Do you own a lime squeezer? No? Well then, you’ll have forearms the size of Popeye after this recipe, but it will be worth it. I just bought a lime squeezer and I can’t believe I’ve made it this long without it. I’m juicin’ like crazy now, but this isn’t a commercial, so I’ll try and not talk about my favorite new kitchen gadget. Don’t use one of those little plastic lime-shaped bottles either, you are better than that! Suck it up and start squeezing…then buy a juicer tomorrow (it’s Summer and you need to make some drinks anyway).
This marinade is intense and really adds great flavor to the chicken. We are using a whole chicken in this case, but you can use chicken pieces if that is easier for you. If you try this with boneless, skinless chicken breasts though, cut the marinating time in half. I leave the seeds in the jalapeño because I like a nice kick. You can remove them if you don’t like the heat, I won’t make fun of you. Are you ready for your forearm workout? Let’s do this…
Jalapeño and Lime Marinated Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 6 - 8 limes we need about a cup of lime juice
- zest from 1 lime
- 2 jalapeño
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bunch cilantro, just the leaves
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin
Instructions
- Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a food processor and combine thoroughly.
- If you are using a whole chicken, flatten that sucker and then combine the marinade and chicken in a Ziploc-type bag, squeeze all of the air out and then seal.
- Place the bag in the refrigerator and allow the chicken to marinade for 4 hours, turning the bag a few times to give the entire chicken equal marinade love. Remove the bag from the refrigerator and place on the counter 45 minutes before grilling. We want that chicken to warm up to room temperature so that it cooks evenly.
- Light the grill for indirect cooking. If you are using a gas grill, light half of the burners to high and leave the others off. If you are using charcoal, pile all of the coals to one side of the grill.
- Place the chicken skin side down on the hot side of the grill to sear the skin. Grill for about 5 minutes until the skin is charred to your liking. As you can tell from the photo, I love some charred chicken skin, but that's just me. Keep moving the chicken around if it flares up too much.
- Once the skin is nice and crispy, flip the chicken over and move to the cool side of the grill with the skin side up and close the lid.
- Continue to grill until a meat thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast reads around 155 - 160 degrees. It should take around 30 minutes on a 350 - 400 degree grill. Keep the lid close as much as possible to retain your heat. It's skin side up on the cool side of the grill, so no burning worries, just leave it alone and drink one of those fruity drinks you made with the left over lime juice!
- Once the breast registers 155 - 160 degrees, remove the chicken from the grill and place on a platter to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Simple and delicious