I finally finished making some drumsticks from chicken that I picked up this week, and they’re delicious! I am a sucker for southwest-inspired flavors, So cooking the meat in lime and cilantro was an obvious choice. The garlicky, savory marinade is infused into the chicken and makes delicious pan juices, which I poured over the rice. It’s safe to say I’ll be making the Cilantro lime chicken drumsticks shortly.
DO I HAVE TO USE DRUMSTICKS?
Do you not have drumsticks? It’s not a problem. It can work equally well with bone-in or boneless thighs. Although you can use breasts of chicken, I prefer the moist and juicy dark meat that bakes well. If you use breasts, I suggest crushing them thinly to increase the meat’s marinade ratio. Be sure not to cook the breasts over as they dry out quickly.
INGREDIENTS
Two tablespoons olive oil ($0.24)
Four cloves of garlic, chopped ($0.24)
1/2 teaspoon cumin ($0.10)
1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
Two limes ($0.66)
1/2 bunch cilantro ($0.40)
Six chicken drumsticks (about 1.75 lbs.) ($3.54)
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix oils, garlic, minced salt, cumin, and fresh cracked black pepper (about 10-15 milling cranks) in the bowl.
Use a zester, microplane, or a cheese grater with a small hole to eliminate the zest from the lime. Add one teaspoon of zest and about 3 Tbsp juice to the marinade. Marinade. Pull the cilantro leaves into 1/4-inch pieces and cut them into small pieces. The chopped cilantro is added to marinade and stir to mix. The remaining 1/4 of cilantro will be added following baking.
Transfer the marinade to a gallon zip-top bag. Then add the drumsticks of chicken. Seal the bag tight, massage the bag to mix, and then coat the chicken in the marinade. Then, let it sit for 30 minutes or more if you prefer, and turn the bag occasionally to distribute the marinade.
When ready to bake the chicken Bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken pieces in the casserole dish to ensure they’re all in a single layer, making sure not to overcrowd the container. Pour the remaining marinade you have in the bag over the chicken.
The chicken is baked for 40 to 45 minutes after basting it once or twice. To brown the chicken further, turn on the broiler after cooking and cook for about 2-4 minutes to ensure that the required browning level has been attained. The time to cook will depend on the size of the drumsticks as well as the amount of space they’ve tightly packed inside the dish. Utilize a meat thermometer to check that the meat is cooked to 160oF before you know it.
