I have been getting bored with my normal grilled chicken and veggies, so I felt I needed to spice things up for dinner the other night. I was on the phone with a girl friend and literally not even paying attention to what I was grabbing or even chopping. It all just started coming together, in one delicious, crazy concoction. I adore cilantro and wanted to use it in some type of marinade but I thought, what else could I put in this? Alcohol. Beer to be exact. Now, for anyone who knows me knows I only drink beer when 1. I’m at a sporting event 2. There is no other option of alcoholic beverages or 3. If I’m doing a keg stand. So I grabbed one of my husbands cold ones from the fridge, threw it in a bowl with some chopped cilantro, oil and lime. I shook my head and said it was too late to turn back and threw my chicken in the mixture, fingers crossed and hoping for the best!
But this needed another element. I saw the shit ton of strawberries I recently bought at BJ’s staring at me from the fridge and thought about a fruit salsa. I usually make these when we eat fish, but there are no rules in the kitchen..anything goes baby! So I grabbed strawberries, nectarines, mango and a tomato and started chopping them up. With a few other key ingredients I had a bright, flavorful summery fruit salsa that I put right on top of the grilled chicken and it was heaven. Perfect way to ring in the summer!
Beer Marinated Chicken with Summer Fruit Salsa
yummy.
Chicken:
- 4 Chicken Breast ( or 2 large chicken breasts cut in half)
- 1 bottle/can Light Beer
- 2 TBS Cilantro, chopped
- 1 Lime, juiced
- Salt & Pepper
Fruit Salsa:
- 1 cup Strawberries, cut up
- 1 Mango, cut up
- 1 Nectarine or Peach, cut up
- 1/2 cup Red Bell Pepper, chopped
- 1 medium sized Tomato, chopped
- 1/2 Red Onion, diced
- 1/2 TBS Hot Sauce
- 1/2 Lemon, juiced
- 1 Lime, juiced
- 1 TBS Cilantro, chopped
- 2 TBS Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Clean chicken then place in a vacuum sealed bag, Tupperware or whatever you marinate your meats in. Salt and pepper both sides of the breasts. Mix together lime juice, oil and cilantro in a small bowl then add beer. Add that mixture to chicken and let marinate for 1-2 hours in the fridge.
While that is marinating, chop up all your fruits, veggies, onion and cilantro and place in a medium sized bowl. Add oil, salt, pepper, hot sauce, lime, lemon juice and mix well. Let that sit in the fridge until you are ready to eat so the flavors build.
When the chicken is ready, place on a medium-hot grill and cook till to the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Spoon the fruit salsa over the chicken when it’s time to eat. Make some quinoa or rice as a side dish and you got yourself an unbelievably easy and delicious summery dinner.
– Amanda
