Grilled chicken breasts (indirect and direct)

Shawnodell83

So I’ve done both ways a few times now. I have to say from my short experience.. direct is much better. Any other opinions? I just feel like it’s more moist and the flame adds flavor. 

Jstroke

Breats direct-exactly those reasons. thighs indirect

Carolina Q

All chicken, direct. Period.

YukonRon

Direct all day.

THEBuckeye

Carolina Q said:

All chicken, direct. Period.

Case closed! 

bubbajack

Raised direct for me.....

Mickey

Always for me is raise direct. But pulled temp of chicken has all to do with being moist. 
Not sure where i found this but it works for me:

DIFFERENT PULL AND DONENESS TEMPERATURES

* White Meat Pull the white meat at 157°F (69°C), so it will come to a final resting temperature of at least 165°F (74°C).

* Dark Meat The higher temperature range of 175-180°F (79-82°C) allows the connective tissues to dissolve, and turn the tough meat into tender and silky meat. The legs and thighs are smaller than the breasts, and will not experience as much carryover cooking (food retains heat and continues to cook even after being removed from the source of heat). Temperatures 5-10°F (2-5°C) above 175°F (79°C) will not harm the dark meat.

Rest both 10 mins.

GoldenQ

I prefer raised indirect at 325   I always get juicy ckn this way.   Wings at 375 to  400

cheeaa

I do pretty much everything raised direct now. Just makes everything so much better imo

JohnnyTarheel

Raised direct here for the win!!

littlerascal56

I only cook the breasts with ribs still intact, direct raised till they are 165.  Super moist!

st¡ke

Roasting versus grilling

both reasonable. If skinless though, indirect doesn't get much color. 

Sry meat is overcooked regardless of cooking method. You can boil chicken breast (in soup for example), and even surrounded by liquid it will be dry if you overcook it

dryness is virtually unrelated to cooking method, despite much bro science or old wives' tales saying otherwise. 

Skin on, bone in, we get great results indirect, untouched (no flipping) and going slow or max 325. Skin piffs and crisps beautifully 

skinless? Done the same way you get a pale white thing. Prefer to grill it then. 

Husker39211

I have a recipe that instructed me to cook the chicken breasts in the oven for 35-40 min at 450. I've only had my BGE for a couple of months now so, I'm still learning. While I've gotten pretty good with it, I still struggle with chicken. I thought I could use the conveggtor and put it on 450 and follow the instructions but it was way too long. From reading the above comments, it sounds as if it would be better over direct heat at a lower temp and less time?? I just realized that I did not account for the fact that the conveggtor turns the BGE into a convection oven, not a regular one. I'll bet if I had taken the time down from 35-40 min to 20-25 min it would have turned out much better. Any thoughts or tips??

Mattman3969

Did the recipe call for bone-in or boneless?   

Bone-in - 30-40mins to get to 155-160 sounds bout right at 400-425 indirect.  

Boneless- I run raised direct about 400-425 flip about 6mins.  Usually hit 155-160 in 10-12 mins unless they are super thick and I didn’t pound them flatter.  

JethroBodeen

A good instant read thermometer is your friend. With that, you'll get dialed right in.

thetrim

@Husker39211 keep at it.  As said above get an instant read.  I prefer a raised to the felt line and direct on any chicken.  I'd keep it between 350 and 400.  I like to flip sometimes at 10 mins sometimes it can go to 20.  You'll probably only need it for 30-40 minutes.  Pull it off when internal reaches 140 on breasts 165 on dark meat. 

Chicken is pretty forgiving on the egg and I've taken both to higher temps and preserved some nice moist breasts....

GO BIG RED!

FanOfFanboys

cheeaa said:

I do pretty much everything raised direct now. Just makes everything so much better imo

I cook direct 0% of the time. Raised direct or I'm smoking. 

builderdawg

Carolina Q said:

All chicken, direct. Period.

100%. I’ve been disappointed every time I’ve cooked chicken indirect. 

fishlessman

direct and whole spatched comes out juicier for some reason

volfan1

Raised direct is the only way to go. Get it as high in the dome as possible. I use firebricks and an extra grate.

Husker39211

Thanks for all the replies. It was helpful info to hear the various opinions and methods and the fact that direct was unanimous!