Using a tried-and-true approach, based on a 4,000-year-old track record from India, will guarantee your guests are not gnawing on rawhide meat.
If you’re a nube on the grill and tried cooking chicken, there’s a 65% chance your meat turned out dry and tough.
Birds can be a bitch on the grill. If you glaze them with multiple coats of oil, they flame up and burn the meat. If you try to marinate them for multiple hours, it provides a coating of flavor but the chicken’s moisture cooks off and you’re left with cardboard beneath the surface.
It is, however, one of the healthiest and most affordable meats outside of seafood if you’re trying to eat healthy. The Indians are the masters of this method. An article I found in Cooks Illustrated tested their approach and they gave this marination process a five-star review.
The results will guarantee the best-grilled chicken you’ve ever had.
Two ingredients play a central role – lemon and yogurt. At the cellular level of the meat, the lemon juice works to open up the grains and contours. Then, the yogurt swooshes in to provide added moisture that enables the chicken kabobs to withstand the flame.
It’s the ultimate yin and yan of grilling! Add the flavor of the garlic, chili powder and salt/pepper and you’ve got the perfect healthy summer recipe.
Skewer them with veggies, dabble with olive oil and another round of salt/pepper and then follow the grilling instructions further below. The best part is you’ll find even the charred chicken retains moisture.
When adding the marinade to the chicken, make sure to place everything in a large Ziploc bag and mosh it around so all sides are covered in the marinade.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 cup of high-quality low-fat yogurt
¼ cup of olive oil
1 lemon, fresh squeezed
Minced garlic to taste
Pinch of salt
Chili powder to taste
1 tbsp. fresh ground pepper
Assorted grilling veggies, cut in similar chunk size to chicken.
Directions:
Create the marinade in a bowl, mix it up and add it to a Ziploc bag with chunk-size pieces of boneless chicken breasts (1 ½ -inch chunks). Refridgerate for 3-4 hours. Remove to bring up to room temperature prior to grilling. Soak the skewers in water for 15 minutes before hand to prevent them from burning on the grill (I recommend bamboo skewers).
You don’t need gobs of marinade when you skewer the meat. Simply assort the meat and veggies as you see fit and coat with olive oil salt/pepper.
Grilling Tips:
Cook on high for five minutes covered, turn kabobs and dial back to medium. Five minutes for sides 2 and 3, then blast on high heat for remaining five minutes on last (or least-cooked) side.
Keep flame on high and scrub the grill. This dish goes on messy but the high flame at the end makes for an easy scrub / clean up.
If you like this article, check out the following:
The Steak-Grilling Recipe that will Forever Sets the Bar
The Rookie Father 