Zesty Grilled Garlic Lime Chicken: a snap to make, a delight to eat

As I've said before: what could be better than a delicious, healthy meal that doesn't create a million dishes, is almost no work to make, and that your kids will eat? :) My entry to @knowledge-seeker's weekly Homestead Photography Contest is my take on Taste of Home's Garlic Lime Chicken. It's definitely a grill-season favorite in our house.

The key to making the chicken extra zesty--and extra tender and juicy? Pickle brining!! This is an optional step that you can skip and still have delicious results.

Every time I use up a jar of pickles, I save the juice until I have a jar full, and then brine chicken with it at some point. The bonus about this particular brand is that the juice is already full of garlic, capers, and other spices. The night before we had this chicken for dinner, I poured the juice into a large bowl, submerged the chicken, and then covered it and put it in the refrigerator.

The next morning, I gathered the marinade ingredients and a large resealable plastic bag.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup cider vinegar
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried coriander
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika

Note: the original recipe calls for 4 pounds of bone-in chicken breast halves, and browning them in oil before putting them in the oven. I prefer to use 3-4 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts, and grill them.

Measure all the marinade ingredients into the resealable plastic bag, seal (or fold the top down a couple times) and gently shake to combine them.

This is about the only time I ever use a significant amount of coriander in anything.

Remove the chicken from the pickle juice and discard the juice. Put the chicken in the marinade bag, seal the bag, and shoosh it around a bit to get all the chicken nicely coated with the spices. Then, I like to lay the bag sideways on a curved plate or in a bowl so that all the chicken is in the marinade while it refrigerates:

Marinade 8 hours or overnight. If you're able to, flip the bag a time or two during marination, so each side of the chicken gets time to soak in the liquid.

When you're ready, fire up the grill, discard the marinade, and get that chicken sizzling!! Grill time depends on how thick the chicken breasts are. The Husband (my grillmaster) likes to sear the chicken on both sides for a couple minutes on the lower rack/higher heat, then move them to the upper rack/lower heat to cook more slowly. Sometimes he'll pull them from the grill before they're completely done, and finish them in a covered dish in the microwave, to avoid drying them out on the grill. (Let them rest for a few minutes after cooking, too, to help preserve juiciness.)

Serve with whatever your heart desires...in my case last night, it was a fresh salad. I skipped the potatoes so I could save the calories for wine instead, haha :)

ENJOY! And thank you for reading!