Mustard & Brown Sugar Chicken Marinade

It’s the most wonderful time of the year,

With the kids outside yelling, 

and ever’one’s yard smelling, 

like grilled meat and beeeeeeeer…

It’s the most wonderful time of the the yeeeeaaarrrr!

Here is how warm weather cooking typically works for me.

Step 1: Buy a tons of meats. 

Step 2: Separate them into ziploc gallon bags, dump marinade on them, throw in the fridge. 

Step 3: Blindly reach into the fridge each day for a bag of meat and grill it. 

It’s easy, cost effective, and if I get to the point where I’m just done cooking for the week, I transfer them to the freezer and order take out. 

One of my favorite summer dishes is grilled mustard and brown sugar chicken, and the marinade could not be easier. 

Aside from grabbing a fresh lemon or two when I’m out, this is all stuff I keep in my cabinet full time: apple cider vinegar, ground mustard, olive oil, brown sugar, garlic, and salt and pepper. 

Like all marinades, consider this recipe a suggestion. 

I like things so full of garlic and spice, nobody wants to kiss me for days after I eat. 

*dumps more garlic in the bag*

You need the juice of one big lemon, or two small ones. 

To change the flavor up, you can also try making this with a lemon and a lime. 

Brown sugar not only makes this chicken tangy and sweet, it also helps it to caramelize on the grill and give you all those yummy burnt parts. 

I never used to like burnt food until recently, maybe when we get old, out taste buds are like, what the hell, let’s just eat everything. 

Add the liquids, mix it together, and don’t forget the salt and pepper. 

This marinade only gets better the longer it sits, so if you can get a day or two out of it sitting in the fridge, awesome. 

But if you’re in a hurry, reserve a small amount of marinade before you dump it on the chicken and after you are done grilling, coat the chicken once more in the reserve to make it extra juicy and flavorful. 

So how do I grill this?

Well, my life isn’t together enough to own a meat thermometer, so depending on the thickness of the chicken, I do about 6-8 minutes on this side. 

And for the love of God, don’t cut it open to check doneness. That let’s all the juice run out and you get dry chicken. 

Instead, give it a little push with your finger. Done chicken should feel solid, like the pad on your hand below your thumb. 

*whispers*

It’s perfect.