Wine Brined Grilled Chicken
Never eat dry flavorless chicken again. With my Wine Brined Grilled Chicken recipe boneless skinless chicken breasts become super flavorful and juicy! The trick is soaking them in a salt and wine brine before grilling.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Wine Brined Grilled Chicken
Brining may sound messy, or best left to the professionals, but I want to assure you it’s about as complicated as marinating. Plus the wine brine makes simply grilled chicken breast so incredibly juicy.
This is a great recipe to serve in the summer and for special occasions. But even in the colder months, if you are an all-seasons griller, this is a great option. The wine and rosemary flavors are amazing with these sauteed portobellos.
Recipe Highlights
- High in protein and low in calories.
- It’s a great make-ahead recipe—the chicken requires a lot of time in the brine.
- Perfect to make for a cookout, summer BBQ or entertaining.
Key Ingredients For This Recipe
- Kosher Salt
- Boiling Water: The water needs to be hot so that the salt dissolves properly.
- White Wine: The wine should be cold and preferably fruity.
- Ice
- Fresh Rosemary: Whole fresh rosemary springs are added to the brine to add flavor and aromatics. You could experiment with other herbs such as thyme or sage as well.
- Peppercorns: You could use either black or mixed peppercorns for this recipe.
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: You could also make this recipe with chicken thighs or even bone-in chicken. Adjust the cook time accordingly.
Chefs Note on Wine Brine: This brine is different than a basic brine because of the added bottle of white wine. After testing, and loving the results, it is my guess that the brine forced the alcohol into the chicken. I don’t know for sure, but I do know that the result is a juicy and incredibly tasty chicken.
Step-by-Step Ingredients to Make This Wine Brined Chicken
Step 1: Marinate chicken in wine brine
Combine salt and boiling water in a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup, and stir until the salt is dissolved. Pour wine and ice into a large resealable bag or a deep bowl. Add hot salt mixture. Add rosemary and peppercorns. Agitate the mixture until completely cool. Add chicken. Seal the bag and set it in a bowl, or cover the bowl if using. Refrigerate chicken for 18 to 24 hours.
Step 2: Grill chicken
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Oil grill rack. Remove chicken from the brine. Discard brine. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Grill chicken until no longer pink in the center, and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Rest 5 minutes before slicing.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Store the grilled chicken in airtight containers for 3 to 4 days. To reheat, simply microwave until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.
For freezing, store in freezer bags for up to 4 months. To reheat the frozen chicken, transfer it to the fridge to thaw overnight. Alternatively, defrost in the microwave.
As mentioned above, you could make this recipe with bone-in chicken or thicken thighs. You could also experiment using red wine in place of white, and add other fresh herbs to your liking. Garlic is also an option.
Simply put, brine is a saltwater solution that chicken, other poultry, or meat soak in before cooking. Often brine is made with sugar too. Brines are also commonly flavored with juices, herbs and spices for added flavor. Additionally, brine is used to preserve jarred foods, like olives and is used in smoking and curing meats to prevent spoilage.
Brines are not as intensely strong as marinades and don’t usually have acidic elements added to them. Marinades usually affect the outermost layers of protein while brine works deeper into the meat.
Soaking chicken in brine before grilling makes it juicy and flavorful. Basically, the salt solution soaks into the chicken, and binds to it, making it juicier before it is cooked. The salt denatures the proteins and attaches water to the protein, which makes them juicier.
The raw chicken sits in the brine for a relatively long time (24 hours in this recipe) and the salt and flavor are able to really permeate the chicken. For larger poultry or for bone-in meat you can leave it in for even longer. The brine in this recipe is a relatively weak brine so the chicken breasts can be in the solution for longer. Stronger (quick) brines work in as little as two to four hours.
Additional Grilled Chicken Recipes to Try
- Isabel’s Island Chicken Marinade is one that I make on repeat, especially during the summer.
- This Garlic Herb Marinated Chicken recipe with only 6 ingredients is so simple and so delicious.
- If you’ve never used yogurt for a marinade, you’ll be obsessed with these Yogurt Curry Marinated Grilled Chicken Thighs.
- This Chicken Fajita Salad is such a great family-friendly recipe.
- These Grilled Greek Boneless Chicken Thighs are a summer cookout staple in my home!
Additional Brined Recipes to Try
- This Cider Brined Pork Chop recipe by EatingWell is incredible.
- You can find this recipe for Sweet Tea Brined Chicken on Baked Bree!
