15 Years of Brine Perfection: Juicy Chicken with Our Time-Tested Brine Recipe I Tuffy Stone

Chicken Brine Recipe

This is my chicken brine recipe, which I have been making for about 15 years. This brine is best when made a couple of days before use. A little piece of trivia about this recipe. This is the same recipe that I use when I cook at a barbecue competition. You could make this on Wednesday or Thursday, and be a step ahead when cooking for the weekend. It's especially good for wings or any poultry.

Tuffy Stone dubbed as “The Professor”.
Author of Cool Smoke - The Art of Great Barbecue.
A French-trained Chef.
Judge and Co-host of America's show ‘BBQ Pitmasters’.
A 6-time BBQ World Champion.
Was inducted into the 2018 BBQ Hall of Fame.

More about Tuffy:

Follow me on Instagram @tuffystone
Follow me on Facebook @tuffystonepitmaster

For more recipes, you can visit my website at:
Merchandise:
SIGNED COPY OF COOL SMOKE: THE ART OF GREAT BARBECUE:

@yeti
@webergrills
@chairmansreservemeat

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SPICE RUBBED CHICKEN WINGS
CELERY SEED WHITE SAUCE

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Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
Jalapeño Apricot Spatchcock Chicken
Chicken Wings with White BBQ Sauce

[DimitriyLanis]

Hi Tuffy - thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
I just grilled the wings for the family and followed your precise steps.
Wife was a bit skeptical at first, as I never used to brine wings before grilling.

When they were done - everyone was absolutely amazed on how good they came out!!!

Thank you again for such great and educational contents.

[SupraViperhead]

Made it this week and it came out amazing. I was actually just drinking the brine straight (before adding the chicken, obviously), but after letting the chicken soak while I was at work, I came back and fried it up while using the brine to cook rice. I don't think I can go back to cooking chicken in any other fashion now.

[charlesroberts]

Did u ever blend all that stuff fine and try to get more flavor out of it ? I think I’ll try that recipe just blend it

[joshuabrantley]

Please do a full video of your competition chicken.

[epluribusun]

Production value and content are 10 out of 10. You’ll be at 500k in no time. Mark my words…

[allieandbo]

I do a simple brine for my fried chicken. I'm gonna add the mirepoix and the flat leaf (and the rest of your ingredients) and see how it comes out. Thanks for sharing Tuffy.

[hoongweikin]

Thanks for your informative video.
Any reason why there is no need to boil or heat the brine?
Thanks.

[mikesbackyardbarbecue]

I made this for a competition this past weekend. I absolutely love the way it tastes. My question is how long to keep the chicken in the brine for? Nevermind - you answered it on another post.

[MoranisToboggan]

Really interesting I am trying this. I haven’t seen a recipe when the brine is made separately.

[KingGeneral]

Love a good brine. I put smashed garlic cloves and lemon in mine.

[dannix]

I was looking for a good brine and came across you youtube video. What caught me by surprise was your name. My dad gave me the nickname "Tuffy" when I was about 3 years old. You are the first person I have ever seen with the name Tuffy.

[officialclizzleof]

Can you put the chicken wings in the fridge after taking it out the brine. Then cook the chicken a day or 2 later?

[ginginthing]

U said, i think, to allow the brine mix to set for a min of 24 hours before using it. U never said how long to brine the chicken

[TexasN]

How long do you let your chicken stay in the brine?

[alexhagerty]

How long would the brine hold in the refrigerator be for you have to throw it out

[JeromeDonato-pg]

Is it normal for the brine to darken? It always darkens in mine I am not sure why

[usmc]

You would strain it correct? Before putting ur protein in the liquid?

[ZekiDemirci]

Hello,

I am a cook. At the restaurant where I work, I cook 40 kilos of boneless chicken legs at a time every day. The 40-pound raw chicken I put on the grill weighs 22 pounds. I never throw away the juice left by the chicken. I let the chicken absorb that chicken broth again. I am very happy with the taste of the product I bought, but losing so much makes me sad. I heard from a friend that if I do the brining process, my loss won't be that much. My question for you is: How much brown sugar and how much kosher salt should I use to brine 40 lbs of chicken thighs? I will add the water so that it covers the chicken.

The most important problem here is this: I leave the kitchen at 5pm every evening and come back around 6-7am the next day. So this brine should last at least 12 hours. Does it make sense for me to use less salt and sugar for this reason?

Thank you.

[jamesbrinlee]

How long do you marinate your chicken in this?

[cmreagin]

Tuffy I love the videos but when are you going to start teaching classes again?