This Grilled Blackened Chicken is smoky and packed full of flavor from the blacken spice rub. To me there’s no point in eating food that’s bland. Who’s with me? Hope I’m not hearing crickets, ha!
Grilling season is still here and I’m trying to take advantage of the summer as much as I can since we live in a city where we get 3-5 months of winter. If I could, I would grill everything, butter, chocolate, rice, …. etc. I think the best way to grill is with the good old charcoal way. However, we have an infrared grill
Speaking of Grilled Blackened Chicken…. What’s blackening? It’s a cooking technique used in the preparation of food like chicken or fish. The original way is to dip the food in melted butter and then sprinkled with a mixture of herbs and spices. Then, it goes into a hot pan. The characteristic brown color of the crust results from the charred spices.
I think the tricky part is to find the right ratio of the spices. Many times, when I had blackened food at the restaurants, all I tasted was the burnt spices and most of the time it’s just salty. So, I made my own. My spice rub has paprika, dried oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, light brown sugar, garlic powder and salt. This spice rub is also great on pork, fish or shrimp. Check out the Blackened Tilapia recipe!
I like serving grilled food with with some grilled veggies. But this time, I’d like to pair it with some Mango Salsa or Avocado Mango Salsa. It’s fresh, light, sweet, a little tangy and a little spicy. They fit together like a perfect marriage (or a date). 🙂
Let’s cook some food!
Prepare the perfect spice rub. In a small bowl, combine 2 teaspoons of paprika, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, ½ teaspoon of cumin, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 2 teaspoons light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Mix everything together.
Sprinkle the spice rub all over the chicken. I’m using chicken tenders, but you can do a whole chicken breasts or even wings. The rub should be good for 4 breasts and 14 chicken tenders.
Then grill on medium high heat. Don’t forget to brush the grill with some vegetable oil first to prevent it from sticking.
Grill the chicken tenders 3-4 minutes on each side until cooked through. For chicken breasts, 5-6 minutes on each side.
Serve with some Mango Salsa or Avocado Mango Salsa. Hope you give this Grilled Blackened Chicken recipe a try. Please let me know how it goes and if you have any tips on spice rub, I would love to hear from you. The recipe card and comment box are below.
- 4 chicken breasts or 14 chicken tenders
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- vegetable oil (to brush the grill)
- In a small bowl, combine paprika, dried oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, light brown sugar, garlic powder and salt. Mix everything together.
- Sprinkle the spice rub all over the chicken.
- Grill on medium high heat until cooked through. Don't forget to brush the grill with some vegetable oil first to prevent it from sticking. Chicken tenders take 3-4 minutes on each side. Chicken breasts take 5-6 minutes on each side.
- Serve with some Mango Salsa or Avocado Mango Salsa. Enjoy!
Going to try this tonight. Love your recipes!!
I am so happy to hear that Christian! Enjoy cooking. 🙂