Single Guy’s Kitchen

This weekend while on vacation I tried out a new recipe for grilled chicken called Roadside Chicken. This grilled chicken recipe is supposedly inspired from the sweet succulent chicken you would find at roadside vendors and other outdoor gatherings like the state fair. I read a lot of good things about this recipe but was still thoroughly impressed after preparing it myself.

Credit goes to Bryan S of The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board - you can see the forum post here.

You can use any chicken parts, or even a whole cut-up chicken. This time, I went with all dark meat chicken, quarters and drumsticks.

Here is how the recipe goes:

1. Prepare a marinade consisting of:

1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs. Sea or Kosher salt
1 tbs. white sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. white pepper

2. Prepare chicken - cut out fat chunks, entrails, and any other nasty bits.
3. Now marinade your chicken parts for 2 to 8 hours. I prepared the marinade before lunch time, so they my pieces were marinading for closer to 8 hours. I was able to fit 3 quarters and 3 drumsticks in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Using a ziploc bag also makes it easy to mix the marinade.
4. To prevent contamination it is recommended you make a new batch of the marinade, this time adding in 1/2 cup vegetable oil. This will be used for basting.
5. Heat grill to medium and place your chicken pieces. Discard the used marinade. Here is what mine looked like going on the grill. You can see how the marinade soaked into the chicken.

6. Baste the chicken every 5 minutes and flip approximately every 10 minutes until done.
7. Serve and enjoy!

For added affect, I’ve read that you should really crank up the heat towards the end of the cook to get extra flare-ups, adding to the char flavor that forms on the chicken. I did this cook on a Holland Grill with is completely indirect heat. But I’m itching to try this out on a regular direct grill to get that flare-up char flavor on the chicken.

Vegetable oil is added to the baste mixture which helps it stick to the chicken, building up a layer of flavors. However the vegetable oil is absent from the marinade, as it could block the vinegar and flavors from being absorbed into the meat.