Cooking Chicken On An Infrared Grill Is A Fun And Delicious Experience
Chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of between 170 and 175 degrees Fahrenheit . Dont forget to baste the skin to get it nice and crisp.
An infrared grill offers some real advantages over a traditional gas grill with results that will amaze and astound friends, family, and chicken grillers alike.
You can grill the best chicken and this article on cooking chicken on infrared grill highlights how to do that. Read it again in detail to understand how to cook the tastiest chicken that everyone will enjoy.
Do you like chicken skin?
What Is Infrared Grilling Technology
First, a little history of how it all got started.In 1961, Bill Best, founder of Thermal Engineering Corp., Had patented the first infrared burner. This burner was only used for industrial machinery.
Bill Best was also a backyard griller and build an infrared burner in one of the barbecues he had built to use for himself. This was when he found out about the faster cooking and all other benefits of an infrared grill that we mentioned here.
All right, here we go with my explanation of the whole infrared technology. I hope you understand!Gas and electric grills use hot air to cook our food. A dryer also uses hot air but this is used to dry our clothes.This means that the gas grill dries out our meat and that is a complaint you hear a lot.And that is one of the reasons why we inject and marinate our meat. To keep the moisture inside.These grills have no infrared or radiant heating at all.
Charcoal is already a little better because it has about 25% infrared heat and that is why the meat stays moister and not too much dried out like on a gas grill.
How To Cook With An Infrared Burner On A Gas Grill
Infrared burners have been used by restaurants for many years to quickly cook steaks and other thick cuts of meat. Regular gas and charcoal grills use hot air to cook meat. Infrared burners, which are now available on home gas grills, cook food by quickly heating a ceramic plate underneath the wire grill rack to high temperatures. The infrared radiation that emanates from the plate immediately sears the outside of meat, locking in moisture and giving the meat a charcoal-like taste. Because infrared grills heat up and cook food quickly, it’s important to understand exactly how they work before attempting to use them.
Fire up the grill. Turn on the gas according to the instructions for your particular make and model, and turn on the infrared burner. Wait 1 to 2 minutes for the burner to heat up infrared burners heat very quickly, so this won’t take as much time as a normal grill.
Place the meat on the wire rack above the infrared burner. Wait about one minute, then flip the meat and sear the other side. Because the infrared burner gets so hot and cooks meat so quickly, it’s best to use thick cuts of meat such as steaks and pork chops on an infrared grill. The burners tend to char thinner items such as fish and vegetables.
Remove the meat from the grill and cut into it to make sure it’s cooked thoroughly. Turn off the grill and let it cool.
Don’t Miss: Pit Boss Fb700
How To Make Burger Patties
The best grilled burger patties hold together on the grill without falling apart, yet are perfectly tender when bitten into. I have written extensively on how to craft the best homemade burger patties, and I recommend brushing up on it. I like my grilled burgers to be slightly more dense to help them hold together on grill grates, so you are able to work the meat a little more than if cooking in a smooth skillet.
For grilled burgers, I recommend forming patties 1/3 1/2 pound in size, depending on your appetite. Work the meat gently to separate into the appropriate size, the more you work the meat the denser your burger patties will be. I find the best way to form the burgers into shape is using a burger press. I bought an inexpensive burger press, however homemade burger presses, such as the bottom of a flat plate also work well. Using wax paper is a great way to press your burgers without worrying about the meat sticking.
Dont be afraid to press very firmly when pressing the patty. You want to ensure it is compacted enough that it doesnt balloon into a meatball as it cooks. Hamburger patties will swell excessively if not pressed firmly enough.
How To Grill Burgers
The secret to grilling burgers is zone heating. To achieve zone heating on a charcoal grill, light all of the charcoals until hot and pour them evenly on one side of the grill. This creates an area of high heat perfect for searing the burgers. If the heat is too intense the burgers can be moved further away from the coals to cook more slowly. I start my burgers over the coals, searing both sides, then move them to the other side of the grill to finish cooking.
If you are grilling burgers on a gas grill it is best to treat it like a stovetop and find the appropriate heat where the interior comes to temperature before the exterior burns. However, many propane grills I have used in the past had poor temperature control, with their lowest setting still being too hot. In this case, I recommend turning on one row of burners and creating zone heat just like a charcoal grill.
Grilling Tip: If you get flare-ups while grilling, simply close the lid on the grill to cut off oxygen to the flames.
You May Like: Weber Grill With Stainless Steel Grates
Are There Any Potential Problems With Infrared Grills
Older style infrared grills with a ceramic burner can crack. If this has happened, your infrared burner wont get as hot as usual and will likely be making a popping or even an engine like sound.
