Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Buttermilk Barbecue Chicken – Sorry, Fried Chicken, Your Secret is Out

Buttermilk is a very popular marinade for fried chicken, but for whatever reason, it isn’t often used with other chicken cooking methods. Which is kind of surprising, especially when you taste just how effective it is for something like this beautiful barbecued chicken.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that yogurt, a very similar product, is quite popular in grilled chicken marinades. So, what do people have against buttermilk? I remember my mother-in-law, Peggy, mentioning one time that she hesitates to make recipes that call for it, since she never knows what to do with the leftovers.

I guess people are used to having yogurt around, but apparently they find the thought of a half carton of buttermilk in the fridge a little disconcerting. I have two words for those people…buttermilk biscuits. Also, buttermilk pie. Of course, you could just make a double recipe, and use it all, but the point is, don’t be afraid.

Regardless of whether you’re going to have some leftover, or how you’re going to use it, if you’re looking for an easy, and delicious change-of-pace to the typical barbecue chicken recipes, then I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 2 portions:
1 whole chicken (about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs.), cut in half as shown
For the marinade:
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons kosher salt
-->

23 comments:

sharon said...

This sounds and looks great! I don't have an outdoor grill, but I will try this with the oven broiler very soon!

Eliot R said...

hey Chef John, really excited to try this. the last couple times I've been cooking birds I've been paranoid about internal temperature and have either overcooked it or looked paranoidly at it. what's your go do temp? I've read so many things online that my heads spinning

Eliot R said...

Hey chef John, I'm really pumped to try this. The last couple times I've been cooking Birds though, I've been crazy paranoid about internal temperature so I either overcook it or look at it weirdly until I decide to pop it it in for another 10 minutes. What is your go-to internal temperature. I've seen so many things online my head is spinning.

Josh said...

forgot minced garlic :D

Anonymous said...

YO! CJ! This looks really good. I came into a couple of lamb breasts the other day but I have NEVER had lamb before so I did a search on the interwebs to find out how to prepare it. The first thing I found was your Beautiful Breast of Lamb with Honey Parsley recipe. Now I mean this in the nicest way, dude you are a goofball! Now that I found your blog I will be a faithful follower. I too have a blog here on Blogger but I don't do recipes, I just do words.

Getting back to why I am here.

This chicken recipe is going to be the next meal I will cook, after I eat the leftover lamb breasts. That being said, here's my story, heavily condensed. Married-divorced in the 80's, lost everything. Married-divorced in the 90's, lost everything. Fell in love in 2010-fell out in 2015 getting my proverbial teeth kicked once again but I kept most of my stuff this time. Gave up on romance and finally settled down into my own place in 2016. The coating on my T-Fal pans had been ingested and I decided to buy some real cookware. Ended up with 18/10 professional stainless stuff and stared a new love affair with cooking. I bought a great big stove and built a wall sized spice rack.

I am in the process of starting my own somewhat profane cookbook for a single-male demographic, The idea was for it to be more sarcastic fun than food albeit most of my recipes are fast-cheap-and easy, like most single men. Oh My! There's the title of my yet to be published book! As complicated at many recipes seem, my goal is to get men cooking.

I have discovered the difference between being alone and being lonely. Come to find out I am usually just alone and occasionally lonely but when I see my friends, those "Happy Loving Couples", I quickly get over it.

MANY THANKS TO YOU for being here, I will be enjoying your recipes for years to come I am sure.

Sincerely,

Micah

Elsebeth said...

In Denmark we have no problem using all the buttermilk: I bake our daily bread with it + some water, drink it, make warm buttermilk soup, in the summertime half of Denmark have a cold buttermilk soup almost daily, if you are short of room in the fridge, you can put a whole piece of fresh meat in a bowl and cover it in buttermilk, and the meat will stay fresh in room temperature till the next day. Finally wash your face with it instead of expensive rinsing milk in the morning - very good for your skin.

Ji said...

How well do you think this would work in a smoker?

Ji said...

How well do you think this would work in a smoker?

David Bishop said...

Hi Chef John. You left out the minced garlic in the list of ingredients! I'm going to try this, though!

David Bishop said...

Hey Chef John, you left the garlic out of the list of ingredients!

NoUseForAName said...

Would this marinade work for de-boned chicken cuts as well? Do you have an opinion on swapping the buttermilk for mayo? Thanks!

sjohns37 said...

Hello Chef!

Great video, as always!

I was wondering if you might make an attempt at a dairy-free alfredo recipe for those of us who can't handle the lactose.

Thanks!

Redcaddy97 said...

Used the marinade,but had to guess at the amount of garlic!! No prob, used about 6 cloves. Instead of cooking over direct heat, I did indirect since it's my favorite way to do chicken, particularly halved chickens. Got my coals good and glowing on one end of the grill, then put the chicken on the other end, not directly over the coals. Shut the lid and cooked skin side up for about an hour. OMG. Beautiful. Color, flavor and moisture perfect. Thanks for a great marinade!

rodentraiser said...

Don't forget your blue cheese dressing, Chef John.

I got buttermilk to make the dressing and then decided to freeze the rest in one cup amounts in freezer bags. I've also heard of people making buttermilk ice cubes and keeping those in freezer bags (which I would have done but I was lazy).

ET said...

Chef...

Just curious as to why you don't need to rest the chicken before serving. Is there a general rule of when you do or don't rest?

Thanks!

Cherio said...

tying this tonight, but did notice minced garlic not on the list? thank you for your awesome recipes, we enjoy them!!

Pierce in the Dark said...

Hey Chef John! If I was to bake or roast this in the oven, what would you suggest?

Unknown said...

The garlic was left out on the recipe...

Craig said...

Fantastic flavor! I made this exactly as written, but I did end up marinating it longer than suggested (about 24 hours total). I was a bit nervous adding an entire teaspoon of cayenne to the mix but the result wasn't overly spicy at all. A keeper!

Knud said...

Looking forward to make this tonight. The marinade is working on the chicken right now. HOWEVER Chef John, as I was re-watching the video, I realised that in the video you are using garlic, but that is not on the ingredients list. Can you fix that so that no-one else are preparing this without garlic?

Juice said...

Oh Baby, made this yesterday for Sunday chicken and it was fantastic! I had the chicken marinade for 12hrs and every single bite was flavorful and moist. Our grill was running hot, so after the skin side down the chicken was put into a 325* oven with a splash of Ruffino Pinot Gregio (because that's what we were drinking some). Thank you Chef John for another delicious addition to our menu rotations here at home. I paired this with a sour cream and mayo based potato salad, and together my husband was a happy man.

Unknown said...

Chef John! My man! Long time watcher, first time commenter.

I'm crippled by my tiny NYC apartment and sadly have no access to a grill. What would you suggest for time and temp in an oven for this?

Been watching for years. Pork Diablo is my all time favorite, best recipe on the internet. All of the internet.
Hope to hear back, big thanks!

Sachin Shukla said...

I have a gas grill, not coal. How would I do it on that? Or should I just do it in the oven?