“Grilled” Honey Butter Chicken and Potatoes

In the recipe title, we put the “grilled” in quotes because the chicken is finished on the grill but the chicken is cooked using a kitchen hack that allows you to mimic sous vide method without having to buy fancy equipment. The traditional sous vide method calls for vacuum sealing food in a plastic bag and then cooking it in a temperature controlled water bath. This method allows for even cooking of chicken so that you don’t end up with the outside overcooked and dry while the inside is undercooked. The other benefit of sous vide is that the chicken can be held at the temperature for hours without overcooking or spoiling. This allows you to have the majority of cooking and prep done before guests arrive and you only need to finish off the chicken on the grill just before you are ready to serve.

We don’t have time to get into the science behind it, but check out this article to learn why it is safe to eat this chicken even though its temperature is below the 165^o poultry benchmark that we all know. Note: Once cooked, the chicken can be held in the sous vide at 145^ofor a few more hours until you are ready to grill it.

Tools:

2 – one-gallon ziplock freezer bags
thermometer
Cooler

Ingredients:

3 lbs bone in chicken – can be a mix of thighs, legs, breasts

1 T minced ginger
1 T minced garlic
1 rounded tsp coarse salt
¼ t black pepper
2 T Honey
1/4 cup orange juice (or 2 T lemon juice + 1 extra tsp honey)
1 stick unsalted butter

2 lbs small (not tiny) yukon gold or red potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
3 T olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Rosemary
parsley

Prepare the honey butter glaze:

Melted butter, add remaining ingredients and bring to a light boil; simmer for 5 minutes to allow the seasoning to infuse the butter.

Prepare the chicken:

Allow chicken to come to room temperature for one hour. Coat chicken in olive oil and generously sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Add a maximum of 4 pieces of meat to a ziplock freezer bag. Squeeze as much air as you can out of the bag.

Fill a small, hard sided cooler with 155^o water. Add the chicken and in order to submerge it, fill a small Tupperware with hot water and sit it on top of the chicken. Immediately close the cooler lid tightly. Note that the water needs to be at a minimum of 145 degrees for the chicken to cook properly. So, if your chicken is not at room temperature, the water temperature to drop and you may not get optimal cooking results..

Allow the chicken to sit in the cooler for 3 – 6 hours. Coolers allow for temperature loss; so, quickly check the water bath temperature every 60 minutes. If your water temperature has fallen below 150^o, stir in some more hot water to bring the temperature back up. The chicken will be fully cooked in 4 hours. Test it with a meat thermometer. If the temperature reads 145^o, your chicken is cooked through.

Prepare the Potatoes:

About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve your guests, bring potatoes to boil in a pot of salted water. As soon as the water boils, reduce temperature to simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and put back in the pot over medium heat; toss potatoes in pot for one minute to dry them and rough them up a bit. Transfer potatoes to a prep bowl and toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary.

Grilling Time!

About 20 minutes before you are ready to serve your guests, fire up the grill; brush both sides of the chicken with the honey butter glaze.Grill about 5 minutes per side or until skin is browned and crisp. Remove from the grill and brush with additional glaze before serving. While you are grilling the chicken, put the potatoes on the grill for 5 – 10 minutes to give a crisp, grilled appearance. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve.

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“Grilled” Honey Butter Chicken and Potatoes

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