Grilled Bone In Chicken Breasts with Garlic Sweet Onion Barbecue Sauce

These bone in chicken breasts are glazed in a barbecue sauce made of grilled garlic and sweet onions and cooked over the fire until tender and juicy. This post is sponsored by Petaluma Poultry. 

It took me a long time to get comfortable around a grill. I’m not sure if it was the dancing flames or maybe it was our society’s perception that grilling is a guy thing. For whatever reason, I could most often be found on the sidelines watching others flip the patties, chops and legs on the grill. 

Then I found myself at a point where I had no choice but to start grilling.  More of the recipes I was developing for clients needed to be grilled and I also got some print writing assignments on best grilling practices. This all led to a lot of research about the craft. I also could no longer wait for the weekend or evenings to have my husband around to fire up our kamado-style grill.

I had to jump in, tongs first. 

And you know what happens when you are forced into something. You don’t have time to make up excuses. You just do it. And then you learn. You learn a lot. 

Since then, I’ve become pretty proud of the fact that I know my way around a grill. Burgers, pizza, veggies, fish — I’ve tried it all. I’ve even figured out a way to make grilled marinara for pasta. There has been a lot of variety around here, but chicken wins the most-grilled award in our backyard. 

We make it all the time; sometimes marinated, sometimes with rubs and sauces, legs, thighs, whole. But one cut I haven’t grilled a lot of are bone-in chicken breasts. 

Petaluma Poultry contacted me earlier this year with interest in partnering for a post. I was already familiar with the brand from our time living in the Bay Area. These chickens are raised in Sonoma County and three varieties are available — ROCKY® Free Range Chicken, ROSIE® Organic Chicken and SONOMA RED® Pasture Raised. As you are likely familiar, I am all for the growing practices used by the farmers of Petaluma Poultry. For me, the brand serves as a good example of how larger poultry companies can make positive changes to provide a more humanely raised and high-quality product. 

As I’ve mentioned before, my food sources in California have been much different than what they were in Kentucky. I no longer have a local processing facility and meat shop with locally sourced foods a mile away. It’s been difficult to adjust to. Currently, I have yet to find a source for any type of pastured or free range chicken where we are now. 

So I was happy to make the connection with Petaluma Poultry and give these ROCKY® Free Range Bone In Split Chicken Breasts a try. It gave me the opportunity to create a new barbecue sauce and to polish up on my grilling skills for the summer season. 

I could tell the quality and freshness of the meat as soon as these bone in chicken breasts arrived. They grilled up so juicy and tender. The sauce has a balance of sweet, salty, smoky and spicy that could not be a better match for delicious chicken! 

A note on the sauce before you get started. The garlic and onion are cooked on the grill and they take a bit of time, about 45 minutes. If you are grilling on and off all afternoon, it provides the perfect opportunity to cook these early and get the sauce made before you are ready to grill the bone in chicken breasts for the main course.

Otherwise, I’d suggest grilling the garlic and onions a day or two before, when you have the grill fired up for another meal. Then you can make the sauce, refrigerate it (up to 2 days) and it will be ready the day you grill the chicken. 

However you choose to tackle the recipe, I can assure you it won’t disappoint. And if you are new to the grill, trust me, you can do this. Grilling is such a great way to get out of the confines of the kitchen and add some new flavor and foods to your meals. It really breathes new life into a  staple like chicken. So let this be the recipe that gets you out of your cooking rut and enjoy the summer!

What you’ll need: 

Sauce:

1 small sweet onion (6 oz.)
1 head garlic (1.5 oz.)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
14 oz. no-salt-added tomato sauce
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon fine ground sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
2 inch sprig rosemary

Chicken:

~ 4 lbs. ROCKY® Free Range Bone In Split Chicken Breasts (3 to 4)
Extra virgin olive oil
Fine ground sea salt
Ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives for garnish

How to make it:

For the sauce:
Preheat the grill to about 375 degrees F. Peel the onion and chop it into quarters. Place the onion on a 14 x 14 inch piece of aluminum foil. Cut the top 1/3 off of the head of garlic so that the cloves are exposed. Place the garlic cut-side up on the foil, next to the onion. Drizzle both with the olive oil. Wrap the foil around the onion and garlic, place on the grill, close the lid and cook for about 45 minutes, until tender. 

Once the foil is cool enough to handle, transfer the onion to the pitcher of a blender. Grasp the garlic at the base and squeeze the cloves into the blender with the onion. Discard the skin. 

Next add the tomato sauce, maple syrup, molasses, mustard and Worcestershire sauce to the blender. Puree on medium to high for 30 seconds, until smooth. Transfer the sauce to a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often. 

Add the salt, black pepper, paprika, red pepper and rosemary sprig. Simmer for 5 minutes. Discard the rosemary sprig and remove the sauce from the heat. Reserve 1 cup of the sauce to serve with the chicken. 

For the chicken:
Preheat the grill to 350 to 375 degrees F. Indirect heat is usually best for bone-in chicken breasts. You can create this by arranging your coals to one side or turn on only one or two burners on a gas grill. You will cook the chicken on the other side of the grill, not directly over the heat source. That being said, direct heat cooking will work, too. 

Rub about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the bone-in chicken breasts. Sprinkle the skin side of each with sea salt and black pepper. 

Place the breasts on the grill, skin-side up. Close the lid and grill for 15 minutes. Flip the chicken and grill for 15 more minutes. Flip the chicken back to skin-side up. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast, near the bone. It will likely be around 145 or 150 F. If it is higher, lower your heat. 

Use a brush to coat the breast in the barbecue sauce (be sure you reserved the cup for serving and it’s set aside). At this point, close the lid and grill the breasts for 5 minutes. Open, check temperatures and brush with more sauce. Continue with the 5 minute intervals until the meat reaches 165 degrees F. It took my chicken about 15 minutes of grilling after I applied the first round of sauce. 

Remove from the grill, let rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh chives and serve with the reserved sauce. 

Interested in trying Petaluma Poultry? Their products can be found in Safeway stores throughout California, as well as other retailers.