Beer Marinated Chicken Thighs are so flavorful and delicious! Chicken thighs are marinated in beer, spices and grilled to perfection.
Who doesn’t like the sound of chicken marinated in beer?
Besides beer, these thighs marinate in a plethora of spices, lime juice and cilantro for a few hours before grilling to perfection. Beer in this recipe works as a tenderizer – not that thighs really need that or anything.
To Make These Beer Marinated Chicken Thighs You Will need:
- garlic
- ancho-chile pepper
- cumin
- cayenne pepper
- cinnamon
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- cilantro
- sesame seed oil
- fresh lime juice
- beer
- boneless skinless chicken thighs
Start off by using a garlic press, squeezing 3 garlic cloves directly into a large bowl. It should measure out to be about a teaspoon or two.
Next, measure and add, 1 teaspoon ancho Chile pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper.
Drizzle in 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil.
And add in 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro.
Squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Cut the rest of the lime into wedges and squeeze into your beer! That’s if you like that sort of thing. Me, personally, I LOVE that sort of thing.
Measure and pour in 1 cup of beer.
Watch it bubble and fizz.
Then whisk until all the spices are well mixed throughout.
Place the 2 pounds of chicken thighs into a large re-sealable bag or large bowl. I trim off any excess fat before I stick them in the bag.
Pour the marinade over the top.
Seal the bag and squish the chicken around to coat evenly. Place in the fridge to marinate for 2 hours, tossing around every now and again.
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.
Remove the chicken and discard the marinade. Lay the chicken on the grill grates and cover for a few minutes per side until cooked all the way through.
I love how the cilantro sticks to the chicken. Once the chicken is cooked, remove and let rest for a few minutes under foil. I have a recipe I’ll be posting this week showing you just how you can use this marinated chicken in some delicious soft tacos! Stay tuned!
Enjoy! And if you give this Beer Marinated Chicken Thighs recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Beer Marinated Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 2-3 cloves garlic, grated or squeezed through a garlic press
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 8 ounces beer
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs , or about 8
Instructions
- Combine the garlic, spices, cilantro, sesame seed oil, beer and lime juice into a medium sized bowl.
- Place chicken thighs in a re-sealable bag or a large bowl, pour the marinade over top and toss to coat. Seal and place into fridge for 2 hours.
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat, and place the chicken thighs onto the grates.
- Grill for 4-6 minutes per side {depending} until cooked thoroughly.
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Quick little editorial comment: Your written recipe says chicken breasts. I think you meant chicken thighs.
Phew! Good catch April!! Can I send you all my stuff to proof read?? I can't be trusted! LOL! thanks 😉
What beer did you use? I know you say any beer will do but there's a big difference between the flavours of a rich dark chocolate porter, amber ales, and corona… Just curious 🙂
You're absolutely right… I used a light beer… but now I'm curious on what a richer dark beer would taste like in this marinade… hmmm! I'll have to play around with that one! 🙂
That is terribly good..
Oh man, that sounds fantastic!!
Oh wow!!! Those look fantastic. You've made me a believer…to hell with the breast. Ok, well to be honest you had me at beer and by the time you got to the sesame oil I was going to leave my husband and switch teams! 😉
First timer here…can't wait to poke around some more. I already love what I see! Thanks for the inspiration!
Lots of yummy love,
Alex
my husband would love these! I totally agree, I've always stayed away from the dark meat but its really a shame to miss out! love your recipe and can't wait for your tacos!
Such lovely coloring once cooked, I love it. As always I really enjoy step by step pics.
Bookmarking right now! These look amazing! I love the marinade! I love my chicken breasts, but it is good to switch up and use thighs sometimes too!
This looks fantastic!
I love chicken thighs and make a big batch at the start of every week to eat for the whole week!
I never thought of using beer to marinate the chicken thighs…I'm going to try this recipe tomorrow 🙂
I just love chicken thighs and am sure I will give this recipe a try soon. Thanks for the step by step instructions.
YUM! I just finished eating this for dinner. It was storming outside so we pan fried it and it was quite very tasty. My husband used a stout beer that was delicious. We also had a strawberry vinegar salad that was a great contrast to the chicken. Thanks for sharing! I'm loving your blog!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I spooned a little dollop of sour cream on top and enjoyed every single bite. The thing I enjoyed to most while cooking the chicken was the aroma of the cinnamon. It was awesome! Next time I think I'll cut it up and use it for chicken tacos.
