barbecue sauce. Continue baking for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the meatiest part of the chicken registers 165 degrees and the juices run clear.

(adapted from this Tyler Florence recipe)

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken

I made slow cooker BBQ pork chops late last week and ended up saving the leftover barbecue sauce that the pork chops cooked in, as I didn't want it to go to waste. This week I planned to have D cook barbecue chicken on the grill, but since he was stuck in the field all day long, I decided to give slow cooker BBQ chicken a whirl instead. To help keep the chicken moist, I gave the thighs a quick dredge in a flour and spice mixture, then pan-browned them in a skillet. The chicken was then added to the slow cooker, topped with barbecue sauce, and set to cook on low for about six hours. Right before serving, I used two forks to shred the chicken. I served the shredded barbecue chicken over rice, but I think this would make an excellent filling for a sandwich (similar to the pulled pork sandwiches I featured a while back), too.

Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken (printer-friendly version)
makes 4-6 servings

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
6-8 organic chicken thighs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups barbecue sauce

1. Add the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, ground mustard, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and ground cumin to a gallon-sized plastic bag. Add in the chicken thighs, seal the bag, and shake to coat the thighs evenly.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned all all sides, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add enough barbecue sauce to cover the bottom of a 2-quart slow cooker bowl. Add in the chicken and top with enough barbecue sauce to cover.
4. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.
5. Use two forks to shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Serve immediately atop a bed of rice or other grain, or as a sandwich filling.

(adapted from this recipe)

What's For Dinner: Lazy Girl Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops

Happy First Day of Spring! Apparently springtime is still a long ways away up here in Northern Wisconsin. It was -14 with windchill this morning when I took Leroy for an abbreviated walk around the cul de sac. I have to admit, as much as I love the snow (and have had fun learning how to cross-country ski; although given the bruises currently on my knees, I have a long way to go), I am SO ready for green grass and blooming flowers. I'm also considering signing up for a half-marathon that occurs in early May; I could really use some snow- and ice-free roadways, as I just cannot deal with running on a treadmill for more than 4 miles. I hear that the "mud season" lasts for quite awhile up here as all the piles of snow melt ... we shall see.

All this to say that given the cold temperatures, it appears I won't be giving up my slow cooker meals just yet. (In the warmer months, I tend to stay away from slow cooker meals and instead focus on meals that feature the fresh produce that arrives in the late spring and is available all summer long). For today's slow cooker recipe, I'm sharing a super-simple (and let's face it, super-lazy) recipe for BBQ pork chops. I made this last week when I was (randomly) craving some barbecue pork and was swamped with work. Though I have made barbecue sauce from scratch in the past, I didn't have the time to whip up a batch this time around. So instead I opted to use the bottled variety, and found a brand that had an ingredient list I could get behind (and was quite similar to the ingredients I would have used if I had made the sauce from scratch myself). To make this dish, you just pour some sauce into the crockpot, add the pork chops, and add enough sauce so that the chops are covered. Set it on low, and let the slow cooker work its magic for 6 hours. The result? Amazingly-delicious barbecue pork chops with almost zero effort.

Lazy Girl Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops (printer-friendly version)
makes 4 servings

4 pork chops
1 bottle (20-24 oz) barbecue sauce (I used American Stockyard Smoky Sweet BBQ Sauce)

1. Pour about half the bbq sauce into a 2-quart slow cooker bowl. Add the pork chops. Pour in more bbq sauce if necessary to completely cover the chops.
2. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.
3. Shred the meat or serve the pork chops whole. I served the pork chops over a bed of wild rice (and had some steamed broccoli on the side, not pictured, obvs.)

What's For Dinner: BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Memorial Day signifies the beginning of the summer season. Though I don't particularly associate summer with my slow cooker, I had the urge to make pulled pork sandwiches for my parents while they were in town, so out it came.

After brunch on Sunday we headed to Whole Foods, where I picked up some pork shoulder (aka pork butt), a can of Whole Foods root beer, and a few other items to go along with our sandwiches, including a tasty cucumber-tomato-onion dill salad and cole slaw.

Apparently Food & Wine magazine was reading my mind, as Sunday morning's F&W Daily email featured a recipe for slow cooker barbecued pulled pork. I was intrigued by the recipe's addition of onions to the slow cooker at the beginning of the cooking period. I opted to caramelize the onions before adding them on top of the pork in the slow cooker. And, since I had a head of roasted garlic in the fridge, I decided to add those roasted cloves to the slow cooker as well.

The resulting pulled pork was quite savory and was a hit with my parents. I think this may just be my go-to pulled pork recipe from now on.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches (printer-friendly version)
makes enough for 8+ sandwiches

2-3 lbs pork shoulder
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 can of root beer
1 onion, chopped
8-10 roasted garlic cloves

1. Place the pork shoulder in the bowl of a slow cooker. (I used the 4-quart bowl.)
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour a can of root beer over the pork.
4. Add in the roasted garlic cloves and caramelized onions.
5. Set the slow cooker to low and cook for 6-7 hours.
6. Use a knife and fork to shred the pork. Drain off the liquid.
7. Stir in about 1-2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce. (I like to make mine from scratch.)
8. Serve immediately with buns and a selection of sides.