Chicken Brine Recipe (2024)

This chicken brine recipe is made with lemons, honey, fresh herbs and spices, and produces a juicy tender chicken every time! A foolproof way for succulent and flavorful roasted, smoked or fried chicken.

If you’ve never had a brined chicken before, you’re missing out! It takes just minutes to make a chicken brine, but the end result is nothing short of fabulous. Serve your brined chicken with glazed carrots and rice pilaf for a complete meal.

Chicken Brine Recipe (1)

I always get anxious about cooking large items of poultry like whole chickens and turkeys. It’s just so easy to either overcook the birds until they’re dry as a bone, or undercook them so they’re raw in the middle. This chicken brine infuses a whole bird with tons of flavor and helps to keep it from drying out in the oven. Brined chicken is the best chicken you’ll ever eat!

How do you make chicken brine?

To make this recipe, you’ll need salt, honey, lemons, herbs, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Everything goes into a large pot with water and is simmered until the salt has dissolved. After the mixture has cooled to room temperature, you can add your chicken to the pot, then refrigerate it until you’re ready to make dinner.

Chicken Brine Recipe (2)

Why do you brine chicken?

Chicken is a naturally lean type of meat which mean it’s prone to drying out. When a chicken is placed into brine, it absorbs some of the brine which helps to both keep it moist and also to season it all the way through. When you’re working with a brined chicken, even if you overcook it a bit, it should still come out tender and juicy.

How long do you brine chicken?

A whole chicken should be submerged in brine for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours. Do not go past the 24 hour mark, as your chicken may be overly salty if it sits in the brine for too long. If you’re looking to brine bone-in chicken pieces such as chicken thighs, drumsticks or breasts, you’ll want to soak them for about 4 hours. If you’re working with boneless chicken pieces, you can brine them for about 2 hours.

Chicken Brine Recipe (3)

Helpful Tips and Tricks

  • This recipe tends to work well with smaller chickens in the 3-5 pound range. This is simply because you’re more likely to have a deep pot to brine a smaller chicken in. If your chicken is larger than the biggest pot in your house, you can use a brining bag.
  • Be sure to use kosher salt, do not use table salt in this recipe. Table salt measures differently than kosher salt and your chicken will be too salty with table salt. I typically use Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
  • Feel free to mix up the flavorings to fit your preferences. You can try orange instead of lemon, brown sugar instead of honey, add dried chiles for a little spice, or use fresh sage instead of thyme.
  • Make sure the liquid is completely cooled before you add the chicken for food safety reasons. Sometimes when I’m in a hurry, I add a cup of ice cubes to help speed the process along.
  • If you’re making a smoked chicken, you can use a half batch of my smoked turkey brine before you put the chicken in the smoker.

How do you cook brined chicken?

You can cook this type of chicken in any way that you would normally cook a whole chicken. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Sometimes I like to add a few teaspoons of chicken seasoning to the outside of the bird before I cook it.

  • Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Herbs
  • Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
  • Peruvian Chicken
  • Rotisserie Chicken
  • Fried Chicken

Chicken Brine Recipe (4)

Once you try a brined chicken, you’ll be hooked! Everyone will think you’re a gourmet chef when they get a taste of your perfectly cooked chicken. While making a this brining solution is an extra step in the cooking process, it’s totally worth it in my opinion.

Chicken Brine Recipe (5)

Chicken Brine Video

This chicken brine recipe is made with lemons, honey, fresh herbs and spices, and produces a juicy tender chicken every time! A foolproof way for succulent and flavorful roasted, smoked or fried chicken.

Time

Prep Time10 minutes minutes

Cook Time10 minutes minutes

Cool Time30 minutes minutes

Total Time20 minutes minutes

Course Main

Cuisine American

Serves 12

Ingredients

  • 8 cups water
  • 1/2 cup kosher salt do not use table salt
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3 dried bay leaves
  • 5 cloves of garlic smashed and peeled
  • 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 3 sprigs fresh parsley
  • 2 lemons sliced
  • 4 lb whole chicken

Instructions

  • Place the water, salt, honey, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, parsley and lemons in a large pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

  • Cook for 3-4 minutes or until salt has dissolved.

  • Turn off the heat and cool completely.

  • Add the chicken to the cooled brine. Make sure the chicken is completely submerged.

  • Cover the pot and refrigerate for 8-24 hours.

  • Remove the chicken from the brine and rinse with cool water; pat dry with paper towels. Proceed with roasting, smoking or frying the chicken.

Notes

Nutritional information includes the whole chicken.

