I had the opportunity yesterday to grill some chicken leg quarters on my gas grill and everybody raved about how moist they were and that the meat just fell off the bone. I figured I’d share a few tips so that you’ll never have to eat dry, overcooked chicken again.
The key to the whole process is temperature. Low and slow, like BBQ. Ok, not quite, but we’re not going to cook them on high either. Somewhere middle of the road, around medium temperature or about 350°F. Chicken skin tends to melt and flare up around 400° leading to black chicken that nobody wants to eat.
Once you get your grill warmed up, I like to wipe some olive oil on the grates to keep things from sticking. You can also use PAM, but only the kind made to be sprayed on a grill. Place your chicken leg quarters bone side down, with the skin up. Cook them for about 20 minutes, keeping an eye out w/ a squirt bottle of water for flare ups. If you keep your temperature around 350°F, flare ups should be rare. After the first 20 minutes, flip them over and coat the now cooked bottom with a BBQ sauce of your choice. I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s.
After the second 20 min cooking period, flip them back over so that the skin side is up, coat that in BBQ sauce. Cook them this way for 10 minutes, then flip them over for a final 10 minutes. All this does is help cook the BBQ sauce on a bit and finish cooking the chicken. The temperature is low enough that your BBQ sauce will not burn so don’t worry. Pull the leg quarters off the grill and let them rest for a few minutes on a plate then enjoy!
Total cooking time for a 10-14oz chicken leg quarter should be about 60 minutes. You should also double check w/ an instant read thermometer before you pull them off the grill. The meat thermometer should read about 165°F.