Are you a food enthusiast? Now imagine having your chicken ready to grill, but unfortunately, the weather outside is unfavorable. Or rather, your apartment can’t allow a grill. Worry not. You can use a grill pan.
You can use a grill pan in place of a grill because it can get you the savory grilled taste and beautiful sear marks. It also has health benefits that come with it, as you will find out in this article. All in all, let’s look at the step-by-step process of grilling your chicken in the grill pan.
Let’s get to it.
The step-by-step process of grilling chicken in a grill pan
To begin this process, you will need ingredients. These include
- Four medium-sized boneless and skinless chicken breasts weighing around 4 ounces
- A teaspoonful of fresh parsley or basil
- One teaspoon of dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ½ of cumin
- ½ teaspoon of brown sugar
- One tablespoon of olive oil
- Salt and pepper
To prepare the chicken in the grill pan, use the following steps:
- Mix all the dry seasoning, then season the entire chicken breast in a small clean bowl.
- Turn on the heat, set the heat high, and place the grill pan on the burner for around three minutes. Don’t put the chicken yet at this point.
- After the pan heats, pour the olive oil in it. Ensure that oil thoroughly coats the pan.
- Cook the chicken breast for approximately five to six minutes. After the chicken turns golden and with dark grill marks, you should flip it using a pair of tongs. Flipping it will ensure that the other sides cook well too.
If you want to get a well-seasoned chicken, you can rub, marinate, or bast the chicken with the spices.
Rubbing the spices before grilling the chicken enhances the flavor. However, mixing the spices with the olive oil before applying it to the chicken improves the result. The olive oil traps the juice and aroma, which also helps with sticking.
Marinating, on the other hand, allows the spices to absorb moisture and flavor. It will help if you season the chicken for about 30 minutes before you start grilling.
Tips for using a grill pan for cooking chicken
A well-prepared chicken depends on the following tips:
· Preparing the pan
Your success in grilling that chicken in the pan starts with pan preparation. Before you begin grilling, wash, rinse, and completely dry the pan. The cleaning clears any dust accumulated over time and removes any dirt missed in the last wash.
After cleaning, preheat it for around five minutes on medium-high heat before placing food on it. Preheating the pan prevent partial overheating of the pan that may lead to uneven cooking.
· Slicing the chicken into small pieces
To further enable even cooking, it would help if you slice the bigger chicken parts into smaller portions. In doing so, you will get the desired char marks without the bitter crust that might come from your attempt to cook the inner parts properly.
· Coating the grill pan
Before you start cooking, you should coat the pan. You should also brush your food before you begin the cooking process. The step helps in ensuring that the chicken doesn’t stick on the pan.
· Placing the chicken on the pan
There is no joy in cooking, only to end up injured. When placing the chicken inside the hot pan, use a tong and gently place it in. Take caution when flipping the food too.
· Adding smoky seasoning
Despite missing a grill, you can still get the desired flavor. To do that, you can either use smoked salt and paprika or hoisin sauce. If you don’t have these spices, you can still use fish sauce, anchovy salt, or soy sauce.
· Covering the pan
As much it’s hard getting a grill pan with a cover, you should improvise for one. Place the lid over the pan once you are confident that the chicken is almost ready. The covering will not only speed the process but also give you a smoky taste.
· Don’t move the food too soon
As a beginner, you will be tempted to keep turning the chicken in the grill pan. Don’t do move the chicken too soon. If you do so, you won’t get the grill marks, and to make it worse, you might end up with unevenly grilled chicken.
Advantages of using a grill pan for cooking chicken
A grill pan happens to be the best alternative for grilling chicken in the absence of a grill. Let’s look at the advantages for using it.
- Durability
Grill pans are made from sturdy materials. The materials make them durable for long-term use even in the presence of intensive heating when grilling chicken.
- Healthy cooking
The grill pan enables healthy cooking. Grilling chicken in this pan leaves you with the food’s flavor. Furthermore, the pan’s features enable even cooking of your chicken.
- Better heat retention
Another feature that makes the grill pan suitable as a grill substitute is its heat retention. Your chicken will cook without burning with high heat retention and give you the flavored meal you look forward to.
- Allows indoor cooking
Armed with a grill pan, you don’t need to venture outdoors to prepare that grilled chicken. Drill pans are suitable for most indoor cooking ranges and will give you almost the same results.
- Ridges
The ridges in the grill pan allow extra fat and other juices to sip down from the food without mixing with it. This feature will leave you with crunchy chicken free from excess fat that can make your meal unpleasant.
- Easy maintenance
Like other cookware or the grill, these pans are easy to maintain. All you have to do is clean, dry it, then store it for future use.
Conclusion
If you find yourself in a situation where you want to grill a chicken but lack a grill, you can use a grill pan. Following the steps in this article and the valuable tips, you will get the chicken you want and enjoy. To put this into practice, why don’t you try it now?