Chicken thighs are under utilized! This sounds like an awesome way to use up some of the thighs I have in the freezer
Marinade is so flavorful!! I put my thighs in the fridge in the morning and they were so tender!! I think I might try chicken breasts next time just to see how they turn out!!! I did use an IPA (Sierra Nevada) and it was great!!!
I have some bone-in chix breast (no thighs:/ ) marinating in this right now 🙂 Can't wait to try!
Tried it last night and the turned out awesome! They will be making an appearance next taco night.
Hi Simply Scratch!
I was wondering if I could feature your recipe on CraftBeer.com? CraftBeer.com is a website by the Brewers Association that works to educated people on craft beer (cooking with it, pairing with it, tasting it, etc.)
I would create a post similar to this one: http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/beer-and-food/recipes/recipes-list/show?title=
Wow making it this weekend, love that you can get this cut of meat so cheap, we need to keep this a secret if it tastes as good as it sounds it will be great, thanks for the recipe
This was absolutely delicious. After throwing the chicken on the grill I reduced/boiled the marinade and poured it over some toast (rice would have been nice too). Ate it all with Ina Garten's roasted carrots, subbing white pepper for black (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-carrots-recipe/index.html). I can't remember a home-made meal this good!
I made this last weekend. Our family is a tee-totalling family, but I have a few bottles of beer and a bottle of tequila and some cheap red wine for cooking. I had more than the specified amount of chicken so I doubled the spices, used a 12oz beer, 3 tablespoons of sesame oil (black sesame oil — my wife is Japanese Korean so we have lots of sesame oil in the house), and unfortunately had to use dried cilantro, not having fresh on hand. I also added 1 tablespoon of Hornitos Tequila, and 2 teaspoons of Agave Syrup to add a slight amount of sweetness. For beer I used a bottle of Kirin.
The wife really liked the chicken and I thought it was awesome as well. We used boneless skinless thighs from Costco. We are a “thigh loving” family anyway, and only ever buy thighs so that was perfect. The kids are in the “everything is gross” stage but the 4 year old said she liked it and ate a good amount. Our 9 year old ate what he had to to get dessert.
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Holy moly! I marinated my chicken over night in this delicious concoction and it was absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much! This is company worthy! I will be sharing this with friends for sure 🙂
I made this tonight for dinner. Really great flavor! Will definitely make again!
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I made these for dinner tonight – delicious!
I didn’t follow all of the measurements; added way more cilantro, way more sesame oil (maybe only a tbsp more), and used regular chili powder because I cannot find Ancho Chili Powder anywhere. They went really well with mashed sweet potatoes. This will definitely be a go-to recipe for me 🙂 Thanks!
Yay! So glad to hear it 🙂
Hello, your articles here Simply Scratch » Beer Marinated Chicken Thighs to write well, thanks for sharing!
Can I marinate it overnight? I have a big party to do and would like to marinate something overnight so I have one less thing to do
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99% of Mericans’ would rather eat white meat, for whatever reason I do not know. It always come out like crap *unless* you “velvet’ the cutlets. I learned about the sublime beauty of legs and thighs from Indian food, especially Tandoori Chicken, which cannot be done with anything but legs and thighs
This was sooooo crazy good!!! I used some gluten free beer and added turmeric (I add it to basically everything). I’m so glad I doubled the recipe because now I have tons of leftovers! We had these as tacos but honestly the chicken was so good on its own it probably would have been better over rice. Next time I’m definitely cooking down the marinade into a sauce. Yum!
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Loved this. Had to use parsley because I was out of cilantro and it was still a hit. Thank you for sharing.
I’m glad Erica!
Hi!!! New follower here with a quick question; could this be made without cinnamon, and not lose it’s integrity? I’m unfortunately allergic! ( I know, I weep for myself as well around the holidays)
Hi Sarah! Sorry for the delay. Yes! Omit it, you should be fine. Enjoy!
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I live by myself but I cook a lot. I very rarely use chicken breast for grilling. I use thighs, wings and legs. This recipe was right down my alley. I’ve had to ease up on the spices due to acid reflux so I used a lesser amount of them when making the marinade. I’m going to cook them tonight. I’ll let you know what I think.