Description
Marinating the chicken is the key to incredible flavor with these incredible grilled chimichurri chicken thighs. A weeknight staple!
Ingredients
Scale
10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (see note#1)
10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved, optional garnish
The chimichurri sauce: (makes about 2 3/4 cups) (see note #2)
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped (about 2 bunches)
1 cup parsley, finely chopped (1 1/2-2 bunches)
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, finely diced (4-5 cloves)
1/2 cup onion, finely diced (about 1/2 of a medium onion)
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (see note#3)
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
NOTE: COOK AND PREP TIME ABOVE DOES NOT INCLUDE MARINATING OVERNIGHT.
Instructions
- Chop the cilantro down fine and add to a mixing bowl.
- Chop the parley down fine - same as the cilantro. Add to bowl.
- Finely dice the garlic. I like to slice my garlic cloves into rounds and then dice it down into smaller bits from there. Add to bowl.
- Finely dice the onion. Cut one medium onion in half (you’ll only need about half the onion). Cut into thin strips, then dice into smaller pieces from there. Must be finely diced. Video shows this well.
- Add red wine vinegar, olive oil, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Whisk the chimichurri sauce together until well combined. At this point, you should set aside about ¾ cup of the sauce to spoon over the cooked chicken later.
- Take a few minutes to trim the fat from the chicken thighs. I always make sure to get the obvious flaps of fat hanging off the sides, but also the fat on the underside as well.
- Add the trimmed chicken to your marinade bowl. Make sure all the pieces of chicken are fully coated in the marinade. Poke them with a fork for a minute as well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator. You could also use a ziplock bag if you prefer.
- After chicken has marinated overnight, turn your grill on high and let it warm up for 10 minutes.
- Add the chicken pieces to the grill. The marinade is drippy so let it drip a bit in the bowl before placing on grill. Close the lid and cook for four minutes.
- Turn the chicken over, close the lid again and cook another 3-4 minutes until chicken is cooked through and internal temperature is 165 degrees. Remove chicken from grill and let cool a few minutes.
- While the chicken is cooling you can cut your cherry tomatoes in half.
- I placed all the chicken on a plate and garnished with the halved cherry tomatoes then spooned some of the extra chimichurri sauce over the chicken. Serve any additional chimichurri on the side.
Equipment
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Ball Wide-Mouth Mason Jars (pint)
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Notes
- The marinade can hold about 12-14 boneless, skinless chicken thighs if you want to add a bit more. Also, you can use boneless breast of chicken too – just cut the chicken breast in two or three pieces depending on the size of the chicken breast. That would be approximately 6 chicken breasts cut in half. I’ve done a combination of thighs and breasts and that works well.
- You can add more red pepper flakes if you want it spicier – mine is a mild version.
- Sauce makes 2 ¾ cups and you should reserve to the side about ¾ to 1 cup to spoon on finished product. I usually just store it in an old mason jar or roasted red pepper jar - whatever you have on hand.