Say Goodbye to Sticky Grilled Chicken: Tips & Examples

Cooking chicken out on the grill is a pastime enjoyed by many. They love that they can use chicken for a variety of different purposes, and they appreciate the fact that most people love chicken. Thus, it is not that challenging to get people to eat it no matter how you make it.

To make that happen, you need to make sure you prepare grilled chicken in ways where it is not going to get stuck to the grill. There is nothing worse than trying to clean off a grill that continues to get chicken stuck to it time and time again. 

Put Some Cooking Oil On It

Throwing a little olive oil on your chicken before it hits the grill is a good way to keep chicken from sticking to the grill. You probably already use olive oil when you are cooking other foods in your home, so this is just one more addition to that.

You want to lightly toss the chicken around in some olive oil, or spray it down with olive oil if you purchase the oil in a can.

Either way, you need to make sure the oil completely covers the piece of chicken – whether it’s chicken breast, chicken thigh, or chicken leg / wing.

Try to grill the chick for approximately four to five minutes per side to avoid overcooking it or potentially having the chicken stick to the hot grill grate.

You can avoid both scenarios by making sure you toss the chicken to its other side routinely so it doesn’t get stuck and cause you issues. 

Set The Meat To The Right Temperature

You aren’t going to get far at all with your attempts to prevent chicken from getting stuck to the grill if you don’t set the grill to the right temperature from the start for direct heat.

The reality is that many people want to supercharge the temperature that they cook their meat at because they think that it will get the job done faster.

In reality, they will just be setting themselves up for overcooked chicken and an inability to get it unstuck from the grill that it is set on.

That is a major problem, and it is something that people need to think about as they work through the ways that they will cook their chicken. 

Grilling chicken at the right temperature means that you can be assured that the meat will likely cook all the way through like it needs to as well

This is also critical given the possibility that someone could be sickened if they are served a piece of meat that has not been fully cooked.

Raw chicken is no good. It need to hit 165 F. Michigan State University recommends using a thermometer to check the internal temperature of any meat that you intend to serve to guests. Here is what they say: 

Stick the thermometer in the center of the burger or the thick part of the chicken. Check each piece of meat.

It’s also important to keep your thermometer clean since it becomes a food contact surface when measuring the temperature of your food.

They want to make sure that you never serve something that could be harmful to people, and you should have your mind on that as well.

Purchasing a quality meat thermometer doesn’t cost very much money, but the payoff for having one can be enormous.

When you are going through your options for how you will work on producing chicken that won’t stick to the grill, don’t forget to think about how you can use a thermometer to ensure that you are not overcooking any of the meat that you intend to serve. 

Clean Up The Grill

Sometimes, the fact that the chicken is sticking to your grill has less to do with the chicken itself and more to do with how clean the grill is (especially a charcoal grill).

Some people do not clean their grill regularly, and this can lead to a great surface for chicken to get stuck on (and we’re not talking about disposable grills here).

It is unfortunate that it happens this way sometimes, but a simple cleaning of the grill can go a long way towards cleaning up the situation and making it a lot easier to use again in the future. 

When cleaning your grill, follow these steps: 

• Make sure your gas grill is completely turned off and cool or ashes cool if a charcoal grill
• Remove the grates from the grill 
• Use water, soap, and a basic cleaning towel to scrub it down
• Repeat this process as often as necessary until your grill is completely clean
• Put the grates back on the grill for its next use
• Consider a grill mat to protect the area under the grill from cleaning

You can clean the grill as often as you feel is necessary, but most people stick with cleaning it just after it has been used a handful of times.

That should keep it plenty clean enough to avoid any issues with chicken sticking to it. 

Always Preheat The Grill

Finally, we would like to mention that you should always preheat your grill before you put it into service.

This allows the grill to get up to the temperatures that it needs to in order to cook your chicken, but it also reduces the risk of chicken sticking to the grill in a significant way. 

You may be tempted to throw the chicken on the grill only once the grill has been turned up to its maximum temperature.

However, this strategy is not ideal when you are trying to prevent chicken from sticking to the grill. The problem with this is that you can end up with chicken that stays stuck to the grill because of the high heat temperatures.

Obviously, that is the last thing in the world that you want to deal with, so make sure you always preheat the grill first. 

If you can follow these simple steps, then you are already on your way towards a fantastic meal that does not involve having chicken stuck to your grill at any point in time. Think about making this a routine part of your cookout habits.

You don’t want to find yourself on the wrong end of some chicken getting stuck to your grill, but you may need to take a few steps to ensure that this does not happen to you again. 

FAQs About Grilling Chicken

Here are a few FAQs about Grilling Chicken.