Oh me, oh my these babies were so good & so fun. There’s just something about putting something “unconventional” on a grill. Right? I feel like in the summer we are thinking of everything possible to grill. Salad? Yep. Fruit? Of course. Dessert? Hmm.. maybe!
That’s why these grilled citrus ginger chicken legs are so fun – it’s something conventional with a little something different too!
This may seem like a long process, but it’s really minimal work.
To start I brined my chicken – all this means is to soak the chicken in salty water. I combined about ¼ cup salt with 3 cups of water, submerged my chicken & let it hang in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight. This step isn’t completely necessary for chicken legs since they have so much fat ( which equals flavors ) but why not?
But! The marinade is definitely essential! I mixed together 2 inches of sliced, fresh ginger, the zest/juice of 2 limes & 1 orange & lots of pepper! I coated the chicken in the marinade to let it soak up all of that flavor for another 8 hours – I just mixed it up in the morning for dinner that night!
About 30 minutes before grilling, I removed the chicken & placed it on a baking sheet to come to room temperature.
We use a charcoal grill & had it at about medium low heat. I sprinkled the chicken with salt & ground ginger, then grilled ( rotating every 5-8 minutes ) for about 20 minutes.
The last few minutes of the chicken cooking I also added orange wedges. SO GOOD! They were perfect to squirt over the chicken, but man they were so good by themselves!
Once the chicken was done I sprinkled it with chopped cilantro – it was really just so good & completely fresh tasting.
It tasted perfectly like summer.. the grill, the citrus.. I wonder how many times I can make this before summer is over.
Bon Appetit!
ellyn
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 inches fresh ginger, sliced
- Zest of 2 limes
- Juice of 2 limes – about ⅓ cup
- Zest of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 orange – about ⅓ cup
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 6 chicken legs – brined optional
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- Optional – 1 orange & cilantro
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Mix together first 6 ingredients, cover over chicken legs. Marinate for up to 8 hours.
- Remove chicken from marinade & allow to come to room temperature on a baking sheet.
- Sprinkle all the legs with salt & ground ginger.
- Grill on medium to low heat for 20 minutes – rotating every 5-8 minutes.
- Optional – grill orange wedges & squirt over chicken.
- Optional – top with cilantro.
- Enjoy!
