Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs + Drick's Marinated Artichoke Pasta Salad and Mexican Restaurant Margaritas

First off, I'd like to thank Elise of Elusive Reveries and Mariceli of Mariceli's Corner for following my ramblings!

Ready for a juicy grilled meal with tequila?!

Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs
Hands on time: 40 minutes
Total time: 60 minutes



This was a memorable meal. It wasn't difficult to put together, it was certainly not time consuming and it wasn't expensive. Win-win-win. Doug pronounced this chicken the best he'd ever had....and believe me, this man loves a roasted chicken. Please make this. You will thank me. Promise.

Ingredients....

1 ½ tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. chipotle chile powder (which we omitted because of serious heartburn troubles)
6 bone-in chicken thighs
¾ cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup tequila
¼ cup honey
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. water
2 tsp. grated lime rind
3 TB fresh lime juice

This recipe talks about preheating your gas grill. My man uses charcoal in his spiffy new Weber Performer so…if you use gas, turn one burner off after you preheat so you may use the indirect grill method. Otherwise, start the charcoal after you have combined your ingredients and mixed your first drink. Just sayin'.

Combine first four ingredients in small bowl. Rub over chicken.

Bring pineapple juice, tequila and honey to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook until reduced to ¾ cup, about 10 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water in small bowl, stir well. Add cornstarch mixture to juice mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in lime rind and 3 tablespoons lime juice.

Place chicken on grill. Cover and grill for 5 minutes each side, basting occasionally with juice mixture. (Move chicken to the other side of grill IF you are cooking using indirect heat. Cover and grill 5 minutes on each side until done.) Doug did not use indirect and I can tell you...this chicken was incredibly moist.



All sticky ooey gooey and you will want to eat the skin. Oh my. The side dish was perfect for this meal, one I had been meaning to try for awhile. It's a cold Artichoke Pasta Salad.



Recipe for Drick's Marinated Artichoke Pasta Salad may be found HERE and I highly recommend it. Nice addition to the table for a summer meal.

As for the drinks.......these are a variation on a traditional margarita someone had at a Mexican restaurant and proclaimed as their favorite. Here are photos but details may be found at Cocktail Puppy HERE



I will be sending this to CreamPuffs in Venice for her roundup of Magazine Monday. This recipe is from Cooking Light, June 2011 - honest...Cooking Light!!
Surf over to visit the Creampuff and see what else is shaping up in her neck of the woods :-)



Good eating!