Grilled Chicken with Cherry Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Ingredients + Substitutions

• Fresh Cherries – You can use any variety of fresh cherries for this recipe. Be sure the stems are removed, discarded, and the pits removed and discarded.
• Bourbon – Bourbon adds a nice flavor profile and earthiness to the recipe. You can also use whiskey or dark rum. The alcohol cooks out during the simmer. If you do not want to cook with alcohol you can omit without the need for a substitution.
• Cane Sugar – We like to add some sugar but the amount will vary depending on how sweet the cherries are. Fresh in-season cherries are sweeter than those off-season. So test them first. Add the sugar in small increments until you get the right amount of sweet.
• Orange Juice – Freshly squeezed orange juice adds a nice amount of acidity and fresh flavor.
• Chipotle Pepper and Adobo Sauce – We use both the sauce and a chipotle pepper (smoked jalapeño in juices). This is what gives the glaze its heat.
• Apple Cider Vinegar – Any good BBQ sauce needs acidity to balance the sweetness. Otherwise, it will taste flat. The ACV combined with the orange juice balances the sugar. You can use white vinegar as a substitute. It has a more distinct flavor.
• Kosher Salt – A touch of kosher salt balances the ingredients. We use Diamond Crystal and recommend you only use kosher salt or large crystal sea salt.
• Honey – The honey at the end adds a glistening sheen to the Cherry Chipotle BBQ sauce as well as sweetness.
• Chicken – Whole roaster chicken is best cut up, but you can use this BBQ sauce on any cut of chicken, or pork.
• Seasoning – Our preferred seasoning is our chicken rub. You can also used our all-purpose chicken and pork rub if you want some sugar.

Preparation

Seasoning Meat – We start by placing the chicken onto a sheet tray lined with a paper towel. We then dry the chicken with the same paper towel. Once dry we coat lightly with some olive oil as a binder and season all parts of the chicken with our chicken rub. You can season the meat the night before cooking or one hour before grilling.

Sauce – Prepare all the ingredients in small bowls.

How Make Cherry Chipotle BBQ Glaze

1. Start by pitting your cherries then adding them to a small sauce pan. Next add the remainder of the ingredients except the honey, and simmer about 15 minutes.
2. Next transfer to a blender or food processor to get out the chunks. Then return to the saucepan, add the honey (this is going to add gorgeous shine), and continue to simmer for an additional 15 minutes. This is not only a delicious sauce, but it’s sure beautiful too!

Make Ahead and Storage

You can make the sauce up to two weeks before using given the acidity level. We typically make it the day before and then use it the day of.

Be sure it’s stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, like a mason jar, for up to 2 weeks. The Cherry Chipotle sauce is not intended to be a shelf-stable sauce.

Grilling The Chicken

You can follow even more details in our guide on how to grill chicken perfectly. Have a gas grill? We have an entire article on how to cook chicken on the gas grill.

Prepare the Grill for Indirect Cooking

We are using an indirect grilling method or two-zone setup so we have high heat on one side and indirect heat for finishing. Target an internal temperature of 450 – 500 degrees Fahrenheit. We prefer to use lump charcoal.

In this example, we’re using our Big Green Egg. But the same concept applies if you have a kettle grill or gas grill.

Start Over Direct Heat

Start your chicken over the direct heat side to get a nice crust on each side (just a couple of minutes per side). The length of time will depend on how hot the grill is.

Move to Indirect Heat

After you have achieved a nice sear on each side of the chicken use long tongs to move the chicken to the indirect side of the grill. Close the lid and let cook until it’s time to glaze.

Glaze the Chicken + Rest

Cook the chicken until the internal temperature of the meat is 150 F. That is when you will start your first glaze. This gives it time to meld into the chicken while it approaches the finishing temperature.

Cover the grill again and continue cooking until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 160 degrees F. We like to use a good digital thermometer (like Thermoworks Thermapen One) for the for best results. This is also why we want to grill chicken cut into pieces. The smaller pieces will cook much faster than the thicker thighs or breast meat.

Then each piece of chicken has reached the proper internal temperature remove from the grill, glaze one more time, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. This will allow carry-over cooking to occur.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Grilled Chicken Recipes

Here are some of our favorites or explore all of our grilled chicken recipes.

• Grilled Chicken with Blackberry BBQ Sauce
• Grilled Chicken with Ancho Chilies and Prunes
• Dry Brined Smoked Chicken with a Carolina Glaze
• The BEST Smoked Buffalo Chicken Wings (with Crispy Skin!)

Tools Used

Here are some of the products we used in this Cherry Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Glaze.

• Long Tongs – Prevents the burning of your arm hair.
• Instant Read Thermometer – We have used Thermoworks products for over 10 years and it’s some of the best in the industry.
• Silicone Basting Brush – We prefer silicone because the fibrous versions will lose their bristles over time in your food. They are also dishwasher safe.

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