With only a 2 hour grill time, these grilled chicken thighs with beer marinated asparagus are perfect for a quick weeknight BBQ dinner!

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When I need a fast meal or maybe a weeknight BBQ after work my “go to” is smoked boneless/skinless chicken thighs. It only takes about 2 hours total and you can mix them up a bit with different sauces, since we all know chicken goes well with anything 🙂

What you need:

Boneless, skinless, chicken thighs (typically 2-3 thighs per person)
The BBQ Brothers All-purpose BBQ Rub
Your favorite BBQ sauce (we will review two of the new Heinz BBQ Sauces)
Sugar
Apple Cider vinegar
Spray Bottle

The first thing we want to do is brine the chicken as this will prevent that typical dry grilled chicken that you may be accustomed too. Place your chicken in something sealable (tupperware, Ziploc bag, etc) and put in the following;

¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
Enough water to cover the chicken

Throw it in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hrs. THIS IS IMPORTANT, NOBODY LIKES DRY CHICKEN!!! Also, since you have the vinegar out we can get our BBQ spray bottle ready as well, with 1 part apple cider vinegar, 2 parts water and 1 teaspoon of sugar.

Now after your chicken has brined we want to remove them from the brine and rinse and dry them off. Then sprinkle your BBQ rub on and they are all ready to go on the smoker.We want the smoker temp to be at 225 and use a good amount of apple chips as the chicken will be on indirect heat for about 2 hours. The only thing you need to do for these two hours is every 20-30 min spray your vinegar/water mix on to keep the chicken moist.Now when your chicken is about done sauce them up and throw them on the direct side for about 2 min each side to get the sauce sticky and caramelized.SAUCE REVIEW

We have all seen these commercials for the new Heinz BBQ sauces so we decided to give two of them a try. I always love NC style BBQ so we tried the Carolina Vinegar Style Tangy as well as the Kansas City Sweet and Smoky style.

Carolina Vinegar Style Tangy– This one was tangy with a little bit of heat. It was very vinegary which I love 🙂 Also, it was not very thick, so it may not be the best to dunk your chicken nuggets in, but would be great for basting this chicken or great on a pulled pork sandwich.

Kansas City Sweet and Smoky-- This one was very thick which will solve your dipping chicken nugget dilemma 🙂 It was also very sweet with a mild smoky flavor. I will baste some ribs with this next time I throw some on.

All in All – For at least these two sauces Heinz knocked it out of the ballpark as both capture the style of BBQ they claim and the price is great (2 bottles for $4). I recommend you give these a try, especially if you are looking to try new styles of BBQ sauce, as this is a great and inexpensive way to sample.

Now that you have these thighs all sticky with that sauce you are good to dig in. I know many people say that skinless and boneless is no way to BBQ chicken, but I find that these are small so everyone isn’t overwhelmed with a huge ¼ chicken on their plate. Plus they taste great many different ways whether it be on a plate with some coleslaw or on a sandwich with more Heinz BBQ Sauce on it!

BEER MARINATED ASPARAGUS

Now with all these delicious BBQ meats we will need some veggies to go with them (not really but hey, you never know when a vegetarian will come walking into your BBQ party). So a very simple side that can be done while you are smoking the meat is “beer marinated asparagus.”What you need:

One bunch of asparagus
1 beer (well, you will probably need more than one beer so you may want to upgrade to a 12 pack....but for the marinade, you will need just one. We used Traveler's Summer Lemon Shandy)
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoon salt and pepper

The first thing we want to do is marinate the asparagus for at least 3 hours but not longer than 6 hours as we want that good beer flavor but don’t want them to be soggy. Place your asparagus in something sealable (tupperware, Ziploc bag, etc) and put in the remaining ingredients.Now this is the simple part: take the asparagus out of the marinade and throw them right on direct heat. I like to scorch them a bit giving them some nice black marks which gives them that fresh off the grill taste. I normally do this at the end of the smoke of a meat. That way while the meat is on indirect heat I'm grilling the veggies so everything is pretty much done at the same time.

That’s it! I know very simple but will tie the dinner together. This pairs well with steak or chicken and since people already have a fork and knife for the meat this is an easy thing to add to it!

Looking for more chicken or veggies on the grill? Check out these recipes:

Smoked Spatchcock Chicken

Vortex Chicken Wings

Smoked Corn on the Cob

BBQ Chicken Breasts--Sunday Meal Prep