Similarly, if the burners are still hot, dont splash them with cold water as it could cause them to crack.
While many manufacturers state that infrared grills are less likely to cause flare ups, depending on the type you get, flare ups can still happen. In fact, some infrared grills are quite prone to flare ups. Make sure you ask plenty of questions and do your research on the particular model you plan on purchasing.
It is also important to keep a close eye on anything you cook with an infrared grill as things will burn fast.
Lynx Professional Bbq Grill L30atrflp
A normal infrared is one temperature, but Lynx offers a variable from 300-1000 degrees.
You have that direct heat of an infrared but at a lower temperature. You can cook more water-soluble foods like fruit and veggies.
Lynx Professional BBQ Grill Infrared Burners
This grill is all infrared and is available in larger in 30, 36, and 48-inch sizes, but should you buy it?
Lynx Professional Built-In BBQ Grill on Display at Yale Appliance in Hanover
You will be able to grill faster than a conventional burner. The downside is the price at well over $4,000.
Also, you need to be close by to your grill when you’re cooking with infrared. Your food cooks faster and could burn if you are not paying attention.
Many pro grills will have the infrared option along with burners. A combination may be a good consideration to an all sear grill.
However, If you truly like to grill, all sear is a good consideration. You have the output plus the ability to lower temperature.
Don’t Miss: How Long To Cook Chicken Thighs Grill
Grilling Thick Chicken Breast On An Infrared Grill
One thing people find difficulty with is grilling thick chicken breast and making sure it’s not dried out or under cooked in the middle, but it’s not as hard as you think to be able to make juicy chicken breasts on the grill. You don’t need any special items, there aren’t any secret techniques, you only need to use your grill. Also, feel free to use any marinades or seasonings you wish. In order to grill thick chicken breast to perfection, the answer comes from using good heat control.
When people complain about chicken on the grill they mostly complain about it being burnt or dried out. Most often, these people leave their grill on high the entire time or put the lid down and walk away and then act like it’s a surprise when their overcooked food is overcooked. Believe it or not, you don’t go full heat the entire time, but you do start off with it. The 1st Step: Sear both sides of the chicken breast for 2-3 minutes. It doesn’t matter if you’re grilling thick chicken breast or thin chicken breast, this is the 1st thing you need to do. This gives the chicken its bar marks, adds flavor and texture to the outside, and makes it easier to flip over later without it sticking to the grill as much or at all.
The inside should look like this when it’s finished
To recap:
What Is A Rotisserie Burner Doing On My Grill
6 minute read|Grills
If after upgrading your outdoor gas grill someone asks: What is an infrared rotisserie burner doing on your propane BBQ? Tell them . . . Winning.
The addition of an infrared rotisserie burner to an existing PGS propane BBQ grill has become a popular trend that allows backyard chefs the ability to expand their menu repertoires vastly. The infrared elements are fired up by propane, but the technology converts it into a form of radiant heat. That science provides advanced cooking control and the ability to slow-cook choice cuts of beef, chickens, fruit, vegetables and other selections.
The rotisserie option on a propane BBQ functions as you might expect. It steadily rotates thick cuts of beef, whole chickens, fruits, veggies and others under intense radiant heat. Many grilling enthusiasts further enhance their control by strategically installing a grill timer to shut the system down and avoid overcooking. The use of a grill timer with an outdoor gas grill also gives home cooks a safety failsafe and peace of mind.
Does Adding An Infrared Rotisserie Burner Makes Sense?
It may come as something of a surprise, but infrared burners, in general, are more energy efficient than many standard gas counterparts. Infrared rotisseries allow grilling enthusiasts to spend less money on propane or natural gas than you would ordinarily need to accomplish similar grilling tasks.
Recommended Reading: How Long Should Chicken Thighs Cook On The Grill
Disadvantages Of Cooking With An Infrared Grill
Without making some adjustments the advantages can quickly become disadvantages when cooking with infrared.
- The intense heat put out by infrared grills can quickly burn food. When cooking delicate meats like fish, the heat put out by infrared can be too intense.
- For that reason, you will get the best results if you cook sturdier meats, such as steaks, especially when you are first using your infrared grill.
- Manufacturers have come to realize that an all infrared grill is not very versatile due to the intensity of the heat they produce.
For that reason, most grills now offer a sear zone. The rest of the grill heats the food a more traditional way, such as with gas burners. This way, after a very short time on the infrared burner, your meat can be moved back to the non infrared part of the grill to finish off .
This different way of cooking can take a little while to get used to, which can put people off using infrared grills initially.