Nutrition

Calories: 185kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 775mg | Potassium: 176mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 140IU | Vitamin C: 11.5mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?Tag @dinneratthezoo on Instagram and hashtag it #dinneratthezoo

This post was originally published on January 2, 2019 and was updated with new content on January 13, 2022.

Originally Posted January 13, 2022

CategoriesChicken Dinner

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Chicken Brine Recipe (12)
Chicken Brine Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the simple brine formula? ›

For example, if you are using 1 gallon (16 cups) of water, add 16 tablespoons (1 cup) of salt. Place the meat in the brine and put the whole container in the refrigerator. If it doesn't fit, place it in an ice chest filled with ice.

How long should chicken be in brine? ›

Step 3: Once the brine is completely cooled, submerge the chicken into the liquid. You can leave the bird whole, or break it down into pieces first. Cover the pot with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 2 days.

What is brine solution for chicken? ›

Brining is basically soaking meat in a salt water solution, but the flavour doesn't stop at just salt. You can add all kinds of aromatics such as juniper berries, garlic, thyme and pepper to the solution to impart a different flavour. There are no rules – just use flavours that go together well.

Do I rinse chicken after brining? ›

What to Do After the Meat Is Brined. After waiting the appropriate amount of time, remove the meat from the brine and pat it dry with a paper towel. You won't need to rinse it with fresh water unless you accidentally brined it for too long. From here, cook the meat according to your favorite recipe.

Do I need to put sugar in brine? ›

Sugar: This is an optional ingredient and is typically used to balance the saltiness of a brine. Use about 2 tablespoons per quart of liquid.

How do you make brine at home? ›

It's simply soaking food in a salt water solution. Sometimes for extra flavor, you might add other ingredients, like sugar, herbs, or spices. But all you really need for a brine is salt and water. (Of course, you could also dry brine – read about that method here.

Do you refrigerate chicken while brining? ›

Add cold water to bring the temperature down, then refrigerate until fully chilled; Submerge chicken upside down (ie drumsticks and breast facing down) and brine for 24 hours in the fridge (even 12 hours is terrific); pat dry, brush with butter and roast!

What spices to add to brine? ›

Add salt, sugar, crushed garlic cloves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, thyme and 1 L of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 10 minutes, making sure the brine mixture does not boil over onto the stovetop.

Is it worth brining a chicken for an hour? ›

A brine adds flavor and keeps the meat tender and juicy.

You can brine whole chickens or broken-down birds; those pan-roasted thighs would surely benefit from it. All it takes is a little planning (you'll need to devote at least a couple of hours to the process, but it's happily hands-off).

What is the best brine method? ›

The basic ratio for any wet brine is one cup of kosher salt to one gallon of water. Make sure to fully dissolve the salt in the water. If you're feeling fancy, throw in some smashed garlic cloves, peppercorns, citrus (also smashed), or even a sweetener like honey or brown sugar.

What is the most commonly used brine solution? ›

The most common brine proportions are 23.3% salt concentration to 76.7% water. However, you can also add to conventional sodium chloride and use either magnesium chloride or calcium chloride. Keep in mind that the concentrations of those chemicals are drastically different.

Can you brine chicken in just salt water? ›

Of course, you could add other spices or flavors to the brine (personally I sometimes like to add lemon slices to mine), but at its most basic a brine is just salt and water. The amounts of salt and water are very important here so don't stray from them. For 4 cups of cold water, you'll want to add 33 grams of salt.

Should you pierce chicken before brining? ›

While poking holes in your chicken while marinating it can be helpful, it's not mandatory. Mostly, this method helps if you don't have several hours to spare when marinating your poultry. Poking holes in your chicken can allow the marinade to penetrate better in a shorter period.

Is 2 hours long enough to brine chicken? ›

How long to brine your chicken depends on what kind of chicken you're using.
  1. For skinless breasts, brine for two hours.
  2. For bone-in pieces, brine for four hours.
  3. For whole chickens, brine for at least four hours or up to overnight.
Nov 9, 2023

How much salt do you put in chicken brine? ›

The basic ratio of salt to water for a brine is 4 tablespoons of kosher salt per 1 quart (4 cups) of water. If you are using fine table salt, reduce the amount to 3 tablespoons.

What is brine water formula? ›

Overall process: 2 NaCl + 2 H 2O → Cl 2 + H 2 + 2 NaOH.

What is the formula of brine compound? ›

brine NH4OH | ClH7NNaO2 | CID 131727087 - PubChem.

What is the composition of brine? ›

Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (usually sodium chloride) in water.

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