How to Grill Chicken

• Chicken comes in several different cuts — not to mention that some are packaged with or without skin — so there’s no single method for grilling them all. But what we can tell you is that dual-zone grilling is the way to go for pieces like wings or breasts, whether skinless or skin-on. As with other meats, this technique gives you both the direct heat needed for caramelization and the indirect heat that helps the chicken finish cooking throughout. Whole chickens, meanwhile, should be placed only in an indirect setup so they can slowly roast away from direct flames that would burn the exterior well before cooking the inside.

Because there’s such a variety of chicken available, grilling it can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour and a half. Generally, smaller cuts need less time to cook, while whole chickens require the most time in the grill. The only sure way to tell when your chicken (or any meat, for that matter) has finished cooking is to check its internal temperature with a meat thermometer. Chicken is safe to consume once it reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and not 1 degree sooner. For whole chickens or other large, bone-in pieces, stick the thermometer in multiple areas to make sure the entire bird is cooked properly.

See the chart below for loose guidelines on about how long it should take to grill certain pieces of chicken on m

edium-to-high heat in gas or charcoal grills.

Approximate cook times are longer in a smoker or pellet grill, which use lower temperatures between 225 and 350 degrees.

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