Chipotle Chicken Marinade

This chipotle chicken marinade is sweet, smokey, perfectly spicy, and brings grilled chicken to a whole new level! Meal prep and freeze!

5 from 2 votes

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Course: dinner, dinner recipe, Lunch, lunch recipe

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: chipotle chicken marinade, chipotle marinade, chipotle marinade for chicken

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 233kcal

Author: Tammy Overhoff

Equipment

High-speed blender, immersion blender, or food processor
Citrus squeezer
Glass containers or Ziploc bags
Grill or grill pan

Ingredients

7 ounce can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce seeds removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
4 cloves garlic
2 limes juiced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 salt
1/4 pepper
1/4 cup cilantro stems removed
2 tablespoons water
4 4 ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts pound into even pieces (1/2 inch thickness)

Instructions

Add chipotle peppers, olive oil, honey, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, lime juice, and cilantro into a blender (or food processor) and blend.
After you blend the ingredients, the marinade will be thick, so add 2-3 tablespoons of water until it’s a consistency where you can pour it into a bag or container. It’s not supposed to be thin, so just enough water to help it along out of the blender or food processor.
Take the chicken and, using a meat mallet, pound them to ½ inch thickness. This helps the chicken to cook faster and more even. Then place the chicken into a Ziploc bag or glass meal prep containers and pour the chipotle marinade over the top. Let the chicken marinate for at least an hour, 2-3 if possible, and overnight is preferred. This marinade will cover about 4 chicken breasts, possibly five, depending on the size. If you have any leftover marinade, store the rest in a small Ziploc bag or mason jar in the refrigerator or freezer.
Cook on a hot clean grill over medium high heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until the internal temperature reaches 165º.
Place the chicken on a hot clean, preheated grill set to medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 5-7 minutes on each side or until the internal temperature reaches 165º.
Remove the chicken from the grill and let it rest for 2-3 minutes.

Notes

How to Store

You can marinate the chicken in the chipotle marinade twenty-four hours ahead of time. Just put the chicken in a ziplock bag or glass container and stick it in the refrigerator.

You can grill a bunch of this chicken ahead of time and use it on salads all week. Or freeze the grilled chicken into strips to throw on salads or use in wraps.

You can freeze the chicken in the marinade ahead of time. Take it out about 2 days before you’re going to cook it on the grill and let it thaw in the refrigerator. Make sure you completely thaw the chicken before cooking it on the grill.

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