Thai Style Grilled Chicken

It’s well into grilling season and we have been grilling! Its time I shared some of this summers delights with you!

When a recipe calls for chicken breasts, like the chicken skewers I wrote about last summer, I usually start with a whole chicken and cut it into pieces. Dark meat is the tastiest part of the bird to grill! The back and neck go straight into the slow cooker for broth. 

This is my favorite way to have chicken on the grill. In Thailand it is spatchcocked before grilling, but when its just the legs the spatchcocking is unnecessary. If you doing a whole chicken or more then the chicken turns out more crisp with the spatchcocking. 

Feel free to marinade your chicken and throw it in the freezer and to freeze any extra marinade to save you some prep work on a busy day.

Serve with thai green chili sauce to dip bites of chicken into and thai cucumber salad for a delicious meal.

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken legs or one whole 3-4 lb chicken

• marinade

• 1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro roots

• 1 stem of lemon grass

• 2 tbs fish sauce

• 2 tsp. ground white pepper

• 8 cloves garlic, peeled 

Instructions:

1. Pulse cilantro roots, white pepper, and  garlic cloves in a food processor until well chopped.

2. Rub marinade over chicken. Marinade for several hours or better, overnight. Freeze if you are going to grill later.

3. Heat a charcoal grill or set a gas grill to high; bank coals or turn burner off on one side Grill chicken on hottest part of grill, turning as needed, until slightly charred and cooked through, 25 30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reads 165∞. If the outside starts to burn before the chicken is fully cooked, move to the cooler side of the grill until done. Serve with chile sauce and cucumber salad.