You know, every once in awhile I want some good old fashioned leg quarters. I grew up on these suckers. I think my dad must have grilled these once a week. As you can see from other posts I’ve done, I’m a firm believer that whenever possible you should cook chicken with the bone. It’s the surest way to end up with juicy chicken.
I didn’t necessarily do anything fancy to these. What made these delicious was the marinade Patti put together. That’s probably my favorite thing about chicken: It does a great job taking on whatever flavors you want. You can make a piece of chicken taste like red wine or white wine. Orange or lemon. Rosemary or Thyme.
Once you have the flavor you want, it’s all about not drying it out. Again, marinade helps, but it won’t prevent your chicken from tasting like chalk if you overcook it. Remember – 165. This, again, is where a Thermapen comes in handy. It won’t let you make a mistake.
Last tip on chicken quarters: Leave the skin on. Mine looks burnt to a crisp, right? Well, who cares? I’m not eating the skin – that’s where the majority of the fat lies. I’m ripping that off and revealing deliciously juicy meat underneath. Trust me, bone in, skin on exponentially increases your chances of success.
So check out this marinade next time you’re itching for some chicken leg quarters, throw in some ridiculously good balsamic peppers (or mix in some freshly roasted peppers) and you have yourself a tasty grilled treat.
We cooked these on a Weber charcoal grill with a full chimney of Kingsford charcoal (about 60-70 briquettes). When the charcoal in the chimney was fully lit, it was dumped onto the charcoal grate and spread into a single layer across the bottom of the grill.
It took about 30-40 minutes to grill the chicken quarters. You can use indirect heat and smoke the leg quarters and it will be even better.
Grilled Chicken Leg Quarters with Balsamic Bell Peppers
Ingredients
Chicken Leg Quarters marinade:
- 1 tsn salt
- 1/2 tsn pepper
- 3 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 tsn oregano
- 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsn fennel seeds
- 1 can sprite
Peppers:
- 1 red
- 1 orange
- 1 yellow
- 1 green
Slice the peppers julienne(long strips) and toss with:
- 1 tbn rosemary
- 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- some fresh black pepper
- 1/2 tbn fennel seed.
Instructions
- Marinade chicken with skin on for at least one hour but up to overnight.
- Set up grill for direct cooking.
- Grill Chicken for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Flip as often as you want - no harm done. Most important piece is monitoring internal temperature. Take them off at 165!
- Grill peppers for about 8 minutes in a veggie tray.
- Let rest for 10 minutes for cutting into.