Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken with Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

The weather has been fantastic here the past week – amazing temperatures and no humidity (yet). I’ve been going outside any chance I get, to enjoy the fresh air and the sun. With the warmer weather, it also means that we’re back into grilling season.

Yes, you can BBQ in the winter, but it isn’t the same as it is in the summer. In the winter, we’re rushing out to put the meat on the grill and then run back inside to warm up. Now we’re hanging out on the porch together, chatting and having a good time while we wait for dinner to cook. It’s a totally different experience and one that I look forward to every year.

For our first grilling session of the season, I went with one of my all-time favourite meat dishes – grilled chicken. This time I kicked it up a notch with a homemade chili-lime marinade that is easy to whip up in a food processor. You’ll never want the bottled stuff again!

This chicken is the bomb. It’s super flavourful, with just a little bit of spice. It’s great on it’s own, sliced in a sandwich, or diced up in a salad.

I paired it up with a simple salad and one of my favourite low-carb side dishes – Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice. It’s just as good as regular Cilantro Lime Rice, but without the extra carbs. With all the great flavours of cilantro, lime and jalapeno in there, you don’t even notice that it’s not really rice.

Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken

Printable Version

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 limes, juiced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• handful of fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar

In a food processor, pulse the lime, olive oil, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper and sugar until combined.

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade. Grill chicken over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving, to help get the juices inside.

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

Printable Version

Cut the cauliflower in half. Remove the leaves and the core and then slice the remaining part into 1/2 inch thick chunks. I grated it using the grating option on the food processor, but you can grate it by hand as well. You want it to be the texture of rice, so don’t make it too fine. If you prefer softer “rice”, steam the florets in a pot with a steamer for a few minutes before grating.

Meanwhile throw the cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno and salt into a food processor and pulse until finely minced.  In a large bowl, combine the cilantro mixture with the sauteed cauliflower; toss to coat.

The chicken came out perfectly cooked thanks to my grill master, Garrett. The outside was crisp with a little spice, while the inside was moist.