This recipe of 15-minutes grilled chicken thighs rubbed with an incredible spice blend & paired up with creamy mashed potatoes is the best thing I came up with during this locked-down-work-from-home phase of our life!
I have something exciting for you today! Being a food blogger, I always make sure that I share only tried & tasted recipes so that you guys, my lovely readers, are not up to a failure while following them under any circumstances! Today’s 15-minutes grilled chicken recipe is another keeper from my kitchen to yours!
Starting from the complicated ones to the very simple dishes which barely need any recipe, I try to put out all my tips & tricks out there for you! With that same intention in mind, I came up with this super-quick dinner idea while making our own dinner on a super hectic work day!
This unbelievably flavorful grilled chicken thighs blew my mind away from the very first bite thanks to the spice blend! Pairing them up with creamy mashed potatoes gave the rustic grilled chicken thighs an elite edge! The flavor combination for these grilled chicken thighs took shape in my mind thanks to the time I had spent with spices till date!
The reason these grilled chicken thighs materialized is because of lack of time on hand and I wanted to eat something tasty as well as filling so that I wouldn’t have to worry about making something else soon enough! Sounds familiar?
This situation is very common these days given that kids are at home and always demanding something or the other and adults are almost always lurking by the computer or doing dishes in the kitchen! No matter which part of the world you are in, the picture is not very different in most of the homes!
During my day job, a significant amount of my time is spent on calls and neither can I nor I intend to cook during an on-going meeting, even if it is virtual! That’s simply because I have to keep my focus on the content being discussed and not on what’s getting sautéed on my skillet! Right?
So the question is, how did I come up with this superb spice-blend which transformed our weeknight dinner from simple to awesome and that too quickly? To be honest, I chalked out a formula for that! Don’t blame me! Being a data scientist, I prefer structural thinking! Yes, for my cooking too! 😉
So, for any chicken recipe of mine, garlic is indispensable! And I am not talking about one clove of garlic but serious garlic! But when you are pressed for time and don’t have grated garlic handy, best alternative is obviously garlic powder!
With garlic powder, comes onion powder! Com’on! They are inseparable neighbors in my freezer door and one complements the other! Next I have to add some heat to my grilled chicken thighs, hence enters cayenne pepper! Aromatics and heat done! Neat, ha?
Next I had to think of infusing flavors to my chicken thighs! The more depth of flavor, the more scrumptious the grilled chicken thighs will be! The very handy spice mix which I always keep in stock is Italian seasoning; it has saved my recipes on many occasions, more than I could have imagined!
This seasoning has the right balance of basil, thyme and oregano along with chilli flakes. But do note that different brands of Italian seasoning will vary slightly in taste. Try few brands available in your area and then stick to the one you liked!
After adding Italian seasoning, my culinary instinct was still not satisfied; it wanted something more! After few seconds of quick thought, my Indian brain kicked in and it pushed me to add a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin! And boy, I loved that!
If you don’t know already, we use ground cumin as well as whole cumin seeds in Indian recipes a lot and I love the nutty depth of flavor it adds to any dish. Our good old cumin didn’t disappoint here too! The blend of flavors of all these dry spices mingled beautifully and turned out to be perfect for the grilled chicken thighs!
Finally to round things up, I seasoned the dry rub with salt & pepper. Then just drizzle olive oil or in fact any vegetable oil (in case you have run out of olive oil just like me!) over the seasoned spices, give it a good whisk and your grilling spice mix is ready!
All you are left to do is to brush your chicken thighs generously with this spiced oil, leave to marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight, then light up the grill when you are ready and grill it to perfection! We freaked out on this so much that it repeated itself few times already!
I used chicken thigh fillets which are pretty thin and didn’t take more than 5 minutes per side to cook on a stove top grill pan over medium-high heat! For the beautiful grill marks, restrain from disturbing the chicken pieces once you place them on hot grill! Voila! Your 15-minutes grilled chicken thighs are ready for your hectic weeknight! Enjoy!
For the creamy mashed potato recipe, head to this page here!
- Chicken thighs – 500 gms (boneless & skinless)
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Pepper – ½ tsp
- Garlic powder – 1 tsp
- Onion powder – 1 tsp
- Cayenne pepper – 1 tsp
- Italian seasoning – 1 tsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tsp
- Olive oil – 4 tbsp
- Wash and pat dry the chicken thighs. Try to dry the thighs as much as possible. Lay them on a plate in single layer.
- Take all the ingredients listed under spice blend in a bowl and mix thoroughly using a small wire whisk or a fork making sure to make a uniform & thick spice mixture.
- Now brush this spice mix on top of the chicken thighs thoroughly coating all over. Flip the thighs over and brush the spice mixture on other side too.
- Ensure the chicken thighs are thoroughly coated with the spice blend including all the nooks and crannies. Transfer them to a bowl, cover with cling wrap and let them chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
- When you are ready to grill, take the chicken out of refrigerator at least 30 minutes prior to grilling.
- Heat a grill pan over high heat and brush some olive oil over it. When the pan is smoking hot, reduce the flame to medium and place the chicken thighs over the hot grill pan.
- Make sure the chicken thighs are on single layer and not on top of each other. Let the chicken thighs grill without disturbing them for 5 to 6 minutes. This will help develop the beautiful grill marks.
- Flip the chicken over after 6 to 7 minutes and let the other side grill for another 6 to 7 minutes. Check the doneness of the chicken by poking a fork or by cutting the edge with a knife. If there is no trace of pink, chicken is cooked through.
- It should not take more than 10 minutes per side to cook on medium flame, but adjust the time based on the thickness of the chicken pieces you are using.
- Take the grilled chicken thighs out and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Prepare the creamy mashed potatoes as per the recipe here. Serve the smoky & rustic grilled chicken thighs with creamy mashed potatoes on the side, a heavenly combination! Enjoy!
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