Buttermilk Grilled Chicken

What?? Buttermilk again??? hee..hee...hee...This happened last year where I promised that I won't buy anymore buttermilk. But then...... You see, my carton of buttermilk expired (yeah, what's new?). But I was not going to throw it out until I was sure that it had gone bad.

I opened the carton and poured the contents into a big mixing bowl. The color looked alright and it smelled alright. I mean it smelled like what buttermilk should smell like - sour. I did not have a taste though. So in went a whole chicken that was already cut into 8 pieces. Yup, I had every intention of making another round of buttermilk fried chicken.

Marinated chicken after removing buttermilk.

But later in the day, I changed my mind. I just felt a sense of dread thinking of deep frying the chicken. That was when I googled to confirm if it was possible to grill the buttermilk chicken. To my delight, I found many recipes. So yes, I can grill buttermilk chicken.

I removed the chicken pieces from the buttermilk and marinated them in a mixture of crushed garlic, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, salt and black pepper. I left these to marinate in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I grilled the chicken. It didn't smell good in the beginning but after 30 minutes or so, it smelled alright. I mean, it smelt really good. I was looking forwards to digging in.

At half time, I turned the tray and noted that the chicken had a good color. I knew it was going to be good.

Oh yes, it was good in terms of the flavors. Buttermilk chicken is supposed to be moist and tender but my chicken was on the dry side.

It could be that I grilled it for too long or the quality of the meat had deteriorated due to being in the freezer for too long. I will try this recipe again with fresh chicken. But that won't happen anytime soon because buttermilk seems to have disappeared from the supermarket shelves. But I reckon I could do this with plain yogurt and get the same results.

Buttermilk Grilled Chicken

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

- 600 ml buttermilk

- 2 tsp smoked paprika

- 1 tsp cayenne pepper

- 1 tsp black pepper or more

- 1 tsp sea salt

- 1 bulb garlic, peeled and crushed (I used a garlic press)

- 3 tbsp olive oil

Method :

1. In a big mixing bowl, add chicken and buttermilk. Let soak for about 12 hours or overnight.

2. To make the marinade, mix smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, garlic and olive oil in a big mixing bowl.

3. Remove chicken pieces from the buttermilk and add to the marinade.

4. Using your hands, rub the chicken with the marinade, making sure every piece is well coated.

5. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or for at least 4 to 6 hours.

6. Take the chicken out of the fridge to come to room temperature and grill on a wire rack at 180C for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is browned and cook through.