Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

sweet tea brine

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Staci Cakes
On a farm in..., GA

This is fantastic for grilled chicken and turkey!

(1 rating)
yield serving(s)
prep time 1 Hr
method Grill

Ingredients For sweet tea brine

  • 4 lb
    chicken
  • 2
    of your favorite family-sized tea bags
  • 4 c
    water
  • 2 c
    ice
  • 1/8 - 1/4 c
    salt (i use kosher or sea salt) you can safely use 1/8 cup of salt if watching your sodium
  • 1/2 c
    brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 Tbsp
    freshly cracked black pepper
  • 2
    fresh rosemary sprigs
  • 6
    garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • 1 sm
    onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 lg
    lemon, thinly sliced

How To Make sweet tea brine

  • 1
    Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea bags, cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
  • 2
    Remove tea bags. Add sugar and salt to tea, stir until dissolved.
  • 3
    Add rosemary, pepper, garlic, onion, and lemon to tea, mixing well. Cool completely. When completely cooled, stir in 2 cups of ice until melted - brine should be cold.
  • 4
    Transfer cold brine to plastic bowl(with lid) or heavy duty zip locking freezer bag. Completely submerge chicken in brine. Place in fridge 24 hours before cooking. *If you use a freezer bag, do yourself a favor and put the bag in a large bowl in case of leakage.
  • 5
    Before grilling, drain and discard brine and then pat chicken dry before grilling. Do not rinse chicken.
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