By Dylan Clay
If you like “fastfood” chicken sandwiches, these are like those but better.
The technique used here allows for wicked crispy skin and moist, tender meat.
Take thighs out of packaging and pat dry.
Don’t do any trimming – the skin will shrink and the bones are going to be pulled out later (easily).
Take some kosher salt (1/2 tbsp per thigh, ish) and apply to the meat and skin side of the thighs.
Allow these to dry brine in your refrigerator (skin side up) on the bottom shelf for 2 hours, ideally overnight or a max of 2 days.
This is after 2 days:
The idea here is to elevate the meat above the hot coals so that it doesn’t burn.
Any grill can work but I used my charcoal grill with an elevated grill grate.
Place chicken thighs skin side down for 1 hour.
When you flip, take some spray cooking oil – like avocado oil, olive oil, duck fat, beef fat, etc. – and spray the skin with the oil.
Allow the thighs to continue to grill skin side up for 30 minutes.
Going this high ensures the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender and that all the skin fat has rendered.
If any of the skin has “charred” you can use some scissors to snip it off OR leave it on.
Don’t worry about drying the meat out – chicken thighs aren’t white meat and are filled with collagen.
Meaning they’ll taste better when cooked to this high of a temperature.
The bone should pull easily and cleanly out of the thigh.
In a bowl combine:
In the past I’ve also tried taking like 1/4 cup of hot sauce and putting it into a Ziplock baggy with the thigh and then shaking it.
I find this tends to soften the skin though and prefer the above spread onto the roll instead.
To a bun spread the spicy mayo you just made on the top and bottom bun.
Then add your de-boned chicken thigh.
Top with whatever you’d like – dill pickles, onions, lettuce, etc.
Enjoy!
