I am tremendously excited to present Chimichurri Chicken to you today as the introduction to my brand new partnership with Shenandoah Valley Organic and their family of brands: Red Wheelbarrow, Blue Ridge Trail, and Farmer Focus. I am thrilled to partner with SVO because their chicken is the best commercially grown chicken I’ve ever tasted. While they are sponsoring this post, all opinions, recipes, and photography remain -as always- my own.
Daylight Savings Time is upon us! It’s time to shake off the winter hours of nightfall at 6pm and start getting a little more sunshine in our lives. It isn’t quite time to hear the peepers and watch for buds on the trees in our neck of the woods yet, but you can almost hear spring creeping up on us and I don’t mind one little bit. Because I’m itching for a little spring, my food tends to reflect my desire for the green to start bursting forth.
Right now I’m all about abundant herbs brightening up my table, and the most perfect way to get an heroic amount of herbs into your diets is with that flavour-explosion delivered by the Argentinian classic sauce: chimichurri. Chimichurri is simply herbs, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and some various odds and ends blended together to form the most wonderful and intensely green marinade and sauce. My current favourite way to serve this fabulous south-of-the-equator specialty is in the form of Chimichurri Chicken.
Our chimichurri sauce serves double duty in Chimichurri Chicken. First, we take all of that intense herbal and garlic taste and infuse the chicken with it. It’s as easy as pouring about half of the sauce into a zipper top bag or container with the chicken, squishing it around, and letting it rest in the refrigerator for anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours.
After the Chimichurri Chicken is cooked, the reserved half of the chimichurri sauce is served alongside as the world’s best condiment. Drizzled over or used as a dip for the Chimichurri Chicken, there’s just nothing that can compare with the bright green springy goodness of this dish. And honestly, while everyone else may be fawning over corned beef, I’m going to have some chicken wearing green at my house instead for St. Patrick’s Day.
If you’re serving a flavourful, fresh, fabulous sauce, you want it to go on equally wonderful chicken, and I’m so happy to have discovered Shenandoah Valley Organic chicken at my local Aldi. Not only is it certified organic chicken for almost the same price as conventionally grown chicken at most retailers, but it’s easily the best commercially grown chicken I’ve ever eaten. I mean every single word I just said. I don’t know how they do it.
Maybe it’s the attention to detail and the the fact that the farmers in their cooperative own their own chickens rather than raising them for a big company. Maybe it’s that on their Farmer Focus brand bags, you can actually see exactly on which farm that particular chicken was raised. That they not only know on which farm every single chicken was raised, but they’re willing to tell the consumers tells me volumes about the care they use in raising these birds. That care must be part of the reason the chicken is so darned good.
I get my SVO Red Wheelbarrow Chicken at Aldi, but their fine products are also widely available at other retailers as the Blue Ridge Trail brand or Farmer Focus. You can visit their Store Locator to find retailers near you. Try them all, they’re worth it!
Do you want more fantastic recipes to make with SVO’s amazing chicken tenders? Try Oven Fried Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Boneless Buffalo Wings, Zesty Baked Chicken Tenders, Creamy Salsa Chicken Tenders, Cheddar Bacon Ranch Chicken Tenders, Honey Garlic Crunch Chicken Tenders, One Pot Lightened Up Chicken Parmesan, and Honey Sriracha Glazed Chicken Bites.
Cook’s Notes
- The easiest way to prepare your chimichurri -by far- is in a blender. Doing so prevents the need to be surgical in your removal of herb stems because they pack a great deal of flavour and will be obliterated to the same texture as everything else by the whirling blade. A food processor is a decent substitute. This has the added advantage of being able to chop the herbs IN the oil and vinegar and with the spices. I’m convinced this infuses the flavours more easily.
- If you don’t have a blender or food processor, you can most certainly prepare the chimichurri with a knife. Simply chop the ever-loving daylights out of your herbs before stirring in the oil, vinegar, spices, and salt.
- It is best not to marinate your chicken longer than 2 hours because there is vinegar in the chimichurri and that can start chemically cooking the chicken which might leave you with mealier chicken than you want at the end of the actual cooking process.
- I use either an actual grill or a grill pan to cook my Chimichurri Chicken. Either will do the job well. The added little bit of deliciousness the real-deal grill imparts is wonderful if you have one available. I’ve included instructions for using both in the recipe.
Use this to make Chimichurri Chicken
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Chimichurri Chicken
Ingredients
Chimichurri Sauce:
- 1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves and tender stems
- 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 1 green onion trimmed of most of the white part
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic peeled
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
For the Chimichurri Chicken:
- 2 pounds chicken tenders
- 1/2 of a batch of Chimichurri Sauce
To Serve:
- remaining half of the chimichurri sauce
Instructions
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Add all of the ingredients for the chimichurri sauce to a blender or food processor and blend until the herbs are finely chopped and it is evenly green. Pour half of the sauce into a re-sealable, gallon sized, zipper top bag. Add the chicken to the zipper top bag. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible and squish the bag around to evenly coat the chicken tenders with the chimichurri. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes but up to 2 hours.
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Pour the remaining sauce into a jar, lid tightly, and leave at room temperature to allow the flavours to meld and marry.
To Cook the Chicken on a Grill Pan:
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Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat. Spritz with non-stick cooking spray. Use tongs to arrange the chicken tenders in a single layer on the grill pan, taking care not to crowd the pan. Divide the chicken into more than one batch if necessary. Grill the chicken for 5 minutes on the first side. Flip the chicken and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on the second side, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F, depending on the thickness of your chicken tenders. Transfer to a plate and let rest for 3 minutes before serving with remaining chimichurri sauce on the side.
To Grill Chimichurri Chicken:
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Preheat a gas grill to medium high heat. Rub the grill with a paper towel soaked in neutral oil. Grill the chicken for 5 minutes on the first side. Flip the chicken and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on the second side, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F, depending on the thickness of your chicken tenders. Transfer to a plate and let rest for 3 minutes before serving with remaining chimichurri sauce on the side.
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