With summer in full swing, the grills out, and people spending as much time outdoors as possible, we cannot have enough grilling recipes. Am I right?
This grilled plum and balsamic chicken checks all the boxes. It's sweet, slightly tangy, and made from freshly grilled plums. Put THAT on your chicken and grill it! It really is delicious.
I use the plums (black or red, but be aware that using black will result in a more berry-colored sauce), when they are just at their ripest before going over the edge. This means they are at their sweetest, and fullest of flavor. By giving them a light kiss on the grill, you get even more flavor out of them. Right before you pulverize them into a grill sauce made for summer.
Not to mention, no cooking! Other than P.D.A. of the plums and grill, you don't have to cook or reduce this sauce down, because its aaaall plum baby; and it cooks up quite nice right on the meat. That means zero time at your stove, which is a win on a hot day.
I used this sauce on chicken breast, but bone in pork chop ranks high on the yum factor, too. It also really works it on ribs.
A little cornstarch helps make the sauce really stick to the meat as its cooking, but you can go with a thinner version and leave it out. You may want to give it an extra basting or two if you decide to do this though. Otherwise, you'll just brush this over your meat-of-choice and baste on the grill as you would any barbecue or grill sauce. The more, the merrier.
Make sure to always let your meat rest before cutting into it to allow the juiciness to distribute and hit the meat with a last drizzle of balsamic vinegar before serving.
It's plumtastic!
Grilled Plum and Balsamic Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 plums red or black
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar plus more for finishing
- 5 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 medium shallot peeled
- 1 tbsp olive oil plus more for drizzling chicken
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt plus more for chicken
- 1/8 tsp white pepper plus more for chicken
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 3 tbsp sherry
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 4 chicken breasts
Instructions
- Prepare and heat charcoal or gas grill. (Or heat grill pan to medium high heat).
- Cut around each plum completely to the pit, all the way around. Twist to split in half. Cut out the pit remaining in the pitted halves.
- Grill each plum half for 2 to 3 minutes until dark grill marks appear.
- Add plums, and all ingredients to a food processor or blender of choice, and blend until completely smooth.
- Lay four chicken breasts on cutting board and drizzle with olive oil, and salt and pepper each side.
- Lightly baste chicken with plum sauce and place on hot grill. Cook about 10 minutes each side basting occasionally.
- Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, and no longer as this will result in dry chicken.
- Remove from grill, and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.
- Drizzle with additional balsamic vinegar.
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