Smoky grilled chicken is a summertime favorite, and many of us like our grilled chicken slathered in tangy barbecue sauce. However, if your sauce contains sugar like BBQ sauce does, it's quite possible that you're basting your chicken with sauce too early on in the cooking process.

Cooking show host Courtney Rada explains, "Sauce can add a great caramelized crust and flavor but adding too much too early can cause sugar to burn quickly and make it more difficult to judge if your meat is cooked through." Add your sauce before cooking your chicken, and you could end up serving it undercooked.

You should only baste chicken with sauce once it's nearly done grilling over indirect heat; push it back into the hot zone to caramelize the outside and finish cooking it through. This way, you'll get a delicious crust of sauce on the outside — no burning or food poisoning risk included.