Marinated Grilled Chicken Legs

Our local grocery store had chicken legs on sale this week. Usually, I'm kinda stumped when it comes to chicken legs, but I remembered my friend, Claire had just posted this recipe on her blog not so long ago. How fortuitous! I had something new to do with chicken legs and an inexpensive dinner idea. Score!!!

Marinated Grilled Chicken Legs
From: Cooking Light, June 2005; By: Marie Meyer

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons basil oil
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
8 chicken drumsticks (about 2 1/4 pounds), skinned
Cooking spray
Green onion strips (optional)

Directions:
Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Remove chicken from bag, reserving marinade. Place reserved marinade in a small saucepan; cook over medium heat 3 minutes. Place chicken on grill coated with cooking spray; grill 30 minutes or until chicken is done, turning and basting occasionally with reserved marinade. Garnish with green onion strips, if desired.



The Result:
This marinade was fantastic! Seriously, these were probably the best chicken legs I have ever made. The marinade could be applied to other chicken pieces, I'm sure; but it was great on the legs. Admittedly, my two little chicken legs look kinda forlorn and misshapen sitting in the glass dish all by themselves. We had plated up our dinner and I almost forgot to take a photo. Rather than hold everyone up I decided to snap a quick pic of the remaining chicken legs...which were not the beauties of the bunch. They may have looked a crazy, but they tasted awesome!