By Never eat dry flavorless chicken again. With my Wine Brined Grilled Chicken recipe boneless skinless chicken breasts become super flavorful and juicy! The trick is soaking them in a salt and wine brine before grilling.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Wine Brined Grilled ChickenKey Ingredients For This RecipeStep-by-Step Ingredients to Make This Wine Brined ChickenFAQs and Expert TipsAdditional Grilled Chicken Recipes to Try Additional Brined Recipes to Try
Why We Love This Recipe For Wine Brined Grilled Chicken
Brining may sound messy, or best left to the professionals, but I want to assure you it’s about as complicated as marinating. Plus the wine brine makes simply grilled chicken breast so incredibly juicy.
It’s a great recipe to serve in the summer and for special occasions. But even in the colder months, if you are an all-seasons griller this is a great option. The wine and rosemary flavors are amazing with these sauteed portobellos.
Recipe Highlights
High in protein and low in calories.
It’s a great make-ahead recipe—the chicken requires a lot of time in the brine.
Perfect to make for a cookout, summer BBQs and entertaining.
Key Ingredients For This Recipe
Kosher Salt
Boiling Water: The water needs to be hot so that the salt dissolves properly.
White Wine: The wine should be cold and preferably fruity.
Ice
Fresh Rosemary: Whole fresh rosemary springs are added to the brine to add flavor and aromatics. You could experiment with other herbs such as thyme or sage as well.
Peppercorns: You could use either black or mixed peppercorns for this recipe.
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: You could also make this recipe with chicken thighs or even bone-in chicken. Adjust the cook time accordingly.
Chefs Note on Wine Brine: This brine is different than a basic brine because of the added bottle of white wine. After testing, and loving the results, it is my guess that the brine forced the alcohol into the chicken. I don’t know for sure, but I do know that the result is a juicy and incredibly tasty chicken.
Step-by-Step Ingredients to Make This Wine Brined Chicken
Step 1: Marinate chicken in wine brine
Combine salt and boiling water in a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup, and stir until the salt is dissolved. Pour wine and ice into a large resealable bag or a deep bowl. Add hot salt mixture. Add rosemary and peppercorns. Agitate the mixture until completely cool. Add chicken. Seal the bag and set it in a bowl, or cover the bowl if using. Refrigerate chicken for 18 to 24 hours.
Step 2: Grill chicken
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Oil grill rack. Remove chicken from the brine. Discard brine. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Grill chicken until no longer pink in the center, and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Rest 5 minutes before slicing.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Store the grilled chicken in airtight containers for 3 to 4 days. To reheat, simply microwave until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.
For freezing, store in freezer bags for up to 4 months. To reheat the frozen chicken, transfer it to the fridge to thaw overnight. Alternatively, defrost in the microwave.
As mentioned above, you could make this recipe with bone-in chicken or thicken thighs. You could also experiment using red wine in place of white, and add other fresh herbs to your liking. Garlic is also an option.
Simply put, brine is a saltwater solution that chicken, other poultry, or meat soak in before cooking. Often brine is made with sugar too. Brines are also commonly flavored with juices, herbs and spices for added flavor. Additionally, brine is used to preserve jarred foods, like olives and is used in smoking and curing meats to prevent spoilage.
Brines are not as intensely strong as marinades and don’t usually have acidic elements added to them. Marinades usually affect the outermost layers of protein while brine works deeper into the meat.
Soaking chicken in brine before grilling makes it juicy and flavorful. Basically, the salt solution soaks into the chicken, and binds to it, making it juicier before it is cooked. The salt denatures the proteins and attaches water to the protein, which makes them juicier.
The raw chicken sits in the brine for a relatively long time (24 hours in this recipe) and the salt and flavor are able to really permeate the chicken. For larger poultry or for bone-in meat you can leave it in for even longer. The brine in this recipe is a relatively weak brine so the chicken breasts can be in the solution for longer. Stronger (quick) brines work in as little as two to four hours.
Additional Grilled Chicken Recipes to Try
Isabel’s Island Chicken Marinade is one that I make on repeat, especially during the summer.
This Garlic Herb Marinated Chicken recipe with only 6 ingredients is so simple and so delicious.
If you’ve never used yogurt for a marinade, you’ll be obsessed with these Yogurt Curry Marinated Grilled Chicken Thighs.
This Chicken Fajita Salad is such a great family-friendly recipe.
These Grilled Greek Boneless Chicken Thighs are a summer cookout staple in my home!
Additional Brined Recipes to Try
This Cider Brined Pork Chop recipe by EatingWell is incredible.
You can find this recipe for Sweet Tea Brined Chicken on Baked Bree!
Bon Appetit’s Pan Roasted Brined Pork Chop is so tasty!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Wine Brined Grilled Chicken
Author: Katie Webster
Total Time: 18 hours 30 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
Description
Boneless Skinless Chicken breast stays moist, juicy and flavorful when it is grilled because it is brined in a simple rosemary and wine brine solution first.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons salt
2 cup boiling water
3 cups cold white wine, preferably fruity
1 cup ice
4 sprigs rosemary
1 tablespoon pepper corns
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
Instructions
Combine salt and boiling water in a heat proof bowl or measuring cup, and stir until the salt is dissolved. Pour wine and ice into a large resealable bag or a deep bowl. Add hot salt mixture. Add rosemary and peppercorns. Agitate mixture until completely cool. Add chicken. Seal bag and set in a bowl, or cover bowl if using. Refriegrate chicken 18 to 24 hours.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Oil grill rack. Remove chicken from the brine. DIscard brine. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Grill chicken until no-longer pink in the center, and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Rest 5 minutes before slicing.
Prep Time: 35 minutesCook Time: 12 minutesCategory: Main CourseMethod: Brining and GrillingCuisine: American
Nutrition
Serving Size: 3 1/2 ounces chicken each
Calories: 160
Sugar: 0 g
Sodium: 1976 mg
Fat: 2 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrates: 3 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 21 g
Keywords: wine brine,brined chicken,grilled chicken breast
