In my last post, I mentioned that my mom recently celebrated her birthday and this dish was part of her birthday dinner. This recipe was definitely improvised as most of my recipes are but thankfully this one turned out well. After I prepped and cleaned the chicken, I searched my fridge for seasonings and that’s when I saw it. Wegman’s Peruvian-style Marinade. I had bought this back in December 2020 and used it as a marinade for ribs, but on the side of the jar it says “best with chicken.” So here we are. I massaged 2 tbsp of the marinade along with a few other seasonings into the chicken, covered it, and let it marinate in the fridge for an hour. This seasoned 6lbs of chicken thighs (10 pieces), I cooked half of that and let the rest marinate for two days. If you can let the chicken marinate for longer please do because the flavor really sinks deeper into the chicken.
After marinating, the chicken is fried on both sides, then baked at 400 degrees for 15mins, lightly basted with Sweet Baby Ray’s Original Barbecue Sauce, and finally broiled. I know it seems like a lot to do but the total cooking time is about 45 minutes (without the sauce) and it’s worth every minute. Now you can stop here if you want but I like a nice sauce spooned over the chicken and on the sides. If you’re the same then I included steps to make a delicious sauce that pairs well with the chicken.
So let’s get to cooking. Hope you have fun and enjoy it!
Servings: 10 | Estimated Cook Time: 45 to 55 minutes
Ingredients
6lbs Chicken Thighs Bone-In
1cup White Vinegar
2tbsp Wegmans Peruvian-style Marinade
1tbsp Barbecue Sauce (per chicken)
1tbsp Adobo
1tsp Black Pepper
1tsp Chili Powder
1tsp Onion Powder
2tbsp Cooking Oil
Steps
1. Defrost chicken, remove any excess skin/fat from the chicken and wash the chicken with equal parts vinegar and water. Pat dry.
2. Massage the marinade, adobo, black pepper, chili powder, and onion powder into the chicken to evenly coat. Marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight if possible.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While preheating the oven, heat cooking oil in a large frying pan.
4. When hot place marinated chicken in the pan and fry for 5 minutes on each side until browned. Turn off heat.
5. Transfer the chicken to an oven-safe baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes carefully drain any juices/liquid from the chicken into a small bowl or container. (That liquid will be used later in making the sauce).
6. Before returning to the oven baste the chicken with barbecue sauce and bake for another 15 minutes.
7. Next switch the oven from bake to a low broil and cook until the barbecue sauce begins to thicken. Est. Time: 5mins. (This will vary depending on your oven so be sure to check regularly).
8. Serve with your choice of sides. Enjoy!
Sauce
Let’s get saucy. This sauce is made in the same pan we fried the chicken in so it will be the perfect accompaniment.
Ingredients
¼ Onion
1 Jalapeno (Deseeded)
1tbsp Ketchup
1tbsp Barbecue Sauce
1tbsp Sugar
1 cup Water
1stalk Thyme
1tsp Salt & Black Pepper
1 tsp Cornstarch
Steps
1. Heat the same frying pan used in Step 4 above over medium heat. Thinly slice the onion, deseed the jalapeno, and slice lengthwise.
2. Add the onion and jalapenos to the heated pan and cook until onions are lightly browned.
3. Next add water, the juices/liquid (from Step 5), and the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Be sure to get the fond (the leftover browned bits from frying the chicken) and incorporate.
4. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened about 10-15 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.
TIP: If you want to make more sauce, just double the ingredients so instead of using 1cup of water use 2cups, 2tbsp ketchup, and so forth. Enjoy!
