Teriyaki Honey Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs are a great meat to work with. First of all, they're cheap as hell. I can usually find bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for $1/ lb. Chicken is also a pretty healthy: It's lower in fat and calories than other meats. A three ounce serving of chicken thigh can contain 21 grams of protein, no carbohydrates, and a good source of iron. Granted, thighs have a little more fat than chicken breasts, but if you eat it with the skin off, the fat content is about the same. And because they're fattier, thighs don't dry out as quickly, which makes them ideal for grilling on the BBQ. They also contain more zinc than breasts, so that's a plus, too.

Did I mention a dollar a pound? Yeah, I thought so.

So here's an idea for a quick grilled chicken thigh dish on a weeknight. Total prep/ cook time is about 20-30 minutes:

First, prep your grill. Get it and hot and clean. Then work on the glaze...

Depending on how much you like garlic (and I LOVE garlic), use two, three or four cloves. These little fellas were the last of a head, and they were kinda tiny so I decided to use them all. 

Chop the garlic into a fine mince.

In a bowl add the minced garlic, 1/4 cup of honey and two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. You can use soy sauce if you want, but I like the flavor of teriyaki, especially on a BBQ.

Here's the victim for the evening: skin on, bone in. I rinsed them, patted them dry, then brushed them with olive oil and dusted them with a little Kosher salt and frehs coarse-ground black pepper.

Since the grill was already hot, I sliced up a zucchini and also did the olive oil/salt/pepper treatment. 

Everything is ready to go. Total prep time at this point is maybe 10-15 minutes.

Once the grill was hot and clean, oil the bars with a paper towel soaked in olive oil. Turn the heat down to medium and place the chicken skin side down to start. Turn them over after about 5 minutes and grill them another 4-5 minutes until the juices run clear or the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer hits 180.

Beware of flareups! The fat from these are going to drip down and cause lots of flames, so make sure you work your grill with a safety zone - a cool section of the grill that you can move the meat if the flames start getting crazy. You want a little char taste, but you dont want them burnt. 

In the last few minutes of grilling, baste the meat with the garlic/ honey/ teriyaki glaze. You dont want to do this too early in the process or the garlic will burn and become bitter. 

And there you go! Teriyaki/ honey glazed grilled chicken.

I love placing the grilled zucchini in a dish with a little balsamic vinegar. The zukes come out really sweet this way.

If you liked this recipe, let me know.

Enjoy!