Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Cilantro Lime Marinade for Wings

The beginning part of tailgating season is more fun, don't you think?  The weather is still beautiful all over the country, so people take advantage of that and party earlier and longer.  It's also early in the season and most fan bases still believe that this is OUR year, so more people come out to tailgate central.  

These wings are just the ticket for those warmer, early season tailgates because they have hints of Summer with the warm flavors of lime, cilantro, and habanero.  

Cilantro Lime Wings with Habanero Butter

I made this marinade with wings in mind but it works with any chicken, of course.
This recipe makes enough for a family pack of wings, about 4.5 pounds or 14 whole wings. The marinade itself is rather mild, I add heat with the rub and sauce.

Cilantro Lime Marinade for Wings

Published 08/25/2016

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup peanut oil
  • 1/3 cup lime juice
  • 1/2 ea jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1/4 cup packed chopped cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon season salt
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile

Instructions

  1. Place oil, lime juice, jalapeno, and cilantro in a blender and pulse for 15-20 seconds until blended.
  2. Stir in the pepper, season salt, chili powder, salt, cumin, and chipotle.  Refrigerate until ready to use.
  3. Marinate wings for 4-6 hours

Yield: 1 cup
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.
Cook time: 00 hrs. 00 mins.
Total time: 10 mins.

Marinate the wings for 4 - 6 hours, just the right amount of time to get loaded up and down to the stadium.

Take the wings out of the marinade and shake off the excess.  Then season them with your favorite rub.  I used a couple of tablespoons of my NMT All Purpose Chicken Rub.

I used my Grilla pellet cooker for this cook using applewood pellets.  I got my Grilla as a thank you for being on their Memphis in May team and I have used it a ton this Summer.  


I cooked them pretty much just like my 30-20-10 kamado wings - 30 minutes at 375-400f, flip.  Twenty more minutes, then sauce and put them back on just long enough to set the sauce, 5-10 more minutes.

Grilled wings have a flavor that you just can't get from frying.

They were pretty fantastic just like this - crispy and tangy.  About half of the family wanted them this way.
But my older son and l were in the mood for more heat so I had made a habanero butter sauce using 6 tablespoons of butter and about a third cup of Yucatan Sunshine Habanero Sauce.

Spicy, tangy, buttery, and....the game is starting?  I'll be there in a minute, I have a few more wings here.

If you want to shake your tailgate up with some extraordinary wings - break out these bad boys!