Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce Brine for Chicken

It was way too windy to fire up the grill but that didn't stop me from heating up my George Foreman and trying this Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce Brine for Chicken. Especially since I had a bottle of Chipotle Hot Sauce handy:@) The chipotle added the slightest hint of smoke and added more flavor than a plain salt brine. Did it add heat? Take a look at that ratio below, no. While adding the sauce as the recipe suggested brought more to the party than salt water, personally, I'm all for bumping up the flavor and will be adding, shall we say... a tad more next time.

Once out of the brine, bring your meat to room temp, dry it well with paper towels, and give it a light coating of oil, I like olive oil. I did give it a hearty grind of fresh pepper too. The last minute or two of cooking I slathered my chicken with a BBQ sauce that had a few hearty shakes of the chipotle hot sauce mixed in to carry the smokey flavor through-and that did add a little heat:@)

Pic before BBQ sauce.

A tip for using a George Foreman Grill: Let it heat up for at least five full minutes. Don't pay attention to the 'ready' light going on and off, give it enough time to get hot and fully heat up.

Adding hot sauce to your brine is a very simple way to bump up the flavor folks, and it would work well with pork or turkey too. The recipe is for 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast, the one in italics is what I used for 2 chicken breasts.

Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce Brine for Chicken-from Tabasco.com
1/2 C kosher salt - 1/8 C kosher salt
1/4 C sugar - 1 Tblsp sugar
1 Tblsp Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce - a little less than 1 tsp hot sauce (I added 1 tsp, will use more next time)
8 C water - 2 C water
~Mix everything, add chicken and place in fridge for an hour. I used a little warm water to dissolve the salt and sugar, then added cold water.

Let's get excited about grilling season and have a happy day:@)