How to Cook Grilled Chicken with Chipotle-Nectarine Sauce

Serves: 4-6

Preparation time: overnight

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients needed to make Grilled Chicken with Chipotle-Nectarine Sauce:

For the chicken:

• 3 lb boneless chicken breasts, skinned
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp sea salt

For the sauce:

• 6 ripe firm nectarines, pitted and diced
• 1 medium chipotles in adobo sauce, minced
• ½ cup tomato ketchup
• 1 medium garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
• ½ medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cooking instructions for Grilled Chicken with Chipotle-Nectarine Sauce:

• To grill the chicken, blend the seasonings together and set them aside in a bowl.
• Slice each chicken breast crosswise and blot dry with paper towels.
• Arrange them on a baking sheet and rub the seasoning blend all over them.
• Leave in the fridge, uncovered, overnight, to marinate.
• To make the sauce, drizzle oil in a medium skillet and heat it over moderate heat until it shimmers.
• Throw in the chipotle, onions as well as garlic and season with a dash of seasonings.
• Stir fry for about 5 minutes or until the onions soften and stir in ketchup until well coated.
• Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring at times, until the sauce darkens slightly and stir in rest of the ingredients until well combined.
• Continue to cook for another 5 minutes or until the sauce turns bubbly and reduce it to a simmer.
• Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring at times, until the nectarines soften and break down.
• Tip the mixture into a blender and pulse it into a smooth puree.
• Adjust the seasonings if required and set aside.
• After the marinating time is over, let it rest at room temperature for half an hour.
• Warm up your outdoor grill over moderately hot charcoal fire.
• Grease the grill grate with small lashing of oil and arrange the chicken breasts over it, with their sin side facing down.
• Grill for about 5 minutes or until their bottom sides are seared and turn them over.
• Place a lid on top of the grill and cook for another 5 minutes or until the other side is seared too.
• Flip them over again and smother the chicken with some amount of the sauce.
• Place the lid back on and grill for about 5 minutes.
• Flip it over and brush the sauce on their other side.
• Repeat the process every 5 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat rises to 165 degrees F, as indicated by an instant-read thermometer; it should take about 20 minutes.
• Transfer the chicken onto serving platter and serve alongside a bowl with remaining chipotle-nectarine sauce.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on April 14, 2013 by