Chicken, Balsamic Vinegar And Lemon Juice

We love to grill and a frequent meat in our household is chicken! Chicken can get boring but we have come up with so many different chicken recipes, but this one is one of our favorites! It cooks great on the BBQ grill or in your oven, making it a recipe you can make year round. We kept this marinade simple with 5 ingredients but the flavor is YUM!

Don’t get me wrong, this balsamic marinade goes great on fish and we have tried it on a beef roast. We started using Balsamic vinegar because it helps tenderize your meat and during our experiments we discovered that the flavor was a big hit around our home! So we kept it simple and it is the only marinade we use now for marinating meat! No need for BBQ sauce but of coarse we have our own homemade barbecue sauce called Sweet Garlic Barbecue Sauce!

Marinade Time: 1-3 Hours
Cook Time: 45-1 Hour
Oven Temperature: 350 Degrees Fahrenheit
Grill Temperature: 350 Degrees Fahrenheit

Chicken Ingredients:

6-8 Pieces Chicken Legs, Thighs or Breasts
1/8 Cup Olive oil (it’s really up to you but we love EVOO!)
1/8 Cup Balsamic Vinegar (don’t substitute cider or white vinegar, the flavor would be very different and most likely not good! LOL)
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice (lime juice can be used in place of the lemon, slightly different flavor but still YUMMY)
2 Teaspoons Garlic Seasoning (my seasoning has salt in it, so I do not add more salt but you can if needed)
1 Teaspoon Ground Pepper

Instructions:

1. The first thing that needs to be done is cleaning the chicken and pulling off all the skin. (I know this is the nasty part but this is a skinless meal. After many years of cleaning the chicken, I finally recruited my hubby LOL!)

2. We usually put the chicken in a Tupperware bowl with a lid for marinading. Then add all the ingredients, put the lid on and shake it really good so all the seasonings coat the chicken!

3. Now the fun begins, you can either bake this in the oven at 350 Degrees F or grill it like we are about to show you! Make sure your grill or oven is at about 350 Degrees F before putting the chicken on.

TIP:
My hubby wanted to help because he loves pouring the marinade over the chicken! (Only do this when you first put the chicken in because it is raw juice meat and you don’t want to get sick!)

4. Once all the chicken is on the grill (or the oven), cook for about 30 minutes before you flip the chicken. (Flipping the chicken should also be done in the oven, this helps the juices flow evenly so you don’t dry out the meat!) At mid point (about 30 minutes) it should look like this after you flipped it.

5. Now we watch it closely after the first flip because we flip the chicken one more time for final cooking. (In the oven, you don’t need to do this unless you want to.) After about 15 minutes, we flip it again! (We usually put the chicken legs on top on the 2nd flip so they don’t dry out and leave the thighs on lower grill rack.) Leave on the grill until meat is done, this should be about 10-15 minutes. (If you are unsure, you can cut a chicken thigh to the bone and make sure there is no red or blood. A meat thermometer is helpful as well.)

The chicken has cooked for about 1 hour, at this point it is ready to take off or out of the oven! We always let our meat set for 5-10 minutes out of the grill because it rests the meat! (Resting the meat is almost always done with steak or beef roast because it continues to cook for a minute and it also settles the juices for flavor, we do this with all meat. It is worth the wait! Doesn’t this look delicious!

We do make our own Barbecue sauce which is featured on this plate! If you have chicken leftovers (we never do, LOL) a good meal to make is my Easy Dinner Quiche or get creative and substitute with leftover chicken in my Easy Cheesy Taco Pasta for a quick and easy recipe!
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Dining in with Danielle for more recipes!

Photos and videos By my love Chris Redding