How to Barbecue Steak, Chicken and Burgers the Right Way

As the temperature in the UAE slowly starts to dip, outdoor barbecues are making a comeback. Parks fill up again, grills come out of storage, and most weekends someone you know is cooking over coals. A good barbecue doesn't have to be complicated, but a few small mistakes can make a big difference: a steak pulled off too early, chicken that's charred outside and raw near the bone, a burger that falls apart on the grates. This guide covers how to barbecue steak, chicken and burgers properly, whether you've been doing this for years or you're setting up a grill for the first time.

Getting the basics right before you start

Before you fire up the grill, here are a few pointers worth knowing:

1. Set up two heat zones. Push your coals to one side of the grill, or leave one burner off on a gas grill, so you have a hot direct-heat area and a cooler indirect one. On charcoal, this usually means banking the coals into a mound on one side rather than spreading them evenly, which gives you a hotter zone for searing (around 230–260°C at grate level) and a cooler zone (around 150–180°C) for cooking through without burning. Thin cuts and burgers can usually stay on direct heat the whole time. Thicker steaks and chicken pieces often benefit from using both zones: either starting on direct heat for colour and finishing on indirect heat to cook through, or the reverse, starting low and slow on indirect heat before a quick sear on direct heat at the end. Both work, which order suits a cut better, is covered in the sections below. 

2. Let the grill heat up properly. Give it 10 to 15 minutes before anything goes on. A properly heated grill helps develop a browned crust through the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between amino acids and sugars that produces the savoury flavours associated with seared meat. If the grate isn't hot enough, the meat steams instead of browning, and it's also far more likely to stick.

3. Keep your meat chilled until you’re ready to cook. There’s no need to bring steak fully to room temperature before barbecuing. Keeping your meat refrigerated until preparation is especially important when grilling outdoors in the UAE. If you’re cooking at a park, transport your meat in a cooler and keep it chilled until it’s time to grill.

4. Oil the food, not just the grates. A light coat of oil on the meat itself helps it release cleanly and stops flare-ups from oil dripping straight onto the coals.

5. Use tongs or a spatula. They're easier to work with on a hot grill and help you turn the meat without tearing its surface.

6. Resist the urge to move things around. Put the food down and leave it until it releases naturally, usually after a few minutes, once a crust has formed. If it's sticking, it isn't ready to turn yet.

A good barbecue ultimately comes down to controlling the heat, giving your meat enough time to cook and knowing when to take it off.

How to barbecue steak

Choosing your cut:

Some cuts are naturally more tender, while others have more marbling, which affects how they cook on the grill. Prime Gourmet's BBQ Season collection includes Australian Black Angus, New Zealand grass-fed beef, Australian Wagyu in marbling grades from MB 6-7 to MB 9+, and Japanese A5 Wagyu.

1. Striploin: A good all-rounder, with a firm texture that holds up well on direct heat. A great choice for a classic barbecue steak. 

2. Ribeye: Well marbled and forgiving on the grill, since the fat renders as it cooks and keeps the meat moist even if you go slightly past your target doneness. Watch for flare-ups, though, as dripping fat is a common cause of unwanted charring.

3. Fillet Mignon: One of the most tender cuts of beef, but leaner than the others, so it dries out quickly if overcooked. Best watched closely rather than left on the grill.

4. T-Bone: Two cuts in one, striploin on one side of the bone and fillet on the other, so the leaner fillet side finishes slightly before the striploin. Angling the steak so the fillet side sits further from the hottest part of the fire helps even that out.

5. Tomahawk: A thick, bone-in ribeye with the rib bone left long for presentation. It needs indirect heat for most of the cooking time, then a quick sear over direct heat at the end to build colour.

Cuts with more marbling, such as ribeye and Wagyu striploin, have intramuscular fat that contributes to their rich flavour and juicy texture. Leaner cuts like fillet mignon require closer attention, as they can lose moisture more quickly when overcooked. Whatever the cut, monitoring the internal temperature is the best way to achieve your preferred doneness.

How long to barbecue steak:

Timing depends far more on thickness than on weight, so always think in centimetres rather than grams. As a rough guide, for a steak around 2.5 cm thick over direct high heat:

• Rare: about 2 to 3 minutes per side
• Medium-rare: about 3 to 4 minutes per side
• Medium: about 4 to 5 minutes per side
• Well done: 6 minutes or more per side, ideally finished over indirect heat so the outside doesn't burn before the centre catches up

Thicker cuts such as tomahawk or bone-in striploin need longer cooking times and benefit from a combination of direct and indirect heat. You can sear them first and finish over indirect heat, or cook them gently before giving them a final sear.

Steak doneness temperatures:

A meat thermometer is one of the easiest ways to check when your steak is ready, which matters more on a barbecue than in an oven since the heat is less even. Push the probe into the thickest part of the steak, away from bone or fat, for the most accurate reading.

 

 

The internal temperature may continue to rise as the steak rests, particularly with thicker cuts. This is known as carryover cooking, and it's worth keeping in mind when aiming for your preferred doneness. Allow your steak to rest for a few minutes before slicing. The temperatures above represent common culinary doneness preferences. 

