Ben’s and my weekly dinner menus are ridiculously predictable, featuring Chipotle burrito bowls a minimum of one night a week (what DO they put in that guac to make it taste so good?!) and what we fondly refer to as “boring chicken” another one, or let’s be real, two nights a week.
Why is it called “boring chicken”? Because dinner consists of simply seasoned chicken breasts sauteed in olive oil then served with some sort of roasted vegetable and wild rice cooked in chicken broth.
SNORE!
That being said, spring and summer are always great times to get risque with boring old chicken by marinating it and throwing it on the grill. Luckily I’ve got the perfect grilled chicken marinade you’ll want to use all season long.
This marinade is made completely from ingredients I can almost 100% guarantee you already have in your cupboards – a little soy sauce, oil, honey, red chili pepper flakes, garlic, salt, and pepper combine to make a super juicy grilled chicken that has all the right flavors. A little salty, a little heat, and just a teeeeny bit of sweet. It’s just fantastic.
As I mentioned last Friday, watermelon is tres chic in the culinary world right now so I jumped on the bandwagon and made a cooling, ultra-refreshing Cucumber-Watermelon Salsa to spoon on top of my grilled chicken. How gorgeous are these colors?! Very spa-tasting, too. Close your eyes…
Start by making the marinade which is made up of fridge and pantry staples. Huzzah! Like I said, this marinade started out as a steak marinade but obviously works fabulously for chicken. Try it with salmon too!
To large bowl add 1/4 cup soy sauce or gluten-free tamari, 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other high-heat oil), 1 Tablespoon honey, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (or more or less,) and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger then whisk to combine.
Pour the marinade into a Ziplock bag placed inside another large bowl before adding 1lb meat – in this case chicken breasts – then marinate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. I don’t like keeping chicken in marinades that contain soy sauce for longer than 2 hours because the salt starts to make the chicken rubbery. If you’re using this marinade for steak though, you can let it sit for 2-6 hours before grilling.
Tip: before adding the chicken breasts to the marinade, make sure you’ve pounded them to the same thickness to ensure they’ll cook evenly on the grill. There’s nothing worse than having one end of a chicken breast grilled to perfection while the other end resembles charcoal!
Place the chicken on a cutting board then cover with Glad Press’n’ Seal or saran wrap then whack it with a rolling pin or meat mallet until the chicken is the same thickness.
I like to go a step further and score my chicken breasts with a sharp knife on one side to make sure the marinade really permeates the meat.
While the chicken is marinating, whip up an easy and oh-so refreshing Cucumber-Watermelon Salsa. This stuff is the epitome of summer! Simply combine chopped watermelon and cucumber with fresh cilantro, jalapeno, green onion, salt, pepper, and lime juice in a bowl then stir. Rocket science, it is not. :)
When it’s time to eat, pop the chicken on pre-heated grates over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes a side, or until no longer pink in the center. Be sure to let the chicken rest for 5 minutes off the grill before serving. Just like steak, you’ll lose a ton of yummy juices if you carve into it right away.
After the resting period is up, plate the chicken then top with a big scoop of Cucumber-Watermelon salsa and dig in.
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Marinated Grilled Chicken with Cucumber-Watermelon Salsa
Description
Gluten-free Marinated Grilled Chicken with Cucumber-Watermelon Salsa uses an easy chicken and steak marinade that you'll use all year long.
Ingredients
- For the marinade (makes enough for 1lb of meat):
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or gluten-free Tamari
- 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other high-heat oil)
- 1Â Tablespoon honey
- 4 crushed garlic cloves, peeled (not chopped garlic - it will burn on the grill!)
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more or less)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- For the Watermelon-Cucumber Salsa:
- 1-1/2 cups chopped watermelon
- 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 jalapeno, minced
- 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1Â green onion, chopped
- juice of 1 lime
- drizzle of honey
- salt & pepper
Directions
- Whisk marinade ingredients together in a bowl then transfer to a plastic Ziplock bag set inside another large bowl.
- Pound chicken to an even thickness then score diagonally across the top and place inside bag with marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Grill chicken breasts over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes a side, or until no longer pink in the center. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- For the Watermelon-Cucumber Salsa: combine ingredients in a bowl then spoon over grilled chicken.
- NOTE:Â this marinade is also awesome for steak - marinate for 2-6 hours in the fridge before grilling.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Look no further for a chicken and steak marinade to use all summer long. This mix is so easy to toss together and gives the chicken incredible flavor. That crunch and freshness from the Cucumber-Watermelon Salsa is also a must-try!
