I haven’t been cooking much lately because I’m trying to lose weight. I haven’t been eating out much as well. I lost most of my cravings and while I bought a pack of Reese’s peanutbutter chips for future use, I try to avoid sweets most of the time.
Today, I feel treating myself to a good lunch. Early this morning, sis was in the mood to toss a salad. {I didn’t know there was a certain mood for when to toss a salad, hee}. I saw her make some garlic croutons at 9am and even if she forgot that she didn’t have anchovies, she decided on Caesar Salad for lunch.
I knew I had some frozen chicken breasts in the fridge. So I gathered up my favorite friends a.k.a. dried thyme, balsamic vinegar and mango nectar and marinated the chicken so it’ll be ready at lunch time. I figured it’ll be perfect with the salad.
When I was grilling the chicken, I realized why I never liked buying chicken in the frozen section at the grocery. Why, oh why do I punish myself with these frozen poultry. They get so watery when they’re being grilled or roasted…… and somehow, they lose their chicken-ness {lol! is thre such a word?}, you know, the taste that makes chicken…a chicken?
I am so a palengke {wet market} girl. No matter how muddy, smelly and wet our wet markets are…. I still love buying my meat and fish over there. The meats taste fresh and everything tastes as it should be.
Lunch was great. It was healthy and it’s delicious but I wasn’t satisfied with my meat.I guess it’s back to the drawing board.
I will be re-creating this recipe using quarter legs of chicken, not frozen of course!… and probably a balsamic-mango glaze.
But feel free to try the recipe. Just make sure you don’t use frozen chicken breasts, it gets watery and loses all the flavor.
- 4 boneless chicken breasts (pounded lightly to thin out if they are too thick) 1½ to 2 pounds
- 1 cup mango nectar. {I used Philippine Brand}
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp dried thyme
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large RIPE mango, peeled and chopped
- Combine chicken in a large zip bag with mango nectar, vinegar, olive oil and thyme- along with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Zip the bag closed and move the chicken around in the bag to coat with the marinade.
- Lie the bag flat in the refrigerator for at least one hour and up to 2 hours, turning the bag every so often to redistribute the marinade.
- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Spray the grill with grilling spray (or rub the grates with oil). Drain the marinade from the chicken and grill about 4 minutes per side,basting with marinade every minute or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve grilled chicken topped with chopped mango.
I’ve been craving for Ceasar Salad since yesterday and here you pop a photo with one on it, plus mangoes! *drooling*
what a hearty and healthy lunch!!! 🙂 The chicken looks perfectly cooked! 🙂
Love a sweet and savoury dish like this.
Wow! looks so yummy…the salad looked so tempting to me…I want to try this recipe soon…
that looks yummyness!!! nice presentation too makes me wanna it my computer haha..
That looks delicious . Palengke girl din ako(wala naman malls dito eh) hahaha tsaka ako namamalengke pero di ako taga luto heehe
Chicken breasts would be good, protein-rich food would make you loose weight as long as you eat only them 😀 Anyway, I love how you combined the dish here, drool-worthy shot naman, gusto ko kumain na!
I really need to get back in track, too… but I don’t think I will have that mood to toss a salad (hahaha). This dish, like the other ones you cooked in the past, is interesting. Should I re-create this, I might use thigh fillet, though… I don’t really love chicken breast. 🙂
I am in love with anything that has ‘balsamic’ in it haha! Nevertheless, you cooked up something really good! I’m so tempted to take a bite :>
Tagal ko di bumisita dito. I’m on a diet too and trying to avoid eating out. Kaya ata ako napadpad dito, naghahanap ng recipes. Hehe.
What a great idea to use balsamic in a chicken marinade! Great chicken breast recipe!
I feel the same way about frozen chicken breasts. They’re just not as… juicy… afterwards. My mom usually uses frozen chicken breasts for soup. This balsamic mango grilled chicken looks amazing though!
I adapted the recipe, instead of mango nectar I used 1/2 apricot jam and 1/2 OJ, doubled the marinade, used a whole cut up chicken, roasted in convection oven at 350 for 45 minutes, or until internal temp is 165. Served with Coconut Jasmine Rice and Mango Salsa (instead of cut up mango) I assure you that you will not be disappointed!
Mango Salsa and Coconut Jasmine Rice sounds perfect. Will try your recipe. Thanks for dropping by and sharing it.