The touch test, pressing the steak to gauge doneness by feel, is common but unreliable for Wagyu and well-marbled Angus beef, since the texture feels different from leaner cuts even at the same doneness. A thermometer is a far more reliable check. And if you cut into a steak and see red juice, that's myoglobin, a natural protein in the meat, not blood. 

For a deeper look at doneness, including which cuts suit which temperature and why the touch test falls short, see our guide on achieving the perfect steak doneness.

How to barbecue chicken

Chicken needs more care than steak, mainly because it has to be cooked all the way through rather than to a chosen doneness. US food safety guidance sets 74°C as the safe minimum internal temperature for all poultry, checked at the thickest part, away from the bone.

How to cook barbecue chicken without burning the outside

Chicken can burn on the outside before it's properly cooked in the middle, especially when you're using a marinade or barbecue sauce. A few pointers to remember while cooking chicken:

• Use indirect heat for bone-in pieces. Chicken drumsticks and whole legs take 25 to 40 minutes and need gentler, more even heat than a quick sear. The bone slows down how fast the heat reaches the meat around it, which is part of why bone-in pieces are more forgiving of lower, indirect heat than boneless cuts.
• Keep boneless cuts over direct heat, but watch them closely. Boneless chicken thighs and chicken breasts usually cook faster than bone-in pieces, often taking approximately 6 to 8 minutes per side depending on thickness. Chicken breast is particularly easy to overcook, while thighs can handle a little longer on the grill.
• Pound chicken breast to an even thickness before it goes on, so the thin end doesn't overcook while the thick end catches up.
• Try a butterfly chicken. Spatchcocking involves removing the backbone and flattening the bird, helping it cook more evenly on the grill. Prime Gourmet's marinated butterfly chicken comes prepared this way, which is worth knowing if you'd rather not do the prep yourself.
• Dark meat can handle going a bit higher than the minimum. Thigh meat cooked to exactly 74°C is safe but can feel slightly tough, and tends to turn more tender a few degrees above that. Breast meat, by contrast, dries out quickly past 74°C, so it's better pulled closer to the minimum.
• Add any barbecue sauce in the last 5 to 10 minutes. Most barbecue sauces contain sugar, which burns well before the chicken is actually cooked if it's brushed on too early.
• Check temperature, not colour. Chicken can look done on the outside well before it's safe in the middle, particularly with bone-in pieces near the bone, and pink flesh near a joint doesn't always mean undercooked. A thermometer is the only reliable check.

Prime Gourmet's organic chicken range covers the cuts above, from boneless breast and thigh through to drumsticks, whole legs and the marinated butterfly chicken.

How to barbecue burgers

The secret to a good barbecue burger starts before the patty even reaches the grill.

• Choose beef mince with enough fat in it. A ratio of around 80% lean to 20% fat is generally considered the sweet spot for burgers: enough fat to render and baste the meat as it cooks, keeping it moist, without so much that the patty shrinks excessively or the fire flares up constantly. Very lean mince can dry out more easily on the grill.
• Keep the meat cold until you're ready to cook. Warm mince is harder to shape, and fat that's already starting to soften is more likely to render out early and make the patty fall apart.
• Handle it as little as possible. Overworking mince packs it too tightly, which makes for a dense, tough burger rather than a loosely textured one. Shape it just enough to hold together.
• Press a shallow dimple into the centre of each patty. As the outside of a burger sears and tightens, the middle tends to puff up into a dome. A small indentation helps the burger keep its shape as it cooks, so it ends up flat rather than ball-shaped.
• Avoid repeatedly pressing down on your patties with a spatula, as this can squeeze out the fat and juices that keep the burgers moist.
• Turn burgers as needed for even cooking. For a standard patty around 2 cm thick, allow approximately 3 to 4 minutes per side over direct heat as a starting point. Turn the burger as needed to cook both sides evenly and develop a good crust, then check the centre with a meat thermometer. Add cheese at the last minute so it melts without the burger overcooking while you wait.
• Burgers made from beef or lamb mince should reach 71°C in the centre, the minimum guidance for ground meat, since mincing spreads any surface bacteria through the meat rather than keeping it on the outside. Browned on the outside isn’t a reliable sign that it’s cooked through, so check the centre of every burger with a thermometer. 

Prime Gourmet's burger range includes ready-shaped patties in Black Angus, grass-fed and Wagyu beef, as well as the pre-portioned burger boxes if you're cooking for a group. If sausages are also on the menu, our sausage range is worth a look too. Sausages made from beef or lamb should also reach 71°C before serving.

A few final tips for best results:

• Rest everything, not just steak. Chicken and burgers benefit from a short rest too. A few minutes off the heat lets the juices settle back through the meat instead of running out the moment you cut in.
• Keep raw and cooked meat separate. Use one plate and one set of tongs for raw meat going onto the grill, and a different, clean set for taking cooked food off. 

Stock up for barbecue season with Prime Gourmet

With cooler evenings on the way, Prime Gourmet's BBQ season collection brings together our steaks, chicken, sausages and burgers in one place, in Australian, New Zealand and Japanese Wagyu options. Everything is halal and delivered across the UAE, so however you're planning to barbecue this season, at home or at the park, all that's left is to fire up the grill and get cooking.