Juicy Grilled Chicken Platter
It’s safe to say summer is upon us and the warm air is here to stay. That’s why you have to try my juicy grilled chicken platter. Loaded with boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken lollipops, and a simple yet delicious salad, this recipe is guaranteed to be your go to platter for cookouts or easy weeknight meals.
The meat is beyond tender and juicy. Your entire family will love how flavorful everything is on this platter. Add the simple, healthy salad and this meal is a total summer win.
This recipe post is sponsored by Smart Chicken. I was compensated for my time, however, all opinions are my own.
About this recipe
In this post, I am going to share all of my grilling secrets with you. You’ll be amazed by how juicy and tender each cut of chicken will be. The first step is to start with Smart Chicken boneless skinless breasts and drumsticks. Their chicken is by far the best quality meat I’ve seen on the market. It’s organic, humanely handled and fed a high-quality diet. So, you’ll feel good eating this meat and sharing it with your family.
Preparing the chicken breasts
You will want to butterfly your chicken breasts and place them in a Ziploc bag. Butterflying your chicken means to carefully slice it in half so that it’s half the thickness. Once it is butterflied, place it in a Ziploc bag and gently pound the chicken using a mallet. This helps the chicken to cook quickly and evenly on the grill. Add about half of the marinade to the bag with the breast meat. Gently massage the chicken with the marinade and place the chicken in the refrigerator. Allow it to marinate for 12-24 hours.
Preparing the drumsticks
For this juicy grilled chicken platter recipe we will French our drumsticks. Frenching is a culinary technique where you remove fat, tendons and meat from the bone. This technique allows for a beautiful presentation and an easy handle to hold your drumstick.
To start you will remove the drumsticks from the package. Place them one at a time on a cutting board and carefully cut through the skin, tendons and fat at the base of the drumstick. So, basically where the meat meets the bone. You will want to cut all the way around the base of the drumstick, exposing the bone. Once fully cut through, push the excess skin, tendon and fat to the bottom of the bone. Using a paper towel carefully pull this portion off of the bone. Next, you will push the remaining meat downward to form a small tight ball. It will resemble a lollipop. Repeat for all of the drumsticks. Next, add all of the prepared drumsticks to a separate Ziploc bag. Add the remaining marinade and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
Be sure to read all of the grilling directions listed below before you start. This way you will be more prepared and have a good handle on all of the steps.
Storage
Store your grilled chicken breasts and lollipops in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Store the salad / dressing in a separate container. Enjoy any leftovers on top of salads, tucked inside of wraps or in sandwiches. You can also reheat the drumsticks and dip them in ranch dressing or BBQ sauce for a tasty protein packed snack. Looking for more summer recipes? Try my ditalini pasta salad or my BBQ chicken meatballs.
Grilled Chicken Platter
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1.5 lbs. Smart Chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 lbs. Smart Chicken drumsticks
- 1-2 tablespoons paprika
Marinade
- 1 cup olive oil
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Salad
- 1 avocado , peeled and sliced
- 4 ounces cherry tomatoes sliced
- 2 ears corn , boiled or grilled, remove kernels
- 1 ripe lime
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- Salad dressing of choice
Equipment
- 2 Ziplock bags
- mixing bowl for the marinade
- gas grill for the chicken
- grilling tongs, thermometer, 2 platters
- mixing bowl for the salad
- pot to boil the corn – option to grill it too
Instructions
Time to grill
- You will need a meat thermometer, grilling tongs, and a clean platter to place the cooked meat on. Make sure you have all of your tools out and ready to go.
Prepare the chicken:
- Remove the prepared chicken breasts and drumsticks from the refrigerator. Allow them to rest for 15-20 minutes at room temperature. ** Important Note: See instructions listed above on how to prepare each cut of chicken. **
- Dust all of the meat with paprika and thoroughly rub it into the meat. This will add some additional flavor and color. Set the chicken aside.
Prepare the grill:
- Add a sheet of aluminum foil to the grill.
- Heat the gas grill to 450-475 degrees. You’ll want the grill to be super-hot when you place the meat on it. This is one of my tricks to lock in the juices.
- Once the grill is ready and the chicken has rested at room temperature, add the drumsticks to the grill FIRST.
- They need 30-35 minutes to cook through which is longer than the breast meat. You will also want the internal temp to be 180 degrees. This breaks down the tendons and makes the drumsticks juicy and tender vs. stringy.
- After about 5 minutes, carefully turn the drumsticks using grilling tongs. You will turn the drumsticks frequently (every 5 minutes) to prevent burning. Charring is good, burning is bad. Also be sure to close the lid in between turns.
- Once the drumsticks have cooked for about 20 minutes, you will add the chicken breasts.
- Place the chicken breasts on the hot grill and allow them to cook for 6-7 minutes. After about 6 minutes, reduce the grill heat to 400 degrees and flip the chicken breasts. You will only turn the chicken breasts once, unlike the drumsticks which you will turn about every 5 minutes.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the grill once they have an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Cooking time will vary based on the thickness of your chicken breasts. However, they will cook more quickly since we’ve butterflied and pounded them.
- Let the chicken breasts rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
- Once the drumsticks have an internal temp of 180 degrees, and the juices are running clear, remove them from the grill. Let them rest for 5-10 minutes before enjoying.
Prepare the salad:
- Boil a pot of water. Add corn to the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove corn from the water and set it aside to cool. Once it is cool, carefully remove the kernels.
- Slice two avocados and place them in a bowl.
- Next, add sliced tomatoes and corn kernels. Toss everything together.
- Then, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and set aside.
Assemble the platter:
- Add the avocado tomato salad to the platter.
- Next, add the chicken breasts, drumsticks and any juices.
- Top everything with a pinch of salt and few turns of cracked black pepper.
- Serve with a side of dressing or your favorite BBQ sauce.
- Enjoy!
3 Comments on “Juicy Grilled Chicken Platter”
This recipe is so good! I prepped the drumsticks and marinaded it the night before so it was super simple, fast and easy to cook the next day. I ended up grilling the corn since I was already firing up the grill for the chicken and it came out great. I will be keeping this one in my family recipe book and be making it again!!
The corn salad was amazing, and don’t skip frenching the chicken legs-makes a huge difference for the time investment!
This marinade is now my go to for chicken!