- Bon Appetit’s Pan Roasted Brined Pork Chop is so tasty!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
PrintWine Brined Grilled Chicken
- Total Time: 18 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Boneless Skinless Chicken breast stays moist, juicy and flavorful when it is grilled because it is brined in a simple rosemary and wine brine solution first.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 cup boiling water
- 3 cups cold white wine, preferably fruity
- 1 cup ice
- 4 sprigs rosemary
- 1 tablespoon pepper corns
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
Instructions
- Combine salt and boiling water in a heat proof bowl or measuring cup, and stir until the salt is dissolved. Pour wine and ice into a large resealable bag or a deep bowl. Add hot salt mixture. Add rosemary and peppercorns. Agitate mixture until completely cool. Add chicken. Seal bag and set in a bowl, or cover bowl if using. Refriegrate chicken 18 to 24 hours.
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Oil grill rack. Remove chicken from the brine. DIscard brine. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Grill chicken until no-longer pink in the center, and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Rest 5 minutes before slicing.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Brining and Grilling
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 1/2 ounces chicken each
- Calories: 160
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 1976 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 3 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 21 g
I love using brines for chicken, but I have never thought of adding wine to the brine. It’s so brilliant. Thanks for sharing this.
Brine lovers unite Joshua! I think you’ll love the addition of the wine.
oh em geee this chicken! Gosh it looks so juicy I want to eat it though the screen! I am definatly pinning this and making it sometime this weekend! I am checking out your other chicken recipes too, love all the ingredients and simplicity of this though!!
Thank you Selena. I am so humbled by your enthusiasm for this recipe. Hope you enjoy it. {sidenote: the Island Chicken Marinade is on the Best of Healthy Seasonal Recipes list for a reason, I’d say it is my favorite recipe on this website… just sayin’ that should be a contender too 😉 }
I’ve been meaning to start trying brines for my chicken but didn’t know where to start..this was informative and a great recipe. This may be my first go at it! Thanks 🙂
Eva
Do it Eva! How honored I would be if it was. ThoughI can’t really take credit for the results, it’s the salt (and wine!) Lol.
This is really an educational post. The recipe is worth trying, never tried adding wine in my brine before. I am pretty sure I am going to love it! 🙂
So glad to hear it Joel. I think you’ll be happy with the results. I sure was and am inspired to try different combos of different meats, alcohols and spices or herbs.
Love this idea, Katie! What an easy way to get tons of flavor into grilled chicken. And your photography is stunning…as always! 🙂
Many thanks David! Hope you’re having a great week.
Another rock star recipe, can’t wait to try! Pinned!
Thank you so much Zerrin. I am so glad to meet you and to Pin along side you too.
Great tips and now of a sudden I am craving chicken! Can you believe I’ve never brined anything before? I think I’ll start with this-yum!
My first brining experience was a whole dang turkey, and that was an undertaking. Simply because the space needed and finding the equipment was harder. These boneless skinless chicken breasts are a whole lot easier, and a better place to start.
Great tutorial and recipe! The chicken looks exceptionally juicy and tasty!
Thank you so much Marjory.
this was really educational Katie, I’ve always wondered about the differences between a brine vs. marinade and I love how you spell everything out in such detail. recipe looks delish, and I love me from fresh rosemary!
Glad to hear it wasn’t too boring. I mean salt water is fascinating and all… Good thing I added a little booze 😉
I appreciate your post so much! Brining is an easy step to take to enhance meats and such, but few people do it (I’ve skipped it plenty of time – oops!). Your take on this month’s challenge looks amazing, and makes me want to fire up our grill!
Exactly Jessie, it is an easy habit to get into once you see how easy it is, right? Happy to hear I inspired you.
Just saw this on IG and had to come check it out! Can’t wait to try your winey brine! Beautiful pics Katie :0)
Thank you Julie, that is a big compliment considering how much I love your photography.
This is so pretty, haha! I can never make my chicken dishes look photogenic 😉
Thank you Rebecca. I agree that chicken can be so hard. Every time I try to do chicken breasts I am reminded that a single serving can look so strange. I didn’t even try this time, and just went straight for the platter. I was so surprised these pics came out better than I hoped.
I want to make this just based on your photos! Beautiful! Great summer grilled chicken recipe!!!!
That is such a big compliment Diane. Thank you! I was nervous getting ready to take these pics, but then they came together so quickly. you never know when something is goign to play nice for the camera I guess.
I have heard of “brined chicken” before, but I have been too much of a wimp to try it – you make it sound so easy – I must say your chicken looks GORGEOUS! So plump and juicy!
This is my first time stumbling onto your site and I sure am glad to have met you on here – you do have the coolest job! 🙂
And I yours Shashi. So glad to know about your website too. That is one of the many reason the Redux is so great. Yes yes, the brine is no big deal .Give it a whirl!
I’ve brined chicken before grilling but never with wine – going to have to give this a try!
It is really surprising how savory the wine makes it. Thanks for coming by Jeanette.