First time trying cooking chicken on a griddle? If yes, you’re probably asking yourself too many questions like whether you can cook chicken on the griddle, what chicken parts to cook, the ideal temperature and time for cooking chicken on a griddle, and so on.
Contrary to what some people may say, griddling chicken is 100% possible. It’s both a healthy and fun way to prepare your chicken. Griddle chicken adds lean protein to your diet while keeping the fats and calories levels as low as possible.
Let’s discuss the common questions on cooking chicken on the griddle below.
1. Can you cook chicken breast on the griddle?
You can cook your chicken in an electric griddle. The best thing about using this particular appliance is that it lets you maintain a constant temperature when cooking compared to a regular griddle. The temperatures can get high as you continue cooking and lead to an uncooked inside and burnt outside chicken.
Another benefit of cooking chicken with an electric grill or skill tends to heat at even temperatures throughout the pan, so you won’t have to worry about contacting Salmonella from undercooked chicken.
2. What temperature do you cook chicken on a griddle?
The right temperature to cook chicken on a griddle is 350 degrees Fahrenheit. However, which temperature to use depends on the griddle unit you’re using. It is the ideal temperature to ensure your chicken takes a relatively short cooking time, stays juicy and moist, and does not dry out.
Electric griddles usually have a constant temperature set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If this is the case with your appliance, you have nothing to worry about as it will cook your chicken just fine.
But if your griddle allows you to set the temperature, we suggest using 350 degrees F to ensure you obtain perfectly cooked chicken.
What if you don’t have an electric griddle? Well, in this case, you should consider using medium-high heat for cooking your chicken. But it would help if you kept an eye on how this heat level cooks your food.
If you think the chicken is getting cooked too fast on the outside, you’d want to bring down the heat slightly.
3. How long do you cook chicken breast on a griddle?
The average period for cooking a whole chicken breast on a griddle should be 10-20 minutes, which means you should let one side of the breast cook for up to 5-10 minutes and then flip it to cook on the other side for another 5-10 minutes. A pair of tongs will help you quickly and safely flip the breast.
Some folks, however, prefer chopping the breast into smaller pieces before cooking. If this is your case, you’d want to reduce the cooking period to around 10 minutes since these are smaller pieces and will get cooked quite fast.
Just cooking your chicken breast for 10-20 minutes doesn’t always mean it’s perfectly cooked. That’s why we recommend you go a step further and check the temperature of the breast to confirm it’s well cooked. An adequately cooked chicken breast should feature an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit on a meat thermometer.
If your meat hasn’t reached this safe internal temperature, it hasn’t become hot enough to kill the harmful germs responsible for food poisoning and infections like Salmonella.
Don’t have a meat thermometer with you?
If yes, you’ll be glad to know there are other helpful ways you can use to check whether your meat
is fully cooked.
One such method is to press down onto your chicken breast. If the juices that come out appear clear, that signals your meat is well cooked.
Another method is to cut into the breast center. If your meat has a white appearance, it’s undercooked, and you’ll need to cook it for a little bit longer.
4. How do you cook chicken breast on a griddle?
Cooking chicken breast on a flat top griddle is a fairly simple process, even for an absolute beginner. These are the basic steps for cooking delicious chicken on a griddle:
Step #1. Heat your griddle before cooking.
One of the mistakes beginners make when cooking chicken breast on the griddle is not pre-heating the griddle.
If you want your breast to come out ideally, you should first set it to a medium-high or high heat level and let it heat for approx. Ten minutes before you put anything on the cooking surface.
Step #2. Flatten your chicken breasts.
As your griddle is heating up, you’ll need to even the thickness of your meat for even cooking and perfect griddling results.
The best way to do this is by wrapping the meat in cling wrap and rolling it out with a rolling pin until it looks even. The perfect thickness for your meat should be around 1.5 inches.
Step #3. Put the breast on the griddle.
Now is time to cook your chicken on the griddle. Add a thin coat of oil to the griddle cooking surface. Just a tiny amount will do—as small as one tablespoon—since griddles don’t require much oil for cooking).
Place your chicken on the griddle and give it to me took. The recommended period for griddling chicken is 20 minutes. Make sure you have a meat thermometer handy to check if your chicken hits the safe internal thermometer of 165 degrees F.
Step #4. Remove your cooked chicken
When you have checked that your meat is ready, you can finally remove it from the griddle. Top and garnish as you please, and start enjoying your tasty griddled chicken breast!
5. Can you cook chicken wings on a griddle?
Chicken wings are easy to cook on a griddle, but you should make sure you work on the first, so they attain a flat shape. It is crucial to ensure urgings will cook perfectly on the griddle.
Here’s a quick recipe for preparing 20 chicken wings on a griddle:
Ingredients:
- 20 chicken wings
- Cooking oil
- 3/4 cup of butter, cut into chunks
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 cup of hot sauce of your choice
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions:
1. Cut the tips off the chicken wings and throw them away
2. Add cooking oil to your griddle and preheat to medium-high heat. If you’re using an electric griddle, set the temperature to 350 degrees F.
3. Cook the wings for approx. 4 minutes on each side. Be sure to check whether they’re thoroughly cooking before taking them off the grid.
4. Melt butter on the saucepan and add pepper, hot sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
5. Thoroughly coat your chicken wings with the sauce above and serve.
6. Can you cook chicken thighs on a griddle?
Cooking chicken thighs is easy and fast. But we suggest cooking them boneless to ensure better searing and faster cooking on the griddle. Follow these simple steps to cook your chicken thighs on the griddle:
Step 1. Preheat your griddle to medium-high temperature
Step 2. Spread out your boneless chicken thighs on a baking sheet/cutting board and liberally season both sides of each piece with salt, pepper onion salt, garlic salt, and paprika
Step 3. Now coat your preheated griddle with a thin coat of cooking oil and place your chicken on the griddle.
Step 4. Let the chicken cook on one side for approximately five minutes before flipping to the other side to cook. You can tell if the chicken is ready to flip by checking if it has developed a browning/crust.
Step 5. After the other side has developed the browning/crisp, use your thermometer to check whether the meat’s internal temperature has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Can you cook frozen chicken on Blackstone griddle?
It is safe to cook frozen chicken on your griddle without first thawing it, provided you follow the necessary procedure. But it would help if you kept in mind that going this route will not give you the same taste as thawed chicken. The excessive moisture resulting from rapid thawing, for instance, can give the chicken a slightly rubbery texture.
If you decide to griddle your chicken without thawing it, you should keep in mind that it will cook up to 50% longer to cook. It would help if you also made sure that the pieces you plan to cook aren’t frozen together, so you can quickly spread them on your griddle.
Overall, cooking unfrozen chicken results in overcooked outer parts and undercooked inner cuts of the meat. As much as possible, you should avoid cooking thawed chicken. Use thawing methods to thaw your meat like water bath, using a refrigerator, counter technique, defrosting tray, etc.
The ultimate goal is to ensure your internal chicken temperatures hit 165 degrees F.
Final Verdict
Cooking chicken on a griddle is sure to increase lean protein in your diet and keep the fats and calories low. The cooking process is easy for everyone, including absolute beginners, provided you know what you’re doing. Having offered you a ton of information about griddling chicken in the above guide, we do not doubt that you’ll have an easy and fun time trying out various chicken recipes on your griddle.