Cassie’s Ruminations

Citrus Grilled Chicken

This is a really tasty Mexican inspired chicken that matches well with corn tortillas. I’ve blogged about it before. I served this with refried beans and guacamole. I was planning on grilling tonight, but we ran out of propane before I even got it preheated. The broiler works almost as well, though, and the cooking times are much the same. Just move a rack about 8 inches below the heating element and set it on the low broil setting, or about 14 inches away if you only have a high setting, and reverse the instructions for turning, as your heat source is above instead of below.

Citrus Grilled Chicken
Serves 4

For the marinade:
6 ounces (1 small can) pineapple juice
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
½ tsp salt
½ tsp dried Mexican oregano
½ tsp ground pepper
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 teaspoon minced mild chili pepper (I used a Hatch)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

For the rest:
4 pounds chicken thighs (with skin and bone)

Remove stem and seeds from chile and finely mince about a teaspoon. Save the remainder of the chile whole to throw on the grill with the chicken.

In large zip top bag, combine all ingredients except chicken.

Place chicken in the bag, seal, pressing all of the air out, and squish around to coat the chicken well. Refrigerate overnight, turning once.

Remove chicken from refrigerator 45 minutes before you’d like to start grilling and preheat the grill to medium heat. Drain chicken well. Turn the grill to low heat. Starting skin side up, grill over low heat for 12-15 minutes, until the skin starts to look dry and the chicken is firm. Turn the chicken skin side down and cook for another 12-15 minutes, when juices are pooling in the hollows of the chicken pieces. Turn again (skin side up again) and cook until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F, about another 5 minutes. Turn once more skin side down, increase the heat to medium and cook for a final 5 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees F and the skin is crisp and browned. Keep a close eye on the chicken as it cooks and put out any flare-ups immediately to avoid burning the meat.

Serve with beans and corn tortillas.