Mmmmm. I love grilled chicken breasts.  Partly, it’s because they taste great.

Mostly, it’s because Hubby does the grilling.

We generally marinate the chicken, but I wanted to try a dry rub this time. I searched around for a dry rub recipe, but mostly found people saying to make one up.

Making up recipes is one of my very favorite things.  I started grabbing anything that sounded good from the cabinet and came up with this: a little sugar, a little salt, a little garlic powder, cayenne pepper and black pepper.

It tasted good on my finger, so I decided to go for it.

But the one problem with a dry rub . . . is that the chicken needs to be dry.  I’ve heard the instructions to “pat it dry” before, but the thought kind of freaked me out.

I suffer from chickaphobia.  (Which isn’t a word.)

Maybe I should call it chickajuicaphobia.  I like chicken, I just can’t handle chicken juice.  It’s why I’m obsessive about doing huge prep-sessions for large amounts of chicken so I can disinfect everything after I’m done and then dump each meal-sized bag of chicken into the pot without touching it again.

But just-thawed chicken isn’t dry. In fact, it’s pretty wet. So I had to do the pat-it-dry thing.

I was thankful my Bounty DuraTowels came to the rescue.  They’re cloth-like so they don’t tear up when they get wet. Which is good, since I’m not into eating paper-coated chicken.

Yes, using a Bounty DuraTowel, so much less-germy than a dishrag, just makes sense for this kitchen task.

I made sure the chicken was completely thawed so that I could get it as dry as possible.

(Why yes. My 7yo DID paint my fingernails.)

I used a triple-layer on the top and bottom.

I pressed down on the DuraTowel, and it did great. Once the chicken was dry, I dragged it through the shallow dish that held my dry rub.

And then I sighed with relief as I just threw them away.

I don’t know that my obsessive-compulsive side would EVER allow me to believe that a dishtowel was thoroughly rinsed enough to be forever rid of chicken juice. Nor would I be able to NOT envision the molecules of chicken juice floating through the washing machine.

And then, as I was giving Hubby the prepared chicken, I saw something awesome!

Dirty, grimey paper towels!

Why yes, he had used a Bounty DuraTowel to clean the grill since his grill brush has seen better days. I’d say that’s a good paper towel that can hold up to that task!

Yes, he gladly posed.

The results?

We really liked the chicken breasts.  I need to work on perfecting my rub (a little less sugar next time), but I do feel like this method (as opposed to our usual marinating) makes the chicken taste more like the grilled chicken you get in a restaurant.

What is your favorite way to prepare chicken for the grill?

 

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post. I am a paid spokesperson for Bounty DuraTowel.  But the made-up dry rub, the chickaphobia, and the totally hot husband are all mine.