Super-Easy Garlic Cajun Chicken

One of my favorite jobs here at Carolina Sauce is tasting new products and working with them in my kitchen, coming up with new ways to enjoy different sauces, seasonings and condiments. Greg sometimes gets in on the fun, as was the case yesterday when he made grilled chicken using one of our newest products, The Distillery Garlic Cajun Wing Sauce. Yes, this sauce is really a Buffalo style wing sauce, but from the moment I first tasted it I could tell that it would work really well as a marinade and basting sauce, too. So at my suggestion, Greg put some fresh chicken drumsticks I had picked up at Whole Foods into a gallon-size resealable plastic bag and poured in enough Garlic Cajun Wing Sauce to thoroughly coat the chicken. He sealed the bag, shook it to evenly distribute the sauce, and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to marinate. Then in the evening he fired up the grill, cooked the chicken over indirect heat, and we enjoyed some of the juiciest, tastiest, garlicky chicken we've ever had. The reason this wing sauce works so well as a marinade and grilling sauce is because the margarine helps to keep the chicken moist while the vinegar adds a nice tang and helps the garlic, pepper and other spices penetrate the chicken for rich flavor in every bite. The little bits of garlic provide a nice texture, and the grilling process keeps the spiciness at a pleasantly mild to barely medium level so your mouth won't burn.

Although Greg used chicken drumsticks and the grill to make this Garlic Cajun Chicken, I'm sure it would work well with chicken thighs, breasts, and of course wings. Likewise, you can probably use your oven or broiler to cook the chicken, instead of the grill. The key is to allow the chicken to marinate in the Garlic Cajun sauce for at least a couple of hours so that the flavors can penetrate the flesh and get sealed in. Although I didn't have time to make some rice yesterday, ideally I would have served the chicken on a bed of white or brown rice. You can serve with more of the Distillery Garlic Cajun Wing Sauce on the side or poured over the cooked chicken (definitely don't use the same sauce you marinated the chicken in - make sure you discard that); however, we found that the grilled chicken was sufficiently juicy and "saucy" that we didn't need to serve with more sauce from the bottle.

If you enjoy garlic and rich, savory flavors, I highly recommend the versatile Distillery Garlic Cajun Wing Sauce, even if you don't eat chicken wings!

Zestfully yours,
Gloria