Chicken is a versatile crowd pleaser, and it definitely deserves a spot on your catering menu. In fact, it's nice to offer a variety of different chicken recipes so your customers can choose one that appeals to their tastes. Here are two delicious, easy to prepare chicken recipes to consider adding to your catering menu. Each makes enough to serve 20, but you can easily double or triple the recipes for a larger order.

Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Chicken Thighs

The homemade barbecue sauce that is brushed on these chicken thighs offers the perfect balance of spice and sweetness, and it only calls for five ingredients. Plan ahead when making this recipe since the chicken thighs need to brine for at least 8 hours.

Ingredients:

• 40 bone-in chicken thighs with the skin left on
• 12 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups salt
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 4 cups ketchup
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Place the water, lemon juice and salt in a large, plastic bucket with a lid. Add the chicken, making sure each thigh is totally submerged. Place in the cooler or refrigerator, and let brine for at least 8 hours. Remove the chicken from the brine, and pat it dry with paper towels. Discard the brine.

Place the chicken thighs on a medium-hot grill. Grill for 15 minutes, and then turn over. Grill for an additional 15 minutes. While the chicken is grilling, mix the ketchup, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar and cayenne pepper together to make the barbecue sauce.

Once the chicken has grilled for 15 minutes per side, brush it with the sauce. Grill for 5 minutes, and then turn it over again before brushing it with the sauce again. Grill for a final 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the grill, and place it in metal pans. Brush it with the sauce again before serving.

Tangy Citrus Chicken Breasts

Chicken breasts work well for this recipe since their milder flavor matches the lighter, sweeter sauce. The key to success when grilling chicken breasts is patience. You want to grill them slowly over low heat while monitoring their temperature closely, pulling them off as soon as they reach 165 degrees F so they don't dry out. Leaving the skin on helps keep them moist, too.

Ingredients:

• 20 bone-in chicken breasts with the skin left on
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Begin by preparing the sauce. Place the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Whisk to dissolve the cornstarch. Then, turn the heat to medium, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat, and set aside.

Brush the chicken with the olive oil, and sprinkle it with the salt, pepper and onion powder. Place the breasts, meat side down, on a medium-low grill. Grill for 20 minutes, and then turn the breasts over. Brush them with the prepared citrus sauce, and grill for an additional 5 minutes. Take the temperature of the chicken breasts. If it is below 165 degrees F, leave them on the grill, checking them every  2 - 3 minutes and removing them as soon a the temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Place the chicken in metal pans, and brush it with more of the citrus sauce before serving.

Once you make these chicken recipes a few times, they will become routine. If you're getting regular orders, you can even make the sauces ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for a few days until you need them. For more information about BBQ Chicken, contact a catering company like Bassett Caterers.