Grilled Curried Yogurt Chicken Thighs

Jazz up your chicken with these Grilled Curried Yogurt Chicken Thighs. They add a new flavor dimension and look to your regular grilled chicken recipe. Give them a try this week, the marinade makes them delicious!

Big question…do you all use marinades in the kitchen? Do you gravitate towards a store-bought version or do you prefer making your own?

Let’s face it, marinades are an easy way to make the most of your time, by adding loads of flavor to a dish, without much work from you. Basically, while a marinade is hard at work, you are doing something else. I like to think of it as teamwork.

And marinades are all about timing. Seafood should not be left in an acidic marinade for an extended period, while chicken and beef can handle a more extensive marinade time. My Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Marinade is perfection after sitting in its marinade for a minimum of 8 hours. However, my Spicy Chicken Thighs with Apricots and Olives requires a full 24 hours to take on the full flavor the marinade has to offer.

To make the marinade for these Grilled Curried Yogurt Chicken Thighs, it starts with sauteing onions, ginger and a serrano chile pepper. After this mixture has softened, I stir in and toast the curry powder. Toasting curry increases the complexity and availability of the curry flavor since volatile oils are released by the heat.

After the mixture is pureed in your food processor, you’ll massage it into your chicken thighs and let it set for a minimum of 4 hours. You could do this in a large, resealable bag or in a Pyrex dish, as you see here.

Something to keep in mind, since this chicken is cooked on the grill, low and slow, you do not want the chicken to be ice cold when it’s hitting the grill plates. Make sure you remove the chicken from the refrigerator and give it plenty of time to warm up before placing on the barbecue.

It kind of looks weird seeing all this yellow, but trust me, it’s a good thing. However, this chicken is not something you can throw on the grill over high heat and walk away. It takes a little more babysitting

I turned two of my grill plates down to low after preheating and left only one grill plate on high during the cooking process. The chicken takes about 40 minutes to cook and requires some rotating and flipping. Only at the end of the process did I turn up the flame on all the plates and finish them off completely.

These Grilled Curried Yogurt Chicken Thighs are perfect for an outdoor get-together, where your resident grill master is tending to the chicken, sipping a beer and entertaining friends. I know a lot of guys who would fall into that roll quite nicely. Can you picture it?

Have a large pot of rice and your favorite veggie ready to serve when this chicken comes off the grill. I made my 5-Minute Spicy Lemon Broccoli as a side dish with this chicken and it’s a perfect combination.

The perfect plate! Serve it up and make the best of your summer and Fall grilling. This chicken is absolutely company-worthy.