There is also concern that burnt food, and particularly burnt meat, causes cancer. While it is true that certain compounds created when meat is cooked have been linked to cancer, there is still more research to be done.
In the meantime, if you are concerned, a good rule of thumb is to avoid burning your meat
Disadvantages Of Cooking In Infrared Grills
Some of the disadvantages of cooking include its cost and difficulty to control its cooking temperature. An infrared gas grill can be more expensive than gas grills due to their use of infrared energy.
It can also be difficult to control the cooking temperature since infrared grills heat up so quickly, so it may be challenging to maintain low cooking temperatures needed for some foods such as vegetables and fish. You either need to get an infrared grill with variable cooking temperatures so you can cook food at low temperatures or get a hybrid grill.
Some people also report that the chances of burning food is higher if a person does not closely monitor the temperature and the food that is cooking on the grill.
They can also be quite bulky and heavy as they were initially designed for commercial kitchens and not designed to be portable.
Recommended Reading: How Long To Cook Salmon On Gas Grill
What Is An Infrared Grill How Do They Work
To understand this fully we need to understand the difference between infrared and your usual go-to cooking method, which is usually either grilling with charcoal or gas-fired grilling.
Both these methods are convection cooking, in that the charcoal or gas flames heat the air between the fire and the food.
This hot air circulates around the food as it heats, which is known as a convection current.
This is the reason you close the lid while cooking, as it stops the hot air from escaping and allows the temperature to sit at a reasonably constant temperature, much like a traditional oven.
Infrared is different.
In simple terms, it is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which measures the length and speed of waves. Only a small part of the spectrum is visible to the human eye as visible light, and IR is just outside of this scope, and thus it is invisible to us. However, because it heats things, we can feel, see and taste the effect of it.
It is a lot like the sun. The suns energy is made up of around 50% infrared, and this is why pavements are hot to the touch in summer, yet we cannot see the heating process.
An IR grill uses a gas burner to heat a plate made of metal, ceramic, or glass and in turn produces infrared waves as opposed to just hot air. This plate heats quicker than just air and reaches a much higher temperature much faster.
The infrared waves created are what heats the surface of an object, such as meat, quicker than circulating hot air can.
Make The Most Of Your Infrared Grill: Tips And Tricks
One of the best parts of summer is cooking outside. Grills have come a long way since the small spaceship-like grills of the 1950s. More cooking methods have developed, catering to different personal preferences from charcoal to gas and now to infrared grilling. Tips and tricks have changed just as the cooking methods, tools and technology have changed.
Infrared grills are relatively new to the outdoor appliance market. They maximize flavor, energy and convenience by using an infrared cooking system as opposed to the convection system traditional gas grills use. Infrared grilling does not disturb the moisture boundary that surrounds all food, allowing it to retain up to 35 percent more moisture. Infrared systems use a layer of heat between the grates and the flame. This radiates heat into the food, cooking it more efficiently.
Infrared grills offer several advantages, but becoming a grillmaster can be tricky. The following infrared grill tips will help you tame your grill and master everything from classic cheeseburgers to filet mignon and fresh fish.
You May Like: What Temp Should You Grill Pork Chops
Pros And Cons Of Infrared Gas Grills
Like anything else, an infrared grill has pros and cons and whether it right for you depends on what and how you prefer to cook. The advantages and disadvantages also depend on the model you buy and what specifics it offers. That said, there are some general things to consider when looking to buy an infrared grill.
Pros
What Is Infrared Energy
Infrared energy is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum and cannot be seen with the naked eye. However, we can typically sense this energy in the form of heat at longer wavelengths. The Earth absorbs infrared energy from the Sun to maintain its temperature for living things and this is the heat you feel from the Sun.
Also Check: How Long To Cook Chicken Thigh On Grill
What Is Infrared Grilling
Infrared grilling is gaining popularity. An infrared grill is a grill that uses technology as the heat source or as an optional burner for cooking.
Like all kinds of cooking equipment, an infrared grill has advantages and disadvantages. Below are some pros and cons of using this type of grilling system.
What About Hybrid Systems
Some grills combine the benefits of a standard gas grill with a separate infrared burner in a specific area of the grill. This lets you sear meats and then move them to the main part of the grill to finish cooking. Some models offer the option of adding in an infrared burner either when you purchase it or at a later date. Some wood/charcoal grills offer this option as well.
Devotees of infrared grills say nothing beats them when it comes to perfect steaks in a snap,. But others say you can have the same thing with a high-end gas grill. A lot of this comes down to personal preference so its important to do your own research and ask questions about the things that matter to you.
Read Also: What Is The Best Temperature To Grill Pork Chops
