Grilled Chicken Marinade

I love summer. The best part about summer, for me, is using the grill. There is just something about standing at the grill and listening to your food cook that is so beyond satisfying. I'm not gonna lie, whenever I see one of my neighbors grilling, I get a bit envious of whatever they are preparing because it always smells amazing. What is it about getting that char on a piece of meat that makes it mouthwatering?
When we grill at our house we like to keep it simple. Grilled fresh vegetables and some kind of marinated meat.
I came across this amazing chicken marinade when I was trying to accommodate different food allergies/intolerances for a family reunion. Testing out new recipes on a lot of people is always a little nerve wracking, but this one paid off big time.
If you are looking for a really easy to put together marinade to go on your chicken for your next barbecue, this is the one. The one that is going to have everybody asking for the recipe, and the one that has everybody coming back for more.



5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 large lemon, juiced or 1 small lemon, juiced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Take each chicken breast and remove any excess fat. **Depending on how much time you plan to marinade your chicken for you will either place the chicken pieces in a Ziplock bag as they are, or if you are limited on time then you will want to slice your chicken breasts in half to create two equal but more thin pieces.
2. In a small bowl combine the apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, lime, lemon, brown sugar, salt and pepper.
3. Slowly add in the olive oil while whisking very quickly to incorporate.
4. Pour marinade over chicken and seal bag. Give the bag a few good massages to make sure that all of the chicken gets coated with marinade.
5. Place chicken in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but I highly recommend it being closer to 5 hours to really develop the flavor.
6. Pull the chicken out of the fridge at least 10 minutes before wanting to grill so that it can come to room temperature. Then grill chicken over medium-high heat. Time will vary depending on the size of your chicken breasts and whether you cut them in half or not. Thicker pieces will take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes and smaller pieces will take around 5-10 minutes. To safely know when your chicken is done you want to either insert a thermometer and have it have an internal temperature of 165° or make sure that the juices run clear.
7. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes before serving.

**Randi's Side Notes**
~ I personally always slice my chicken breasts in half and allow them to marinade 5 hours. So I highly recommend if you are not cutting them, that you allow a longer marinade period.
~ Another way to help develop more flavor is to reserve 1/4 of the marinade BEFORE adding it to the chicken to use for basting while the chicken is grilling. You do NOT want to use the marinade that the chicken has already touched.

I found this recipe via Pinterest on a blog called Happily Unprocessed. I haven't looked around to much but from the name of the blog it sounds like a site I would enjoy!