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.
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.
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.
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
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 Video
Chicken Brine Recipe
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
Nutrition
This post was originally published on January 2, 2019 and was updated with new content on January 13, 2022.
Sue I have a question about the brine I know it says to use 3sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley but can you use dry ingredients instead if so how much and should it be ground or leaf I don’t use fresh spice’s because they would go bad before I used it all?? Thank you so much for your help I appreciate it I’m definitely going to try this with the BBQ rub I have a chicken in my freezer can’t wait yum😋. I did just do a boneless turkey breast with brine it was very nice and juicy I thought it was to salty though so if I use that recipe I’m gonna cut back on the salt ..got to watch my salt in Take 😁
I’d use 1 teaspoon each of the dried herbs!
I have a question so you brine the chicken before you put it in the smoker what kinda spice’s do you put on the chicken or do you put spice’s on the chicken? What kind of wood chips would you use and in the water container inside the smoker what kind of liquid would you put in the smoker? Plain water? Lemon water? I’m new to using the smoker and I don’t like dry meat 😊 Thank You
Here is my favorite smoked chicken recipe! https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/smoked-chicken-recipe/
Do you need to rinse the chicken once you remove it from the brine?
You can just pat it dry and proceed, no need to rinse it!
I love your menu am a big fan
Thanks so much Godfrey!
That chicken looks yummylicious. I have never brine a chicken before. I must try this.
I would love more ideas on cooking whole chickens! This looks like a delicious recipe!
now that’s a perfect looking chicken right there…..looks really tasty! I would definitely use your brine magic. Thanks for sharing!
It looks really good and the color of the chicken after it is cooked looks pretty much perfect.
Pinned this for later!
Will give it a go as soon as I get my groceries this weekend. Great job, chica!
I just printed the recipe. So yummy! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try! It left me drooling..!!
This is a wonderful chicken recipe! I’m always looking for new ideas to cook chicken so will try out this one!
I brine my turkey every year for Thanksgiving. Don’t know why I never thought about brining a whole chicken for Sunday dinner. Yours looks delicious! I will have to try this out when I finally make the chicken sitting in my freezer.
This sounds really a delicious way of cooking a chicken and I really want to try this for my family.
Sounds so delicious! Chicken is my go to roast dinner on a Sunday but this would be a nice twist on it x
Yum! This chicken brine looks soooo delicious! I shpuld try this at home for the the family.
I have never heard of Chicken brine before but I hate wasting food so it sounds like a great idea
I have heard of brining a turkey but never a chicken. Never thought to do it until now
I have never brine a chicken before. I definitely need to try brining a chicken next time I cook one! Your chicken looks so juicy and delicious!!
You take really good pics, it def adds to the post. I’m not a fan of chicken but the pics did make this look really good 🙂
I love to brine chicken or turkey. The flavor is so wonderful and the meat stays so juicy!