Grilled Jerk Chicken with Mango Cilantro Salsa

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: 8 servings
  • Total: 1 day 1 hr 10 min
  • Prep: 25 min
  • Inactive: 1 day 30 min
  • Cook: 15 min
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Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

3 scallions, coarsely chopped

2 Scotch bonnet pepper, stem and seeds removed

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

8 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in

8 drumsticks, skin on

Mango Cilantro Salsa, recipe follows

Mango-Cilantro Relish:

3 ripe mangoes, peeled and diced

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves

1 tablespoon chopped green onions

3 tablespoons lime juice

3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon honey

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Puree all the ingredients, except the chicken, in a food processor until almost smooth. Pierce the chicken with a fork to make tiny holes. Place the chicken in a large shallow baking dish and rub the marinade into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours, depending on how intense you want the flavor to be. Preheat grill. Grill chicken on each side for 5 to 6 minutes or until cooked through.

Mango-Cilantro Relish:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and let sit 30 minutes at room temperature.

Let's Get Cooking!

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Chris B.

This was a great recipe as written, but I made some changes that worked well as I like a bit more heat . Since Scotch Bonnet peppers are not readily available in my area, I substituted habanero and used 3. I also added about a 1/4 cup of soy sauce and a half teaspoon of turmeric to the marinade (adds a nice color). I decided to use a whole chicken and removed the backbone and spatchcocked it. I marinated the chicken for 24 hours, using rubber gloves, I made sure the marinade was thickly packed in all parts of the chicken. 12 hours in, I flipped the chicken and repacked the marinade to make sure it was fully covered. <br /><br />To cook the chicken, I removed it from the refrigerator a couple of hours before cooking and prepared a charcoal grill for indirect cooking. I added soaked hardwood chips right before cooking and throughout the cooking time as they were burned. I oiled the grill and placed the chicken skin side up and made sure that the marinade still thickly covered the top of the chicken as I placed it on the grill. I cooked the chicken indirectly with the smoke flowing across the chicken to the vent. Once the bottom started to brown, I flipped the chicken. As the chicken reached about 130° (checking with and instant thermometer) I placed the chicken directly over the coals to finish with a nice crispy brown crust,flipping as needed. Once the internal temperature reached 175° I removed the chicken and let it rest for a few minutes. Total cooking time was about 45 minutes but will vary depending on chicken size and grill. <br /><br />The final product had a nice warm to hot burn, and the flavor was really good. If you’re looking for more of an endorphin kick from the heat, I’d add another habanero, but 3 seems like a good balance between flavor and heat.

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