My hubby asked me this weekend to make a grilled chicken. He wanted something similar to “El Pollo Loco” which is one of our favorite flavors as far as chicken goes. I have been pretty good about coming up with recipes that are tasty and very similar to recipes from different restaurants. I knew that they use citrus for their marinade as well as mild peppers. So with that in mind, this is how I made it:
Juice from 1 organic pink grapefruit
Juice from 2 organic juicy limes
3 small organic sweet, yellow bell peppers (I also used 1 organic red bell pepper)
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp avocado oil
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend for about 3 – 4 minutes until ALL ingredients are mixed well and peppers are pureed. Save 1/4 cup of this mixture in a separate bowl for basting while grilling (this is important, NEVER EVER use the same mixture that you marinated your chicken in to baste as you can end up with a bad, bad case of salmonella)
For the chicken:
I used a WHOLE organic chicken which I sliced and separated into pieces. Place the chicken into a flat, large pyrex and pour sauce on top of it. Cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
Pre-heat your grill for about 5 minutes. TOSS the marinade that had the chicken (so you don’t end up using it by mistake) and then grill your chicken for a good 1:30 hours and medium heat, flipping and basting it every 10 minutes or so with the sauce you set aside.
A note of caution: Check your chicken close to the bone to make sure that it cooked completely. Oftentimes, you are only able to tell if the surface cooked completely and you might end up missing the meat close to the bone. It may also be easier to use chicken breast with no bones (although I like the flavor better with the bone in so if you make it this way, just make sure to cook it thoroughly).
