El Pollo Loco Grilled Chicken Recipe That Makes Mouths Water

The best version of El Pollo Loco grilled chicken recipe! This recipe was inspired by the grilled chicken served up in Sinaloa Mexico. Made famous by El Pollo Loco restaurants, now you can cook these mouthwatering morsels in the backyard of your own home…

El Pollo Loco Grilled Chicken Recipe

Mexican Style Marinade

Marinade Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 Cup lime juice
• 1/4 Cup orange juice
• 1/4 Cup pineapple juice
• 2 tsp ancho chile powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1-2 pinches safflower
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander (cilantro seed)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced

That’s a lot of ingredients – and a lot of great flavor! Grab a large enough bowl, and mix all of the wet ingredients separately, mix, and then add the dry ingredients. Whisk everything together.

For this grilled chicken recipe you will need a halved chicken. You can either get one pre-halved, or do it yourself.

Put the chicken halves in a zip lock bag. Pour the marinade into the bag, until the chicken is fully submerged. Seal the bag and move it around, to cover the chicken fully. Place in the fridge for 24 hours.

Grilling the Chicken

Time to fire up the grill! Set it up for cooking in the 350ºF range, preparing for 2-zone cooking.

Place the chicken halves away from the heat, and close the lid. Cook to a core temperature of 145ºF. At this point, rotate the chicen, so the other side faces toward the heat source, so you get even color.

Cook until core temperature hits 165ºF in the thigh and 161ºF in the breast. Pull the El Pollo Loco grilled chicken off the heat, and rest for ~10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

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