Grill-Grate Chicken in Citrus Mustard
A car-camp marinade you mix at home, pour over chicken in a bag, and grill over the fire ring.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 8 oz
- cal / oz
- 53
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 14 min
- total time
- 24 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts | 2-3 lbs | thighs forgive an uneven fire |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Apple cider vinegar | 2 tbsp | |
| Whole grain mustard | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic | 2 cloves, minced | |
| Lime | 1, juiced | |
| Lemon | 1, juiced | |
| Brown sugar | 1/4 cup | coconut sugar works the same |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- At home, whisk oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, both juices, sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour it over the chicken in a heavy zip bag, press the air out, and lay it flat in the cooler. Four to eight hours is right. Overnight is too long once citrus is involved.
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. Set the grate over them and wait until you can hold a hand at grate height for about three seconds.
- Lift the chicken out and let the excess marinade drip off. What clings is enough. What pours off flares.
- Grill 6-7 minutes a side, turning once. Thighs go longer than breasts. Cut into the thickest piece; no pink, juices clear.
- Rest it on foil five minutes before cutting. Ball up the foil and pack it out.
This started as a home grilling marinade and needed almost nothing changed for a car camp, because everything in it is already shelf-stable except the chicken. The oil carries the garlic and pepper onto the meat, the sugar gives you browning over coals that a lean acid marinade never would, and the mustard seeds hang on through the fire instead of rinsing off.
The citrus is the part with a clock on it. Lemon and lime juice cook the surface of the meat chemically, and past a day you get chalky, grainy chicken. Bag it in the morning, grill it that evening. Draining the marinade before it hits the grate matters too: sugar and oil dripping into coals means flare-ups and a black crust over raw middle.
Packing
Mix the marinade at home into a small screw-top bottle, or bag the chicken in it before you leave. Double-bag either way; citrus and mustard leak, and a cooler that smells like vinegar for a week is its own punishment.
Variations
- Skip the meat and put the same marinade on thick portobello slabs or halloumi if your cooler is holding.
- Grill lemon halves cut-side down alongside and squeeze them over at the end.
- No fire ring: a foil packet on a canister stove works, but you trade char for steam.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/grilled-chicken-marinade-recipe