Monday, September 10, 2012

Simple Chicken Marinade

We eat a lot of grilled chicken in the summer.  A lot.  It is quick, easy and nobody really complains as long as it seems like we aren't eating the same thing all the time.  I'm not really sure where I got the recipe, I have been using it since I lived in Phoenix (which is at least 12 years!) and I've since transferred it from a worn magazine clipping to Mastercook.

This makes enough to marinate about 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken.  I haven't tried it on the bone-in skin-on counterparts because it never seems that the marinade actually flavors the meat.  Since the chicken breasts I buy alwayse seem to be fat on one end and thin on the other, I throw them in a gallon size bag and pound away with my beloved meat mallet (great stress reliever).  Tonight we are having chicken fajitas, so I swapped out the lemon juice for lime and used a mexican seasoning blend.

Simple Chicken Marinade

1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon of your favorite seasoning blend (I use a bunch of different ones from Penzey's)
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt (if your seasoning is salt free)

Mix it all together and add the chicken in.  I've marinated it while I was at work all day (close to 10 hours) with no change in texture.  I'd be afraid to go overnight for fear the lemon juice would make the chicken too mushy.

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