I haven’t tried cooking chicken breast yet. I hate overcooked, hard chicken. How long should I leave a typical boneless breast cooking before testing with a meat thermometer?
Any good recipes or sauces to make it less dry?
I bought a teriyaki mix at Kroger (Weber is the brand) It suggests adding a half cup pineapple juice. We’ll marinate the chicken overnight in a ziplock bag.
Thought we’d try some pineapple rings on top. Whats the best way to get the sear marks and get that yummy caramelization? I was afraid it might stick to my electric grill. Maybe a hot skillet would be better?
I don’t have an electric grill, but a couple tips: if your breast is thick, pound it out a little with a meat mallet or a hammer after wrapping the breast in plastic wrap- this keeps you from having to cook it for a long time for inner doneness while drying out the outer part. Also, you don’t really want to marinate chicken breast for very long, esp not overnight, in an acid such as pineapple, lemon, or lime juice- it starts to cook it and makes the outer part mushy. I like to use soy sauce, honey, and balsamic vinegar as a quick marinade before grilling, saving a little bit before marinating to brush with while cooking.
Oil the grill after heating (I use a paper towel and tongs for the grill) for no sticking.
I set it to panini, preheat to high, and cook the breasts for 8 minutes.
I don’t generally pound them out because they dry out too fast for me that way.
I’d grill the pineapple rings first, then the chicken. If you put the pineapple on the chicken you won’t get a good enough contact between the chicken and the grill, and your pineapple will be black and gross by the time the chicken is done.
Same settings, pineapple for 2 minutes, then chicken for 8 minutes.
With boneless chicken breast, don’t think of it as cooking meat. It’s more like cooking an egg–you want the meat to set from pink to white, and no more. Otherwise you’ve got chicken jerky. And remember that it will continue to cook from residual heat after you take it out. There’s no way anyone can give you a cooking time since it will vary by how hot the pan/oven/grill is, how close the meat is, the size of the piece, and how much moisture it has. It takes a lot of heat to cook off watery marinades.
Six to eight minutes on the indoor electric grill. I don’t pound, and I cover them in foil while I do the vegetables. I seriously cook chicken breasts and vegetables this way once a week if not more. I do the meat first; the veggies sort of clean the crispy gunk off the grill and acquire some of the grilly flavor.
I only marinate up to a half hour. Less if I’m using lemon juice.
Slight hijack: does that grill have the plates that reverse to make it a griddle? (I’ve been thinking of getting one of those and if so was wondering if you’d recommend it.)
I’ve got that same grill also. Can anyone tell me what the diffence is between the two dials (griddle vs. grill)? The griddle side has temp settings while the grill side has low-high-sear settings but I have no idea which dial offers the higher temp or why.
Do the two dials even do anything differently to the grill?
Pat the meat dry with a paper towel after taking it out of the marinade and before you cook it - that will help accelerate the searing so you get some char before the meat gets overcooked.
My go-to grill vegetables are zucchini, yellow squash, onion, and mushrooms. Eggplant also works. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper them, maybe some parsley and/or basil. Fresh or dried. Grill until seared and slightly soft, maybe 4 minutes? I never time them.
Red and green pepper is also good but I don’t care for them myself. I do tomato slices too for about 30 seconds.
I think the griddle temps are lower. Pancakes and eggs don’t require much heat. They burn easily.
I’m pretty sure the switches change which internal thermostat is used to control the heating element. But I haven’t really looked at the heating element when the plates were off.
Well, it has more features. Grill, Griddle, panini press. I think of Cuisinart as a good, high end brand. I have their deep fryer and crock pot too. But my Cuisinart toaster died last winter and I bought a new Krups toaster. That Cuisinart toaster was only 4 years old and it ticked me off that it died. don’t know if Krups is any better. Sure hope so.
The early Foreman grills were pretty basic. My mom’s didn’t even have a adjustment control. The newer ones are different. I don’t like the grease tray you have to position just right for the grease collection. Get it wrong and the grease hits the counter. The Cuisinart has a built-in tray that slides in/out.
OK - I set the middle knob to the Grill.Panini setting (vs the Griddle setting) and the right most knob to high. I’ve quite literally never changed the settings.
I’m really looking forward to some grilled teriyaki chicken. We had a chain called Backyard Burger that made a great Hawaiian chicken sandwich that had that grilled chicken with a slice of pineapple. So darn good. They closed all their locations in my state last Fall. I’ve been craving one of those sandwiches ever since.
Grilled teriyaki chicken with pineapple is a slice of heaven.
