I know that I’ve said this before, but we didn’t have any Cuban restaurants where I grew up. I mean the entire concept of Cuban food was utterly foreign to me up until a couple of years ago. Sure I knew they liked their rice and beans, but as far as what constituted a typical Cuban dish, I had no clue. That being said I will always remember my first time trying out Cuban cuisine as it was my first introduction to the wonderful dish known as mojo chicken.
If you’ve never heard of it before it is a simple dish consisting of grilled chicken which has been marinated overnight in a mojo sauce. And if the name hasn’t given it away, the key to this dish is the mojo sauce. It’s a fairly simple concoction made by combining the juice of sour oranges, a ton of garlic, and a few spices. And despite the aggressive flavors of these ingredients, when they are combined they create a light and balanced sauce. Perfect for grilled chicken!
Luckily for you fine folks, you no longer have to wait and get mojo chicken at a Cuban restaurant because today we are going to show you just how easy it is to make this dish right at home. So if you are ready to get your mojo on then let’s get to today’s recipe.
Tips, Tricks, & Suggestions
- Traditional Mojo sauce calls for the juice of sour oranges, however, these can be fairly difficult to come by in most areas. Luckily you can achieve basically the same flavor by combining some lime juice with some orange juice, which is what we will be doing in today’s recipe. That being said if you can get your hands on sour oranges then definitely use them.
- You can also use this same marinade with a pork roast.
- We will be spatchcocking our chicken today so if you don’t know how to do that then check out our quick lesson on it here.
- I recommend that you marinate the chicken for as long as you can as it will really allow the flavors to mature.
- You can easily make today’s chicken in your oven if it’s too cold to grill outside. Simply marinate the chicken and cook it exactly like you would roast a normal whole chicken in the oven.
- I like to serve this with our recipe for Cuban style black beans, and maybe some mango mojitos.
Mojo Chicken Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Marinade time: 4 to 24 hours
Cook time: 1 hour
Servings: 6 to 8 people
Ingredients
4 to 6 Lb whole chicken, spatchcocked
For marinade:
½ Cup of orange juice
¼ Cup of lime juice
8 Cloves of garlic, minced
¼ Cup of olive oil
1 Tablespoon of fresh oregano, minced
1 Teaspoon of salt
½ Teaspoon of black pepper
Instructions
- Make the marinade by adding all of the ingredients to a bowl and mixing them together.
- Marinate the chicken: Place the chicken into a large walled dish and pour half of the marinade over it.
Turn the chicken over and pour the rest of the marinade over it.
Let the chicken marinate for 4 to 24 hours, making sure to flip it over a couple of times.
- Prepare your grill for indirect cooking.
- Grill the Chicken: Take the chicken out of the marinade and place it on the indirect side of the grill with the legs facing the heat.
Let the chicken cook on the grill undisturbed for about an hour, or until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, then cut it up, serve it, and enjoy it!
Mojo Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 Lb whole chicken spatchcocked
For marinade
- ½ Cup of orange juice
- ¼ Cup of lime juice
- 8 Cloves of garlic minced
- ¼ Cup of olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon of fresh oregano minced
- 1 Teaspoon of salt
- ½ Teaspoon of black pepper
Instructions
- Make the marinade by adding all of the ingredients to a bowl and mixing them together.
- Marinate the chicken: Place the chicken into a large walled dish and pour half of the marinade over it. Turn the chicken over and pour the rest of the marinade over it. Let the chicken marinate for 4 to 24 hours, making sure to flip it over a couple of times.
- Prepare your grill for indirect cooking.
- Grill the Chicken: Take the chicken out of the marinade and place it on the indirect side of the grill with the legs facing the heat. Let the chicken cook on the grill undisturbed for about an hour, or until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, then cut it up, serve it, and enjoy it!
Inspiration from other blogs
From Spend With Pennies
