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Grilling: Beer-Marinated Chicken Tacos

Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 24, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Each week Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!

I've covered beef and pork tacos before, so the next logical step in my taco journey was chicken. I've always had my eye on this one particular recipe for beer-marinated chicken tacos, partly because chicken marinated in Negra Modelo sounded delicious, but mostly as an excuse to make a large batch of guacamole.

The combination ended up being fantastic. The recipe called for a 2 to 4 hour marinade, but I pushed it further to overnight, and the chicken really picked up the deep flavor of the beer. The marinade also caramelized over the high heat, forming a crisp crust. These two factors added a nice contrast to the creamy and fresh guacamole, making each bite a pleasing one. From now on, making guacamole will mostly be an excuse to grill up a batch of this chicken for more taco goodness.

Beer-Marinated Chicken Tacos

Adapted from Weber's Real Grilling by Purviance

- serves 4-6 -

Ingredients

For the marinade
1 cup dark Mexican beer, such as Negra Modelo
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups of your favorite guacamole
8-12 Taco size corn tortillas

Procedure

1. Mix all of the ingredients for the marinade together in a small bowl. Place the chicken thighs in a large Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and place in the refridgerator to marinate for 2 hours to overnight.

2. Remove chicken from the refrigerator while lighting the fire. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals out evenly over the charcoal grate. Grill chicken until fully cooked and browned on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Cut chicken into thin strips.

3. While the chicken is resting, warm tortillas on the grill until pliable, about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side. To assemble, spread a heaping spoonful of guacamole along the middle of each tortilla. Pile with chicken slices and serve.

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Tags: Negra Modelo, beer, chicken, grilling, tacos