Amanda 05.21.2014
This looks fantastic… Can’t wait to try it out this summer. Have you ever tried using a Jaccard Mest Tenderizer? It works wonders with marinades by letting all the tasty stuff get inside the chicken and it does double duty by evening out the thickness of the chicken while you use it.
Jill 05.21.2014
Noodles and butter!!! I swear I ate that every other day when I was in high school. This recipe looks awesome. It’s going on my meal plan for next week!
CakePants 05.21.2014
That has got to be the most refreshing-looking salsa I have ever seen or even heard of in my life – absolutely perfect for the scorching summer days I’m anticipating! The sweet potato fries look fantastic, too! Also, I’m glad to know that I’m not the only food blogger who has made Chipotle burrito bowls a part of my regular dinner rotation :P
Melissa 05.21.2014
What do you think about freezing the chicken in the marinade to take a long on a camping trip? Would love to try and grill this over an open camp fire!
Mary 05.21.2014
I LOVE it that you used Ebert’s honey! Definitely trying this one! Thanks.
Stacey Brown 05.21.2014
Hi, its me Stacey and YES I’m still here and a faithful reader! Thanks for the shout out! I still use this marinade all the time – try it for salmon! ;)
beth 05.21.2014
What kind of grill did you use? Thanks much.
Jackie 05.21.2014
Holy yum! Gotta try the salsa!
Susan 05.21.2014
Your recipe came at the perfect time. I am making chicken tonight and making chicken is getting pretty BORING!!
My sister just told me to marinate salmon in soy sauce, homey and red pepper flakes for about 5 minutes. She claims that it is delicious! It must be because your recipe uses three of the ingredients.
Thanks!
PS
I don’t buy Hershey Kisses because I can eat the whole bag!
And I wanted to tell you how adorable Lincoln is. I bet your heart just melts when he smiles.
Chelsea 05.21.2014
I use a very similar marinade on pork loin. Then you just throw it on the grill and people can’t get enough! They always want my recipe, but I’m a little embarrassed because it is just too easy!
Susan 05.21.2014
Chelsea,
Would you mind sharing your recipe with us? I hate making pork because it is always so dry.
Kristin 05.21.2014
Hey Susan! I’m looking forward to hearing Chelsea’s recipe too, but wanted to pass on a tip I recently learned. Pork only needs to be cooked to an internal temp of 145 vs the 165-170 degrees it was previously recommended to be cooked too (which results in shoe leather!!) Anyway, I learned it when I recently visited a nearby pork chop grill!
Susan 05.21.2014
Thanks Kristin!
Chicago Jogger 05.21.2014
Yum – the combo of watermelon and cucumber sounds perfect!
Ali | Gimme Some Oven 05.21.2014
Yum! Everything about this recipe sings of summer. Looks amazing!
Elizabeth {Positively Healthy} 05.21.2014
I love fresh salads like this one! I can’t wait to put this on our summer eating listing!
Lea 05.21.2014
I am totally going to tag this in for dinner tonight. My husband was less than impressed with what I was going to make, so I think this will be a good substitue. =)
Haley @Cupcakes and Sunshine 05.21.2014
OH YUM! This sounds DELICIOUS! just yesterday I said, “Wow! It’s summer! Which means it’s WATERMELON SEASON!!” Can’t wait to make this!
Kelli 05.21.2014
There is a fruit in season? Let’s put it on top of grilled chicken! Very typical move by IGE. But this one looks better than your typical fruit chicken combo.
Kristin 05.21.2014
Heck yeah! It’s my favorite!
Maryea {happy healthy mama} 05.21.2014
I adore grilling season! This looks like a perfect go-to recipe.
Kim @ Roaming Raspberry 05.21.2014
I just found a recipe for strawberry salsa yesterday and I was like WHAT?! Why have I never thought of fruit salsa’s besides mango. So finding Watermelon salsa today is once again exciting! Looks so yummy!
Amy 05.21.2014
This looks really good! I don’t have tamari though – could I substitute an equal amount of low sodium soy sauce ?
Amy 05.21.2014
Oops, I should have read further. I see it as an alternative. I can’t wait to try this!
Librarian Lavender 05.21.2014
This looks really good! Such a fun recipe! And it’s nice to change a regular for something else every now and then :).