Tequila Citrus Chicken

It has been an awesome summer for grilling. Even though we've had a few heatwaves here and there, in general, the weather has been incredibly agreeable and the nights have been lovely and cool. One of my favorite easy grillable purchases from the grocery store is chicken drumsticks. We usually buy a giant family-pack, which is almost half the price of a normal pack, and we can make two meals out of it so it's like quadruple savings.

My favorite way to grill drumsticks is to simply season with salt and pepper and grill until the skin is crispy. But sometimes, you just want to mix it up. This time, I wanted to make a citrus chicken because we had a big bag of oranges from my cousin's backyard in California to use up. Marinating the chicken in all that acid really tenderizes the meat, even though dark meat is plenty tender, this basically makes the meat super buttery and wonderful.

Ingredients [serves 4]:
2 lbs. chicken
¼ cup tequila
1 lime, zested & juiced
1 orange, zested & juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon harissa
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup olive oil

The marinade is basically like a savory margarita. Combine the tequila, lime juice and zest, orange juice and zest, minced garlic, cumin, chili powder, harissa, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and olive oil and give it a good stir to combine.

Add the chicken to a large zip-top baggie and pour over the marinade. Massage the chicken to get the seasoning all over the meat and pop the bag into the fridge to marinate for at least two hours.

If you have time, let the chicken come to room temperature before you cook it so that it'll cook through completely more easily. If the chicken is cold, it might be difficult to make sure it cooks through the center before the outside starts to overcook.

Grill the chicken on a searing hot grill until the skin is crispy and golden. It'll take 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size of your chicken and the heat of your grill; the internal temperature of the meat should be 165F.

Serve the chicken nice and hot with all your favorite Tex-Mex sides. We had grilled corn, a fresh pico de gallo, grilled poblano peppers, and rice. The chicken is bright and flavorful. It's got a punchy zing from the citrus zest, lots of savory layers of flavor from the various spices, a crisp and fragrant fruitiness from the tequila, and the texture of the meat should be deliciously succulent and the skin should be wonderfully crisp. I tend to set aside a little piece of skin and save it to enjoy right at the end; I'm definitely a 'save the best for last' kind of person.

Here's the recipe page: