One the best aspects of summer is being able to get outside and cook on the grill rather than slaving over a hot stove and heating up your house. Whether it's a nice cut of beef, a pork tenderloin, or even some chicken wings, summer grilling gives us the chance to use lower cost cuts of meat, marinate them overnight, and grill them to perfection with minimal cleanup and hassle. Today's recipe, Cilantro Lime Chicken, uses fresh herbs and flavors to produce a bright and delicious dinner the whole family can enjoy! Light and refreshing, this high protein/low carb chicken meal is perfect for those hot summer days and nights when little else sounds appetizing. It doesn't matter if you're on a low carb/KETO diet or just enjoy a tasty, marinated chicken recipe, stick around and find out why this recipe is a must for your next grill night...Let's Get Cooking!
The only actual effort involved with this recipe is pretty much assembling the marinade. Aside from roughly chopping some fresh cilantro, all you have to do is combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix them all together. You can also simply put them straight into a ziplock baggie and save a little dishwashing, but that is entirely up to you. I went all out, just for you guys, and decided to make my marinade in a separate bowl for a nice photo, but don't expect it to always be that way!
Keeping things simple, transfer your boneless, skinless chicken thighs to a ziplock baggie and combine them with the marinade. You can choose to either salt and pepper the thighs before adding them to the marinade or simply add the salt and pepper to the marinade itself. I lean more towards seasoning the chicken separate to ensure each piece gets well flavored, but either way is fine. Anyway, once the chicken and marinade are combined, seal up the bag and let things get tasty for at least 3 or 4 hours, but 8 hours overnight is best. This recipe does contain lime juice, which will begin to break down the protein bonds in the chicken. While this is great in the short run, marinating the chicken too long will result in a rubbery texture so try and limit the overall marination time to 10 hours or less, which is plenty to get the maximum flavor without overdoing any scientific food processes in the fridge.
When you are ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the fridge and drain off any excess marinade. I like to get mine out about 30 minutes before grilling to take some of the chill off, but not so long that you have to worry about warm, raw chicken germs taking over your kitchen. Since there is olive oil in the marinade itself, I have found that throwing it right onto the grates without any additional grill prep is just fine. If you are worried about it sticking to your grates, then by all means rub an onion or towel with oil over the grates beforehand.
Grill the chicken 5 to 6 minutes per side, depending on size of course, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using chicken breasts for some odd reason, you can pull them off at 165 degrees, but still expect them to be a bit dry, unlike the chicken thighs, which were written right on the recipe card! Otherwise, you can pan fry these chicken thighs, but I highly recommend grilling them for that nice seared crust on the outside.
This recipe is really just that simple, folks! These Cilantro Lime Chicken thighs are great with rice, but if you want to watch or avoid carbs, you can serve them with just about any side really. Be sure to chop up the remaining cilantro not used in the marinade for a final burst of bright flavor. You can also quarter up a couple limes to plate them with for guests to give a quick final drizzle of fresh lime juice as well. These chicken thighs are actually quite versatile. Besides enjoying them whole as is, chop them up and add some to a salad or protein bowl. You could also make a burrito, but that is getting into more work and effort so I'll let you choose how lazy you wish to be on this one. Anyway, I digress. Give this Cilantro Lime Chicken a try the next time you want a quick and easy dinner. It is sure to please everyone, unless they think cilantro tastes like soap, and in all honestly, you don't need those kinds of people in your life anyway. Those weirdos aside, this recipe will quickly end up a summertime favorite among your regular meal rotation...Just Keep Cooking!
CILANTRO LIME CHICKEN
Yorumlar