Want to spice things up this week? Try this Spicy Southwest Chicken Marinade to add flavor and kick to your grilled chicken.
You come home from a busy day. It’s beautiful outside. You want to enjoy it. The last thing you want to do is spend the next couple hours indoors.
Good thing you planned ahead. You’ve got chicken breasts marinating in a spicy, southwest marinade — all ready to throw on the grill.
Evening made.
Okay, so maybe you don’t have all the good ready to go right now, but you will by the time you finish reading.
This Spicy Southwest Chicken Marinade is incredibly easy to make. So easy, you can pull it together in the morning before you leave the house and let the chicken just bathe in the fresh herbs, veggies, and spices until you get home.
It will make for a super simple meal, made from healthy, whole foods, perfect for devouring.
And if the weather isn’t grill-worthy? No problem. You can cook this chicken in the broiler.
Marinating chicken takes a little more time and planning than using a spicy chicken rub, but it’s a great way to add flavor and sometimes tenderize the humble chicken breast.
How long do you marinate chicken?
Marinate boneless skinless chicken breast for a minimum of 2 hours. Too long and the chicken may become mushy.
Can you marinate frozen chicken?
If you’ve only got frozen chicken on hand, place it in a bag or container with the marinade and allow it to thaw and marinade at one time in the refrigerator.
Can you freeze chicken in marinade?
Freezing chicken in marinades is one of the easiest freezer meals you can make! Just place the marinade and the chicken pieces together in a ziptop freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for 4 to 6 weeks. Thaw in the refrigerator and then cook it up and enjoy!
(And yes, there is a difference between ziptop freezer bags and regular ones.)
How do you make chicken marinade?
Many chicken marinades are made by simply whisking together acids, oil, and spices together.
This Spicy Southwest Chicken Marinade takes one extra step. Since the marinade is made with onion, jalapeño, tomatoes, and fresh herbs, you’ll need to blend it up together in a blender or food processor.
Add it to your chicken and let the flavors get to work!
If I know that I’m going to freeze the chicken in the marinade, I place it in a ziptop freezer bag, labeled with the name and date. If I’m going to cook it that day, I just use a large container with a lid. Either way, it needs to be refrigerated or stored in the freezer right away.
What should you serve this chicken with?
This chicken is great on its own alongside rice, beans, and salad. It’s also a great filling for tacos, burritos, and burrito bowls.
How to save money making this recipe:
Here are some of the strategies I use to make this recipe more economical:
- Meal plan around what’s on sale. Don’t decide to make this when chicken is $5/pound and you have none in the freezer. Next time you see chicken on sale, add this to your meal plan!
- Do a price comparison. I know that ALDI is the best place for me to buy chicken when there isn’t a great sale elsewhere. It’s normally $1.89/lb! I keep track of prices so that I know who has the best deal where.
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. Buy extra chicken as well as marinade ingredients and stash them away in your pantry so you can make this dish whenever you want.
Tools you might need to make this recipe easy:
This is a pretty straight-forward dish. You don’t need any fancy equipment. However, having some good basic kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I like to use in this recipe.
- plastic cutting boards – I have blue boards for veggies and white boards for meat.
- Ergo Chef chef’s knife – I’ve had my set for several years and they work well for trimming chicken and chopping vegetables.
After you’ve prepared the recipe, would you do me a favor? I’d really appreciate it if you came back and left a starred review. Thanks in advance for your feedback!
If you prepare this recipe, be sure to share a picture on social media and hashtag it #GOODCHEAPEATS. I can't wait to see what you cook up!
Spicy Southwest Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 tomato quartered
- 1/2 onion cut into chunks
- 1 jalapeno
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
- 2 clove garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice
For marinating:
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast
Instructions
- Combine the tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, oil, soy sauce, and lime juice in the bowl of a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade. Blend until smooth.
- Place the chicken pieces in a container with a lid or a ziptop freezer bag. Add the marinade. Massage the bag or move the chicken pieces around in the container to coat completely with the marinade. Allow to marinate for 2 hours.
- Heat an outdoor grill or grill pan. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook on the hot grill, turning once, until an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Cover and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Robert Gannon
My wife is from New Mexico; thus, we are always interested in trying southwest variations on home-cooked cuisine, especially now that we live far away in Washington state. We blended the ingredients together as the recipe called for, but added an extra jalapeño as a lot of “kick” tends to get cooked out on the grill. Next time, I’ll probably use three jalapeños as the finished product didn’t have quite enough bite in it for our taste. Even with two jalapeños, the kids (who complain that toothpaste is spicy) could easily eat it. The chicken itself had great flavor.
I cooked the chicken on a Green Mountain Grill pellet grill, and sautéed the accompanying vegetables on a Blackstone griddle. I served the chicken over a cup of cauliflower rice, garnished with scallions and diced jalapeños. The dish was surrounded by grilled grape tomatoes (halved), grilled sweet corn kernels, sautéed yellow onion, and sautéed green bell peppers.
Next time, while the food processor is out I’m going to make a tomato based salsa similar to the marinade (sans oil) to drizzle over the dish. This review got wordy, but we’ll definitely use this recipe again.
Jessica Fisher
Thanks for the feedback. Glad it made the cut. The salsa sounds like a great addition!