Two of Dennis’ brothers were here last weekend with their wives. We had a weekend packed with fun plans and restaurant reservations. For one of the nights I wanted to have a dinner party here with them. I came up with an idea for a marinade to grill chicken breasts in and they loved it!

I bought a bottle of Brianna’s Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and my idea took off from there. I buy Briannas dressing at a market in San Diego called Sprouts Farmers Market, where I do most of my grocery shopping. If you don’t have a Sprouts near you, you can buy this on line at http://www.briannas.com. I believe you will also be able to find it at your local grocer. Briannas has many flavors of dressing to choose from.

I know my brothers-in-law can handle a little heat in their food, so my next ingredient I bought was fresh jalapeños. (This chicken was not actually spicy at all, just very flavorful.) While I was doing my grocery shopping, my idea came together. I grabbed garlic, limes and cilantro, and, of course, chicken breasts,

I started by sprinkling 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts on both sides with kosher salt and pepper. I laid four of them in a large glass bowl and added lime zest and juice, 1/8 cup of olive oil, minced garlic, and diced jalapeños. I then added the next four breasts and repeated my layering (lime zest and juice, 1/8 cup of olive oil, garlic and jalapeños). I poured the bottle of vinaigrette over the chicken, making sure it covered all the chicken. I sprinkled 1/2 cup of cilantro over the top and I then covered the bowl, set it in the refrigerator and continued on with our fun plans for the day.

(Note: If you decide to use a large baking dish for marinating, you won’t need to stack the chicken, it can be laid flat and you can add the limes, olive oil, jalapeños, garlic, dressing and cilantro all at once. My fridge was a bit full, so used the bowl to take up less space.)

8 hours later, I was ready to grill my chicken. I heated the grill, brushed the grates with olive oil and placed the chicken over medium-high heat to cook on the first side for 8 minutes. I turned my chicken and cooked it on the other side for another 8 minutes. (If the chicken does not release easily from the grates, it’s not ready to be turned. If this is the case, give it another minute or so and try again).

Once the chicken reached 160 degrees, I removed it from the grill to rest for 10 minutes. The chicken will raise to the 165 degrees needed to be done while resting.

I actually think this is my new favorite grilled chicken recipe. The flavoring was amazing!

Ingredients

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

kosher salt and pepper (for sprinkling over both sides of chicken)

1/2 cup olive oil divided (for marinade and brushing grill grates)

1 bottle Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette (such as Briannas)

2 jalapeños, diced and seeded

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and lay in large baking dish or large bowl to marinate.
2. Add lime juice, zest, jalapeños, garlic and oil, topping with bottle of vinaigrette.
3. Sprinkle cilantro over the top, cover and refrigerate for 4-8 hours to marinate.
4. Heat grill to medium-high and brush grill grates with olive oil.
5. Place chicken on grill and grill for 8 minutes per side, removing at 160 degrees. Let rest 10 minutes, sprinkle with remaining cilantro and enjoy!

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris