A mouthwatering layer of caramelize BBQ sauce is just the thing to brighten up any garden grill party. However, you’ll often find the barbecue sauce flavor taste falls off as you cook raw chicken, leaving you with a weak offering.
The chicken often doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, as you don’t know how to make barbecue sauce stick. However, you can quickly learn a few tricks of the trade to get better results. If you’re wondering how to get BBQ sauce to stick when cooking chicken, this is the best place to look.
The most effective way to get BBQ sauce to stick on meats is after the meat has been mostly cooked. This ensures that the surface has stopped releasing moisture and has enough texture to contain the sauce. Add your BBQ sauce as you reach the last 10–20 minutes of cooking. There is more to it than that when you apply barbecue sauce. So, in our guide, you can learn more about how to make BBQ sauce stick to chicken for the ultimate taste.
By the end, you’ll know all the tips to get a solid coating from the important burning stage, as you know exactly when to put BBQ sauce on chicken when grilling. (Read Can You Make Kraft Mac And Cheese Without Butter)
How Do You Get BBQ Sauce To Stick To The Meat?
So, if you’re having difficulties getting your barbecue sauce to attach to your meat, here’s what you should do. The first step is to determine the source of the problem.
Fortunately, there are just a few causes for this issue. First, it’s usually the preparation stage that has to be tweaked. However, you may discover that the sauce you’re using isn’t suitable for grilling or smoking.
Finally, think about producing a barbeque glaze. Here we will explain why you don’t get sticky chicken and how you rectify this for the best tasting chicken breasts.
Start With Dry Meat
Although this isn’t always the fix to get sticky barbecue chicken breast, it can help. Dry meat such as your chicken breasts causes the sauce or dry rub to stick better to the surface.
- As you apply BBQ sauces or rubs to a wet surface, they won’t stick. Raw chicken meat is naturally moist, but as it warms, it also sweats.
- The issue of BBQ sauces not being absorbed enough is because of moisture.
- Brining chicken breast meat before smoking and grilling can be useful. You make this with salt and water, although you can add sugar.
- You can brine chicken breast meat for up to 2 hours before you barbeque chicken. There is no need to rinse and dry your chicken breasts using a paper towel.
Cook Chicken Breast Before Applying Sauce
Cooking the meat, especially when you grill chicken breast, before applying the BBQ sauce can make a significant impact. Although, you don’t have your meat fully cooked before adding the sauce.
Just enough sauce needs to be added to the outside with a bit of texture.
- After that, when to apply BBQ sauce to chicken will fall in the final 10 to 20 minutes of cooking time on the grill or less.
- Keep in mind that the temperature will impact your BBQ sauce. You risk burning your BBQ sauces if the temperature rises above 260 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The best way to prepare the meat is to dip it in sauce and brush or baste it onto the cooking chicken breast.
- Ensure you have hot sauce first because cold sauce to your chicken pieces can change the temperature when applying cold BBQ sauce.
Another reason to mostly cook the meat, especially with chicken rather than ribs, is that you’ll turn them frequently. When adding sauce, and you keep turning it, you’ll remove more of the sauce each time.
Apply Sauce In Several Thin Coatings
Making flavor layers is one of the most effective tricks. This method keeps the sauce on your meat, whether chicken breast meat or bone-in ribs.
- As a result, you’ll want to add the sauce in little amounts. Begin by slathering the meat with the initial layer of sauce on one side.
- Allow 3 to 5 minutes for the sauce to simmer. Then, turn the meat over and coat the other side with additional sauce.
- Repeat as needed until you are satisfied with your results. One or two layers are usually sufficient when it comes to sticky chicken, and you want your barbecue chicken to taste good.
- Again, the objective is to create layers of sauce that have been rendered. Without overworking the meat or removing too much sauce
How Do You Get Sauce To Stay On Chicken?
Besides the above, there are even more ways to get the best BBQ chicken possible.
Try Another BBQ Sauce
It’s possible that the problem was caused by the barbeque sauce you were using. BBQ sauce comes in a variety of brands and even styles.
Depending on the components, fluid sauces may not stick as well.
Check your sauce’s label: sugar caramelizes quickly and gets quite sticky. Look for brown sugar, honey, or molasses-based sauce.
Alternatively, you can add a glaze by adding more ingredients to the sauce. You can also make your glaze from scratch. In a quick recipe, you can add honey or brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and garlic powder.
When ketchup and honey are blended in a hot sauce, the sauce becomes very caramelized, and the sweetness is perfectly balanced. (Learn How Long Can Mashed Potatoes Sit Out)
Make A BBQ Glaze
A glaze is a thick sauce with a few ingredients. It doesn’t have to be cooked and may be applied shortly before serving or used as a dipping sauce. However, if you’re having difficulties keeping the sauce on the meat, prepare it beforehand and think about drizzling a coat of glaze on top of your chicken or ribs.
Using jams or jellies distinguishes a glaze from a sauce. Glazes can also be used on raw meat. There is no hard and fast rule, but consider that glazes are thick and sticky, and add more sauce in this scenario.
As a result, a glaze can add taste or more layering. Keeping the BBQ sauce in place or enhancing the flavor of the meat’s exterior when rather than leaving burnt skin.
Use A Rub and BBQ Sauce Combo
Do it several times instead of grilling your chicken or ribs once and expecting the sauce to stick. You want to create layers as much as possible.
Season your meat with a rub, then layering on more sauce between cooking intervals. As you’ll see, this method is used in many BBQ recipes.
BBQ sauce isn’t used in every dish; dry rubs are frequently used to flavor and season smoked or grilled meats. However, if you combine the two and apply the sauce near the finish, it will be delicious.
It’s much more probable that the sauce will stick perfectly. All you need is salt, pepper, garlic powder, and others to suit your taste to make a medium heat dry rub ready to hit the grill. (Learn How Long Is Tuna Salad Good For)
Do You Put BBQ Sauce On Chicken Before Or After Baking?
Sometimes, you may want to use the oven for cooking rather than firing up the grill.
You can use most of the previous tips before following the ones here.
- Pour the BBQ sauce on your chicken and let it marinate as the oven pre-heats.
- Put your chicken on a baking dish with the skin facing down in the preheated oven.
- After cooking for 25 mins, turn the chicken, and baste it with more BBQ sauce.
- After another 25 mins, baste it once more before a quick broil.
Can I put BBQ sauce on raw chicken?
Raw chicken can undoubtedly be slathered in BBQ sauce. Then, marinate the chicken or chicken pieces in the BBQ sauce in a baking dish for a few hours overnight to add even more extra flavor.
Bake in a baking dish for about 15 minutes, basting every 15 minutes. If you need more liquid, add some water to the pan.
How do you make the seasoning stick to chicken?
To get the dry rub seasoning to stick to the chicken, blot it dry with paper towels first. Then, apply a light layer of extra virgin olive oil to the chicken.
Apply the dry rub spice generously coat the chicken using your hands. Finally, cook the chicken as little as possible without turning it.
How Do You Seal BBQ Sauce?
Butter and other saturated fat acids are examples of partially saturated fats. For this reason, a mixture of meats (e.g., bacon fat, chicken fat), sauces, and other lean meats work well.
This is partly because saturated fat solidifies at normal temperature. However, when the temperature rises to significantly higher levels, it becomes viscous and remains viscous.
You want to give the sauce enough heat to caramelize and adding rich flavor, but not so much that it burns. (Read Can You Freeze Pastrami)
Begin brushing on the sauce and continue to do so for two or three more coats until the meat is removed from the grill. Move the meat to a cooler portion of the grill if a flare-up occurs.
