Grilled Chicken is one of the best and easiest thing to cook on the grill and this recipe is fantastic. There is so much flavor in this chicken from the lemon herb seasoning. This recipe uses the whole chicken marinated overnight in a generous amount of seasoning and a touch of lemon juice.
Learn how to cook a perfectly juicy bone-in chicken on the grill and serve it with all your favorite sides. If you would rather use a different cut of chicken, this seasoning is delicious on all of them.
GRILLED CHICKEN
Learning how to make grilled chicken will open doors to so many recipes. More importantly, you can put together a simple grilled chicken dinner in just a few minutes and get juicy chicken that is so flavorful. Even simply seasoned chicken will taste great with smokey flavors infused into it.
But this is no simple chicken! No, no. This chicken has a wonderful coat of seasoning generously rubbed all over. Not just that, I leave it in the refrigerator overnight to give the seasoning a chance to infuse the meat with its delicious flavors. Since it’s a dry seasoning, extra lemon juice is not poured over the top but instead, it’s spread on the bottom. If you pour it over the top, it will take off the seasoning.
I love to buy a whole chicken and break it down into breast, legs, and wings. It’s a bit cheaper that way and we get to have different types of chicken meat in one dinner. That woks great when some of your family members like breast meat and others prefer dark meat. (Plus, I make chicken stock out of the leftover back bone and meat. It’s an extra recipe out of the same chicken.)
If you don’t feel like dealing with breaking down a whole chicken, feel free to use thigh meat, bone in chicken breast, leg quarters, or chicken drumsticks. You can even use boneless chicken breast or thigh meat, just follow these grilling instructions as bone-in chicken is different to grill than boneless chicken.
INGREDIENTS FOR SEASONING
This chicken seasoning is like an upgrade to the simple poultry seasoning. I added a few extra flavorful ingredients to take it to the next level. You can even make this seasoning ahead of time just don’t add lemon zest. Add fresh lemon zest when you’re ready to prepare the chicken. (It’s the easiest way, otherwise there is a process of baking lemon zest at low temperature if you want to make it ahead of time.)
Basic Poultry Seasoning
Sage
Thyme
Rosemary
Marjoram
Nutmeg
Lemon Herb Chicken Seasoning
Poultry seasoning
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Salt
Lemon zest
GRILL NOTES:
Coals: briquettes (you can still use lump, you may just need to add a few bricks to keep the heat going)
Grill temperature: medium: 350°-450° (3/4-full chimney)
Placement on the grill: direct first and then indirect heat for bone-in chicken. Two-zone fire is a must.
Wood if desired: hickory, oak, pecan
HOW TO GRILL CHICKEN
This is bone-in chicken so it’s a little different process than for boneless chicken. It will also take longer until bone-in chicken is done. Chicken with bones in is best to cook over direct fire first, to give it a nice sear, and then move it over to the warm side to finish.
Prepare chicken:
Break down the whole chicken into legs, wings, and chicken breast. You can also cut each chicken breast in half width-wise so it smaller and cooks faster. (You can learn how to break down the chicken here.) Or, you can just get chicken that is already broken down. Place chicken pieces into a large mixing bowl, drizzle it with some oil, and toss until evenly coated.
Combine all the ingredients for the seasoning in a small mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated. Sprinkle the seasoning all over the chicken and toss the chicken until it’s evenly coated with seasoning.
Spread lemon juice in the bottom of a glass 9×13 casserole dish (aluminum pan or ceramic casserole dish will work too). Place seasoned chicken in the dish, in one even layer. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.
Cooking the chicken:
Start the coals and build a two-zone fire when coals are ready. (Or set your gas grill to medium.) Close the lid and let the grill preheat for about 10 minutes. Make sure the grill grate is clean and seasoned.
Place chicken pieces over direct fire, skin side down. Let it sear for 3-4 minutes and then turn it over. Let it sear of the other side for 3-4 minutes as well and then move the chicken over to the warm side with no coals. Close the grill lid and cook the chicken for 12-14 minutes. Flip chicken over, close the lid, and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Check the temperature to make sure chicken is done.
When is the chicken done?
It’s best to check the internal temperature of the chicken to make sure it’s done. Use a meat thermometer to check the thickest part of the chicken, near the bone. Chicken is done when internal temperature reaches 165°F.
STORE AND REHEAT
Store grilled chicken leftovers in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To reheat, you can either use a microwave or an oven. In the microwave, place chicken on a microwave safe plate and cover with a microwave lid. If you don’t have a lid, use a microwave-safe bowl turned upside-down to cover the chicken.
If you want to reheat chicken in the oven, preheat it to 350° and wrap chicken in foil. Don’t wrap it too tight. Place wrapped chicken on the center of the oven rack and reheat for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.
To get a little crisp back on top, open the foil to expose the skin and place it under a low broil about 7 inches away. Let it finish reheating and crisp but watch it so it doesn’t burn.
MORE GRILLED CHICKEN RECIPES TO TRY
Pineapple Grilled Chicken Kebabs
Grilled Chicken Thighs with Brown Sugar Glaze
Grilled Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken
If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @grillingsmokingliving and #grillingsmokingliving so I can see all the things you tried!
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Lemon Herb Grilled Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-3.5 lb whole chicken can also buy broken down chicken or other bone-in cuts of chicken
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 1 lemon - juice only
Lemon Herb Chicken Seasoning:
- 3 tbsp dried sage less amount if sage is "rubbed"
- 2 tbsp dried thyme
- 1 1/2 tbsp crushed dried rosemary
- 1 1/2 tbsp dried marjoram
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tbsp coarse salt
- 1/2 tbsp crushed black pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 large lemons - zest only
Instructions
Prepare chicken:
- Break down the whole chicken into legs, wings, and chicken breast. You can also cut each chicken breast in half width-wise so it smaller and cooks faster. (Or, you can just buy chicken that is already broken down or get other cuts of bone-in chicken like thighs, drumsticks, bone-in breast, or chicken halves.)
- Place chicken pieces into a large mixing bowl, drizzle it with some oil, and toss until evenly coated.
- Combine all the ingredients for the seasoning in a small mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated.
- Sprinkle seasoning all over the chicken and toss the chicken until it’s evenly coated with seasoning.
- Spread lemon juice in the bottom of a glass 9×13 casserole dish (aluminum pan or ceramic casserole dish will work too).
- Place seasoned chicken in the dish, in one even layer. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.
Grilling Chicken:
- Start the coals and build a two-zone fire when coals are ready. (Or set your gas grill to medium.) Close the lid and let the grill preheat for about 10 minutes. Make sure the grill grate is clean and seasoned.
- Place chicken pieces over direct fire, skin side down. Let it sear for 3-4 minutes and then turn it over. Let it sear of the other side for 3-4 minutes as well and then move the chicken over to the warm side with no coals.
- Close the grill lid and cook the chicken for 12-14 minutes. Flip chicken over, close the lid, and let it cook for another 10-14 minutes. Check the temperature to make sure chicken is done.
- Use a meat thermometer to check the thickest part of the chicken, near the bone. Chicken is done when internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Notes
Nutrition
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