Margarita Chicken

It is hard to eat healthy at a restaurant that has French fries and queso dip on the menu but sometimes I manage to when they have a dish as yummy as margarita chicken. If you have ever been to Chili’s, you know what I am talking about. Chips, fries, and margaritas galore! What is a girl to do? Well, I have zero discipline when I am out to eat so I just eat whatever I want. That is why when I tried their margarita chicken, and I actually prefered it to anything else on their menu, it shocked me. It is just that good! It is even on their light menu. I really do not think I have ever ordered anything off of the “light menu.” Generally that is the “tasteless menu.”

I really wanted to try to grill up some of the sweet and tangy chicken on my own so I decided to try to recreate this yummy and low cal dish. It is so stinkin easy and tastes almost as good as the dish at Chili’s. I am not going to say better but it is definitely cheaper. Hee hee!

When you read how easy this is, you are going to be making this all of the time. It uses limited ingredients and tastes good as part of sandwich, in tacos, in a salad, or simply served with black beans and rice like they do at the restaurant. The main thing you will need is margarita mix. You do not need alcohol for this meal so if you do not drink alcohol that is okay. You will only need the margarita mix, not the tequila. Unless you are going to make a lot of this, all of the time, I strongly suggest buying the little cans of the mix. This way you will not waste any by it going bad in the fridge. Once it is opened, it does not last that long. You could always freeze it into ice cube trays for later use as well.

You will want to plan this meal at least a couple of hours before because you want the chicken to have time to marinate. Get out your boneless, skinless chicken breasts and puncture several times with a fork. This will just allow the yummy margarita mix to marinate into the chicken. Put the chicken into a zippy bag and pour in the margarita mix until it covers the chicken. I would make sure it marinates for at least 3 hours and no more than the night before.

When you are ready to cook, you can take the chicken out and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a pinch of chili powder for some heat. You could also use a little cayenne pepper if you would like instead, just use either of them sparingly. This chicken is mostly sweet so you do not want to change it too much.

I cook this in my grill pan on the stovetop but it would taste amazing on the grill. I do not think I would bake the chicken. Just cook it like you would any other chicken and then serve with tortillas, beans, rice, avocado, pico de gallo or any other healthy tex mex ingredient you would like.

Margarita Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 small can of margarita mix

salt, pepper, and chili powder

Puncture chicken several times with fork. Add chicken to Ziploc bag. Pour in margarita mix. Let marinate for at least 3 hours. Heat grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to pan. Add chicken and cook about 5 minutes per side or until cooked all the way through. Let chicken rest for a few minutes before slicing if using for tacos.

#recipe #dinner #easy