Tequila Marinated Chicken Thighs

I recently bought a bottle of tequila to make a batch of margarita cupcakes (which were a fail, by the way :/), but I really only needed a few tablespoons, so I had pretty much a full bottle sitting around. I *really* just wanted to make a blender full of potent margaritas with it, but I can't handle a tequila hangover during the week, so I marinated some chicken in the boozy goodness instead.

Ohhhh, such a good idea! This chicken came out super tender and flavorful. I upped the amount of tequila from the 2 Tablespoons called for in the original recipe to 4 Tablespoons - I wanted to make sure the tequila flavor would come through in the cooked chicken. This was definitely a good choice--we could taste the tequila, but it didn't overwhelm the rest of the flavors.

I have to admit a bit of a flub on my point though. I didn't check the amount of charcoal I had on hand before getting started. When I went to fire up the grill my charcoal bag had maybe 10 briquettes in it! I didn't have time to go buy more, so I tried to make do with what I had. Yeah, that didn't work; the grill didn't get hot enough to cook the chicken. After about 10 minutes on the grill, the meat all had nice grill marks, but was still completely raw, so I cranked the broiler up to high and threw the chicken in there to finish cooking. Annoying, but a good solution to my dilemma. :)

Tequila-Marinated Chicken Thighs
Source: Adapted from The Mexican Cookbook
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
12-15 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
11 garlic cloves, finely chopped
juice of 2 limes, plus 1/2 a lime
juice of 1 orange
4 Tablespoons tequila
1 Tablespoon New Mexico chili powder
1 Tablespoon chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cumin
3-4 springs oregano, leaves stripped from the stems
2 teaspoons pepper

Directions
Pour all of the ingredients, except for the half lime, in a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken and turn the bag to coat.

Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat the barbecue until hot. Cook the chicken, turning once, until cooked all the way through (165 degrees).

Remove from grill and let sit, covered, for about 5 minutes to reabsorb the juices.

Squeeze the juice of the remaining half a lime over the chicken and serve.