Jalapeno Lime Chicken

So, I finally went to Crossfit for the first time yesterday. My super awesome and super strong friend Lauren took me to her box, and it was one of the hardest (and most fun) things I've done in a long time. I left with some pretty weak arms, and some pretty awesome bruises on my collarbones from pounding out a bunch of.....I think they were called shoulder presses? I also left feeling pretty accomplished, though. At the beginning when Justin told me I'd be doing three sets of 10 shoulder presses with three sets of 10 kettlebell swings in between in under 8 minutes, I'm pretty sure I gave him a look that said "you know I have all the upper body strength of a premature kitten, right?", but with a lot of tiny breaks, I managed to bust out the whole thing, and it felt pretty incredible! Know what felt even more incredible? The fact that I had prepped dinner earlier in the day, and all that was left was coming home and tossing some chicken on the grill. Yeah. That felt pretty good. 

This chicken packs a punch, not unlike a Crossfit workout. It'll also leave you feeling hot, maybe even a teeny bit sweaty, which is also not unlike a Crossfit workout. Let's get started!

Grab a lime, zest it, juice it, and toss it all into your

blender or food processor along with 1/2 of a small red onion.

Grab yourself three scallions (with the little root ends cut off) and 1/2 cup each of

fresh basil and fresh mint, and toss them in the food processor along with your onion, 

lime juice, and zest.

Cut one large (or two small) jalapeno peppers in half. Remove the ribs
and seeds, and toss it in the food processor with the rest.

Add in 1/2 teaspoon of cracked black pepper, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce.

Pulse all the ingredients until they resemble a thin
sort of salsa. It's going to be spicy. Don't do what I did and
try to get a good sniff of the mixture as soon as it's
done mixing, or you'll end up crying off most of
your mascara like I did. I'm so smooth. 

Grab your chicken (I used bone-in skin-on chicken thighs: they're inexpensive,
and grill up nice and moist!) and slather only 1/2 of the jalapeno lime sauce onto the
skin of the chicken. Cover the chicken and let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours,

or up to 12 hours. 

Grill the chicken on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
Alternately, bake the chicken in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until
the chicken is cooked through (this will depend largely on the size and thickness
of the chicken)

Serve it up with a side of your choice - I did it with some perfectly baked
sweet potato fries! Serve the rest of your jalapeno lime sauce alongside the
chicken as a dipping sauce!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs

1 large jalapeno pepper

1/2 small red onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce

1/2 cup fresh mint

1/2 cup fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Blitz all ingredients in a food processor or blender until it resembles a thin salsa. Set aside half of the mixture for later. Rub the other half of the mixture into the chicken thighs, and allow the meat to rest in the fridge and marinate for at least 2 hours, or up to 12 hours. Grill the chicken on medium heat, and once it's cooked through, serve the chicken with the remainder of the jalapeno lime sauce on the side for dipping. 

For the non-spicy Lauren-ified version, omit the jalapeno peppers and sriracha sauce, and put in the whole red onion instead of just half!

Happy Grilling, everyone!