From our Blog
Grilled Chicken for Cooks Who Forgot to Defrost First...
One of the main reasons we started the Desperation Dinners newspaper column was that we forgot to defrost. Everyone’s hungry, you’re tired and yet dinner needs to be now! As Alicia put it so eloquently all those years ago:
“My husband’s on the way home, and I haven’t even thought about dinner. There’s not one thing in my house that’s not a solid block of ice.”
Over the years our newspaper column has stayed true to our core issues – but we do tend to branch out from time to time. Take our subject this week: slow-grilled chicken quarters with our favorite Fred’s Red Barbecue Sauce. You’re not going to cook this in a hurry (even thought it's easy!) and it just won’t work if you forgot to defrost.
However, if you’re in the desperate category while reading this, do not despair. You can still grill terrific chicken in a blink. Our Emergency Grilled Chicken is just the ticket...
The trick is to grilling still-frozen chicken is to either buy bags of IQF frozen chicken or else individually wrap your chicken breasts before freezing. Otherwise you may find it impossible to separate that giant block of chicken and dinner will never get done.
I suppose there may be other defrost solutions I’m forgetting? Anyone who wants to weigh in on this conversation, please feel free! We need all the help we can get.
Related Recipes
Emergency Grilled Chicken
Our Desperation Dinners philosophy is built around the assumption you forgot to defrost. So we developed a method for grilling chicken breasts while they’re still frozen.
Read full recipe.
Fred's Red Barbecue Sauce
This is Beverly's family's favorite BBQ sauce -- slightly sweet with an undercurrent of complex spices and the faintest bit of burn in the back of your throat.
Read full recipe.
Mango and Tomato Salsa
This quick salsa can go just about anywhere and go with just about anything.
Read full recipe.
Golden Mustard Glaze
Jazz up grilled chicken or add pizzazz to grilled pork or shrimp kabobs.
Read full recipe.
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Comments
Please don’t overlook all of the various sauces and toppers listed below these comments as “Related Recipes” (The Peanut Sauce is my eternal fav!)
Just click on the title of any of these quick and easy recipes (below) and you’ll be magically transported to our “Recipe Box.“ Or you can go directly to the Recipe Box and click on Sauces & Condiments in the category called “Recipes by Meal or Menu Item.“
All of these sauces and salsas would be terrific with a simple grilled chicken breast but I’m sure there are hundreds more! So, that said, anybody else out there got a quick topper? Please share…either in the comments here or you can email us at Thanks in advance!
I like to rinse my chicken well before cooking, so a quick defrost in salted water would be a mandatory first step.
Just change the water often until it’s mostly defrosted, pat dry with paper towel and you’re ready to rock.
You could throw it on the grill and brush on some hoisin sauce when it’s just about done.
Or saute in olive oil, onions and garlic (and mushrooms if ya got ‘em), deglaze the pan with wine or chicken stock and voila!
So simple an editor could do it.
Give the chicken a head start thawing in the microwave while the grill is preheating. If standing by the grill and turning every couple of minutes isn’t possible, move the chicken to the top rack and flip it between making a salad or setting the table. Check with instant-read thermometer before serving when cooking frozen meats.
check out this chicken recipe I found
It’s worth the look
I made it and I had enough for leftovers