Bluegrass BBQ Chicken Recipe – chicken marinated in a tangy vinegar-based bbq sauce. Worcestershire sauce, water, cider vinegar, sugar, chili powder, melted butter, horseradish mustard, and salt. Feel free to omit the sugar if you are doing a low-carb/keto diet. Seriously one of the best grilled chicken recipes we’ve ever made! Make extra chicken for leftovers – you’re going to want it!
Originally published May 13, 2015
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This Bluegrass BBQ Chicken is one of the best grilled chicken recipes we’ve ever made. Seriously! It is SOOO good. We actually made this two days in a row. We just couldn’t get enough of it. The chicken is super tender and juicy and is packed full of great flavor! The second night we made this chicken we doubled the recipe so we had leftovers for lunch. YUM!
How to Make Bluegrass BBQ Chicken Marinade
This chicken marinade is super easy to make with only a few simple ingredients. Combine Worcestershire, water, vinegar, sugar, chili powder, butter, mustard, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool.
Place chicken breasts in a ziplock bag and pour the marinade over the chicken. Place the chicken in the refrigerator for a few hours to overnight. When ready to cook the chicken, prepare the grill. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.
Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- You can use any cut of chicken that you enjoy. Chicken breasts, chicken thighs, chicken legs, and chicken tenderloins all work fine.
- You can use boneless or bone-in chicken pieces.
- Use a meat thermometer to check for an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Can add more spices to the marinade if desired. Onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and brown sugar are all great additions.
- For extra flavor, reserve some unused marinade for basting the chicken while cooking.
- Feel free to brush the chicken with your favorite barbecue sauce before removing it from the grill. Make sure to flip the chicken and brush both sides with barbecue sauce.
- I suggest pounding the chicken breast to an even thickness. We put the chicken in a ziplock bag and use a flat meat mallet to carefully pound out the hump. This ensures that the chicken cooks evenly and you don’t have juicy chicken and half-dry chicken.
- If you don’t have a gas grill or charcoal grill, you can cook the chicken indoors.
- Pan-sear the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400ºF for 10 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Feel free to omit the sugar if you are doing a low-carb/keto diet.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
What to Serve with Grilled Chicken
As I said, this grilled chicken has quickly become a family favorite. It is a great recipe for a cookout or family barbecue. Serve the chicken with all of your favorite picnic side dishes:
Summer on a plate! YUM! Add this to your list to try the next time you fire up the grill. You won’t be disappointed!
Looking for more side dish ideas? Here are a few of our favorite side dish recipes from the blog that go great with this BBQ Chicken:
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Bluegrass BBQ Chicken
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup Horseradish mustard
- 2 tsp salt, or to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to an even thickness
Instructions:
- Combine Worcestershire, water, vinegar, sugar, chili powder, butter, mustard, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool.
- Place chicken in a ziplock bag, pour cooled marinade over chicken and refrigerate for 8 hours.
- Remove chicken from marinade. Grill chicken for about 8 minutes per side, or until done.
Notes:
- You can use any cut of chicken that you enjoy. Chicken breasts, chicken thighs, chicken legs, and chicken tenderloins all work fine.
- You can use boneless or bone-in chicken pieces.
- Use a meat thermometer to check for an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Can add more spices to the marinade if desired. Onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and brown sugar are all great additions.
- For extra flavor, reserve some unused marinade for basting the chicken while cooking.
- Feel free to brush the chicken with your favorite barbecue sauce before removing it from the grill. Make sure to flip the chicken and brush both sides with barbecue sauce.
- I suggest pounding the chicken breast to an even thickness. We put the chicken in a ziplock bag and use a flat meat mallet to carefully pound out the hump. This ensures that the chicken cooks evenly and you don’t have juicy chicken and half-dry chicken.
- If you don’t have a gas grill or charcoal grill, you can cook the chicken indoors.
- Pan-sear the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400ºF for 10 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Feel free to omit the sugar if you are doing a low-carb/keto diet.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Steph
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What if I skip the horseradish mustard? Will it affect the flavor?
Anytime you modify the ingredients it will affect the flavor.
We have been making vinegar based chicken at work for over 20 years. But being from Eastern NC, why do otherwise. But we put Lawry’s seasoning salt over them to start with as a dry rub.. It adds to the flavor of the vinegar. Great for grilling.
This chicken is incredible. It has such a wonderful flavor. If you're worried about the horseradish mustard being spicy, trust me, it is not at all when used in this recipe. The horseradish mustard gives a great bold, tangy flavor to the chicken. So, so, so good! My kids loved this chicken too! I served it with a Caesar salad and your Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms.
We made this a couple of weeks ago and just loved it! I didn't have any ACV in the house, but had everything else, so I just used regular vinegar and it still turned out great! Making it again this week, so I will be sure and put ACV on my grocery shopping list! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
There is a delicious style of BBQ here in south central Kentucky known as Monroe County Style. It is a tangy and spicy vinegar based sauce. I can't wait to try this to see if it compares. I think the horseradish mustard will be an interesting addition. The closest we've came to recreating the Monroe County Style "sauce" follows:
QUICK AND EASY CHICKEN MARINADE
1/2 c. oil
1 c. white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning (we prefer chicken seasoning)
2 tbsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg
1 tbs. paprika
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
Mix together all ingredients in a plastic storage bag. Add chicken. Refrigerate several hours.
For the mustard is it 4oz or 8oz? Thanks for responding.
I used 4 oz
nice
Ah, that makes sense. I guess I just think bourbon when I think bluegrass and Kentucky. 🙂 And I did see your derby recipes. I'm definitely going to try the bourbon pound cake.
As someone who currently lives in the Bluegrass state, this recipe caught my eye. But I'm curious what makes this chicken "bluegrass"? Where's the bourbon? 🙂 It does sound delicious.
The bluegrass in this recipe is the vinegar based marinade. I just posted some bourbon recipes for The Derby. 🙂