Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs

When you think summer time, you can’t help but think of grilling and the plentiful array of meat, veggie, and seafood recipes that comes with the territory. But when summer brings days over 100 degrees, standing next to a hot grill sounds less than appealing. Today was one such day.

When I found this recipe rated as one of Cooking Light’s reader favorites, it suggested preparing it by broiling it. I was going to tweak it by grilling it, but (as noted above), man, is it hot outside! And then when our AC decided to go kaput, there’s no way I’m turning on my oven. But the recipe must go on, right? I ended up cooking it on the stove top, pairing it with some boiled potatoes and steamed veggies.

Ingredients: (Serves 2) 
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. ground red pepper 
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
cooking spray
3 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. cider vinegar

Combine garlic, chili powder, salt, cumin, paprika and red pepper in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly, and then toss in chicken thighs, one at a time, thoroughly coating each one. Coat your skillet with cooking spray and set to a medium heat. Add coated chicken to the skillet, cooking 5-6 minutes on each side (until mostly cooked through).

Combine honey and vinegar, and brush mixture onto top of chicken before flipping chicken again. Cook for one minute, searing in flavors, while coating remaining honey vinegar mix on the reverse side. Flip chicken one last time, searing the other side, cooking for one more minute.

I still want to try this on the grill, but I am so happy I stumbled across this recipe. This is going to be one of our standards from here on out.

Happy cooking!

KSP


(Click here for printable recipe)