Wow!  The weather here in Tucson has really come around!  We are going to do some hiking this morning and into the afternoon, then come back and fire up the BBQ and have dinner with a glass of wine on the patio!

When I was thinking what to have for dinner; I remembered it was the New Year and I made a resolution to eat a little healthier.  I want to share with you this great recipe for Easy Grilled Chicken!   We also have fresh lemons ready to use on the lemon tree in the back yard!  This is going to be great and LOW FAT!

First, you need 8 bone in chicken breasts.  I think anytime you can use bone in chicken breasts versus the boneless ones, go for it.  I feel they are way more juicy!  I want to share 2 secrets with you on making chicken breasts with the bone in.  First of all,  I know we shouldn’t eat the skin; but leave it on, because you can season with olive oil mixed with various spices and rub it under the skin.  The skin acts like a “blanket” to keep all of that goodness in the chicken.  When the chicken is done, just quickly discard the skin!

The second tip is to trim your breasts!  Split chicken breast usually have a rib section along one side that contains very little meat.  I just take my kitchen shears and cut away that section.  By doing this, it makes the breast more uniform and easier to handle and they look prettier on the plate!  I just keep a bag in the freezer and save the rib sections of the breasts…makes great homemade chicken stock!

I know that not all of us have the same kind of grills; I have a Holland Grill – I think it is amazing; however my Significant other hates it because it doesn’t get the BBQ taste like a charcoal grill.  When I grill I use the Holland because you can never burn anything on it.  When he grills, he fires up the Big Green Egg.

Anyway, if you are using a Holland just put the chicken on and forget it.  If you are using charcoal, cook the chicken in directly of the coals and if you are using a gas grill, preheat it on high then cook the chicken on medium low.

You can do this chicken ahead of time up to 24 hours!

GRILLED LEMON CHICKEN BREASTS:

2 tsp. grated lemon zest – plus 5 lemons halved

Salt and Pepper

8 – bone in split chicken breasts, trimmed

2 T. minced fresh Parsley

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove minced to a paste

1 tsp. sugar

2/3 cup olive oil

Combine the lemon zest, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. pepper in a bowl.  Using your fingers, gently loosen center portion of the skin on the chicken breasts.  Massage each chicken breasts with the mixture.  Transfer the breasts to a plate and let set for at least 30 minutes or can marinade in the fridge for up to 24 hours.   Before grilling just pat the skin dry (by doing this, the skin will brown evenly)  you can salt and pepper the skin too if you are wanting to eat it   I think I will do that to mine today..love chicken skin on the grill.

At this point you are ready to grill.  Be sure to oil your grill grates!  Cut your lemons in half  and place your chicken skin side down!    The lemons are done when they are deep brown (this will only take about 5-10 minutes).  Take off your lemons and start on the yummy sauce!  Leave the chicken on for about 20 more min or until 160 degrees.  When the chicken is done, take off and cover with foil to rest for 10 minutes!

For the sauce: 

Squeeze 1/3 cup of the lemon juice from the grilled lemons into a bowl.  Stir in parsley, mustard, garlic, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper.  Whisk this up then drizzle in your olive oil.  Drizzle your chicken with this right before serving (after you discard the skin of course   )

Serve this up with a green salad or some grilled veggies and you have a tasty, low fat dinner!

Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 1st, 2012 at 9:32 am and is filed under Main Dish, Poultry. Tags for this post: grilled chicken, grilling, lemon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.