grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa
My husband and I had jerk chicken for the first time at a little restaurant in Asheville, NC called Salsa's. We were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. The wonderful fusion of flavors inspired us. When we returned home we immediately went to work on a recipe. We came up with this after tweaking and a lot of taste testing. We have several dinner parties a year and we always serve this. My husband pulled together the Mango Salsa one day. We love it served over the Jerk Chicken with black beans and rice and sweet potato. It is very convenient because it all mostly goes on the grill!
Blue Ribbon Recipe
If you don't like Jerk chicken or spicy dishes, this chicken recipe might not be for you. But if you do like spicy, this is for you. We used three jalapenos in the mango salsa and found it quite spicy (and we like spice). Adjust the jalapenos to suit your heat tolerance. The marinade has all the classic flavors of jerk chicken with the added Scotch Bonnet pepper that gives it an extra kick. The mango salsa is so good alone but on top of the chicken, it's perfect and gives it a Caribbean feel. This recipe does have a few steps, but it's perfect on the weekends when you have a little extra time. A great grilled dish on a warm summer evening alongside a frozen tropical drink.
Ingredients For grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa
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1 Tbspground allspice
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1 Tbspdried thyme
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1 1/2 tspcayenne pepper
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1 1/2 tspfreshly ground black pepper
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1 1/2 tspground sage
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3/4 tspground nutmeg
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3/4 tspground cinnamon
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2 Tbspfresh garlic, pressed
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1 Tbspsugar
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1/4 colive oil, extra virgin
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1/4 csoy sauce, light
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3/4 cwhite vinegar
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1/2 corange juice, fresh
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1lime, juiced
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1Scotch Bonnet or jalapeno pepper, finely chopped *see note
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3green onions
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1 conion, finely chopped
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4-6chicken breast, split and pounded *see note
- MANGO SALSA
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2ripe mangoes
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1 mdonions, vidalia, peeled and chopped
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3fresh tomatillos, chopped
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3 lgripe tomatoes, chopped
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1 lggreen pepper, chopped
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3-6fresh jalapenos, chopped *see note
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1 bunchfresh cilantro, finely chopped
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sea salt, to taste
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2limes, juiced
How To Make grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa
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1In a large bowl, add chopped onions, green onions, garlic, and Scotch Bonnet.
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2Toss the seasoning with the chopped vegetables.
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3In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, orange juice, and lime juice.
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4Slowly add the wet ingredients to the vegetables and spices. Stir until combined well.
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5Reserve 1 cup of the marinade for basting during grilling.
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6Add chicken to marinade and cover for at least an hour. For best results, marinate overnight or for 8 hours.
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7MANGO SALSA DIRECTIONS: In a food processor add chopped onion, jalapeno pepper scraped of white membrane and seeds and tomatillos.
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8Process until almost finely grated stage. Scrape out into a quart-size bowl or bigger.
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9Next, add the chopped tomatoes and chopped green pepper to the food processor. Process until chunky. Add these to the quart bowl.
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10Next, add the mango to the food processor and process until very chunky. Add to the rest of the ingredients in bowl.
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11Lastly, using a knife, finely chop the cilantro and add to the vegetable mixture in bowl. Then add the fresh lime juice and sea salt.
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12Mix well. Cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
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13Pre-heat your grill and remove chicken from marinade. Grill 8-10 minutes on each side or until the chicken is no longer pink.
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14Baste chicken while grilling with reserved marinade. Grilling time will depend on the thickness of the chicken.
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15Serve with Mango Salsa, black beans and rice, and grilled sweet potato halve.
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16*You may use this salsa alone as an appetizer with tortilla chips. This is our friends' favorite salsa and is highly requested!
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17*NOTE* *WARNING* Scotch Bonnet Peppers (habanero) and jalapeno peppers must be handled properly or they can cause burning and irritation to skin and eyes. If you cannot handle very, very hot and spicy food then skip the scotch bonnets and use the jalapeno. You must wear gloves when chopping the peppers, the peppers have oil's that will stay on your skin and most likely will get in your eyes, not to mention burn your skin! You may even need to wear a mask because of the fumes from the peppers.
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18NOTE *Depending on the size and thickness of your chicken breast you may need to split the boneless breast and then pound them down to around an inch in thickness.
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