Place one chicken breast at a time in a resealable plastic bag or between couple of layers of plastic wrap. Cover with a paper towel to catch the splatter just in case. Pound lightly to an even thickness with a flat side of a meat mallet (rolling pin or a bottom of a frying pan will also work;) you will basically gently pound the side of the chicken breast that's thicker - that's it! Don't pound too thin, we are not making a schnitzel here. The goal here is to even out the chicken breasts, so it's more or less the same thickness (a bit of difference is fine.) I usually go for at least 3/4" thickness. But anywhere between 1/2 - 3/4" thickness will work, just as long as you remember that thinner chicken will cook faster.
Season your chicken breasts with salt an pepper. If you have time, refrigerate them uncovered after they are seasoned for 1-4 hours to "dry brine" them. Brush the chicken lightly with oil.
Preheat your grill to high by turning all the burners, but one, to medium-high. Make sure to clean and oil your grill.
The reason one burner is off, is that just in case any specific piece of chicken gets too charred, it can finish cooking over the indirect heat. However, this is unlikely with this technique, when the chicken is pounded and cooked on a gas grill.
Place your chicken directly over medium-high heat and cook undisturbed for 4-5minutes. The goal is to get very nice grill marks without burning the chicken, while cooking the chicken more than halfway.
Flip the chicken over and finish cooking on the other side for 2-5 minutes until the safe internal temperature of 165F is reached. Your chicken is already cooked more than half of the way, so the other side, depending on how thick your chicken breast was may only take a couple of minutes.
Insert the thermometer carefully into the middle of the breast from the side of the chicken to get an accurate measure. The second it hits 165 in the middle of the breast, remove the chicken from heat and let it rest.
After at least 5 minutes of rest time, slice it up against the grain of the chicken and enjoy.
Feel free to drizzle your chicken with olive oil, lemon juice and crushed garlic mixture.
Ingredients
Directions
Place one chicken breast at a time in a resealable plastic bag or between couple of layers of plastic wrap. Cover with a paper towel to catch the splatter just in case. Pound lightly to an even thickness with a flat side of a meat mallet (rolling pin or a bottom of a frying pan will also work;) you will basically gently pound the side of the chicken breast that's thicker - that's it! Don't pound too thin, we are not making a schnitzel here. The goal here is to even out the chicken breasts, so it's more or less the same thickness (a bit of difference is fine.) I usually go for at least 3/4" thickness. But anywhere between 1/2 - 3/4" thickness will work, just as long as you remember that thinner chicken will cook faster.
Season your chicken breasts with salt an pepper. If you have time, refrigerate them uncovered after they are seasoned for 1-4 hours to "dry brine" them. Brush the chicken lightly with oil.
Preheat your grill to high by turning all the burners, but one, to medium-high. Make sure to clean and oil your grill.
The reason one burner is off, is that just in case any specific piece of chicken gets too charred, it can finish cooking over the indirect heat. However, this is unlikely with this technique, when the chicken is pounded and cooked on a gas grill.
Place your chicken directly over medium-high heat and cook undisturbed for 4-5minutes. The goal is to get very nice grill marks without burning the chicken, while cooking the chicken more than halfway.
Flip the chicken over and finish cooking on the other side for 2-5 minutes until the safe internal temperature of 165F is reached. Your chicken is already cooked more than half of the way, so the other side, depending on how thick your chicken breast was may only take a couple of minutes.
Insert the thermometer carefully into the middle of the breast from the side of the chicken to get an accurate measure. The second it hits 165 in the middle of the breast, remove the chicken from heat and let it rest.
After at least 5 minutes of rest time, slice it up against the grain of the chicken and enjoy.
Feel free to drizzle your chicken with olive oil, lemon juice and crushed garlic mixture.
