Pickle (Juice Marinated) Chicken

And, here we are at the beginning of a new week!  I don't know about you, but I'm elated!

In case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty excited about food.

Let me give you an example…

We were without children for 3 whole nights at the end of last week.  Friday night, it was just the two of us and after a fabulous dinner on the deck, we were testing the water to see what each other had in mind for the evening.

Hubby wanted to watch a movie…anyone who knows me, (at all!!) knows that movies bore.me.to.tears!  Only way I could possibly sit around and watch the television for a couple hours would be with my iPad close at hand, which is really annoying to Jerry.

Instead, I decided that I would bake…(see Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins).

Here is what it boils down to…given a situation with no kids, no work, no responsibility, what do I do?  Make delicious food!  That's a no brainer.

So, it shouldn't surprise you when I'm excited about the line up of meals that I have planned to share with you for the week.  Great ideas for your family, cook outs, utilizing summer harvests…

Starting with Pickle Chicken.

First time I heard about this concept, I was intrigued.

I mean, I'm all about using pickle juice for various sauces and dressing, but using it as a marinade was something I HAD to try.

The end result…nothing less than amazing and easier than ever! 

The flavor and texture of the pickle juice marinated chicken was just right!  

I had chicken tenders in the fridge that needed to be used as well as a jar of my FAVORITE pickles, with just two slices left…almost seemed too good to be true! 

Into a resealable container went two 14 oz packages of chicken tenders. 

I always choose tenders over breasts for ease of cooking.  

And, then poured the juice from a 20 oz jar of pickles. 

Let the marinating begin!  

After about 10 hours, the tenders started to change in appearance a bit, mostly due to the acidity of the pickle juice, almost acting as a tenderizer.  

Feeling a little guilty, so I will admit that I opted for my grill pan in my air conditioned house rather than slaving over the steamy grill with sweat dripping from my brow. 

Just grilled 'em up like any other chicken dish.  

Did take them a little longer to start browning, which is very important to me, so there were a few moments of concern.

Ultimately, they did brown up nicely. 

Also, I thought I'd grill up the pickles themselves.  

Food safety note: Since the pickles were in with the raw chicken, they would have to be grilled up or tossed.  

I'm not sure if other people think about cross-contamination as much as I do, so thought that maybe I should mention it from time to time.  

This chicken can be served up so many different ways.  

We went the healthy route by serving it on a bed of spinach, with fresh cukes and tomatoes from the garden along with some crumbled bleu cheese. 

Would also be amazing in a wrap! 

For leftovers, I dipped the naked tenders in some homemade onion and herb mayo…

Also fabulous!  

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

2-14 oz packages of chicken tenders

Juice from 1-20 oz jar of pickles

Directions:

Marinate chicken in pickle juice for as long as desired.  I've heard from 1-24 hours, I went with about 10.  Worked like a charm. 

Cook chicken according to preferred method, grill, bake, roast, sautee.  

Serve on a salad, in a wrap or with a dipping sauce.  

I'm sure you have pickle juice in your house and you probably have chicken too!  

What are you waiting for?