Mojo Criollo Chicken

Carolina Q

Several years ago, on @cookn biker's recommendation, I bought a bottle of Goya Mojo Criollo, marinated some chicken thighs in it for about 4-5 hours and then egged them at 400° raised direct with some cherry wood for smoke.They were delicious and looked pretty good too. The cherry gives GREAT color!


I don't buy Goya any more because of the sodium, but today, I decided to mix up my own marinade and give it a whirl. It's been so long since I did the last batch, I don't really remember the taste, just that they were great! So are these. Mixed up the ingredients in my new Ninja Master Prep that I just bought due to @NecessaryIndulg recommendation. Thanks, Kristi! I didn't think to take a pic of the marinade, but it looked remarkably like Goya's version.

Anyway, here's today's effort. A few thighs and a split breast thrown in for good measure...
As I said, I don't really remember the last batch, but it could NOT have been any better than this! It was absolutely terrific! Served with sautéed asparagus and the last of the potato salad I made the other day.

Marinade recipe for anyone interested:

2/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
   OR use 1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange) if you can find it (I didn't try, I just used standard lemon and orange juice.)
10-12 garlic gloves
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend for 30 seconds and pour over chicken in zip bag. Marinate in fridge for 4-24 hours.

Hope you try it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks for lookin'! 

SmokingPiney

Chicken looks awesome!

Recipe - saved.

Well done, @Carolina Q !

stv8r

Wow the one's on the first pic look AMAZING!  Wish I had some right now lol

Florida Grillin Girl

First off, WOW, you cooked something!

Chicken looks good, Q. I'm glad you found a way to make the marinade instead of using the bottled stuff. I'm gonna try it, on your recommendation.

Carolina Q

SmokingPiney said:

Chicken looks awesome!

Recipe - saved.

Well done, @Carolina Q !

Thank you! Do yourself a favor and try this stuff. It really is a great marinade!

Carolina Q

stv8r said:

Wow the one's on the first pic look AMAZING!  Wish I had some right now lol

I don't remember, but I doubt if the chicken in the first pic tasted any better than the second. It's just been a while since I used the good camera. hahaha

SmokeyPitt

You found your mojo.  Looks great! 

Carolina Q

Florida Grillin Girl said:

First off, WOW, you cooked something!

Chicken looks good, Q. I'm glad you found a way to make the marinade instead of using the bottled stuff.

Smart a$$. I cook all the time. I just don't do it any more often than I have to. In this case, I have 5 pieces of delicious chicken. Good for a while.

Try the marinade, Faith. It really is delicious. And it would be cool to teach YOU something for a change!

Florida Grillin Girl

Ha Ha. Naaa, I've already done it. Just not postworthy, like yours is from your pics.

Seriously, the chicken looks delish.

Photo Egg

Really looks great. Like me some cherry wood.
really is fantastic looking chicken with the dark color.

Carolina Q

Photo Egg said:

Really looks great. Like me some cherry wood.
really is fantastic looking chicken with the dark color.

Thanks, my friend. It sure makes chicken (especially) look good! I'm glad I finally took the time to work out this recipe. It's a combo of a few Mojo Criollo recipes I found. Quite possibly my best chicken recipe!!

Eggdicted_Dawgfan

Heck yeah beautiful color on that chicken. Hard to believe there was leftovers!

Carolina Q

Eggdicted_Dawgfan said:

Heck yeah beautiful color on that chicken. Hard to believe there was leftovers!

hahaha, I ALWAYS plan for leftovers! 

Thanks!

Photo Egg

Carolina Q said:

Marinade recipe for anyone interested:

2/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
   OR use 1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange) if you can find it (I didn't try, I just used standard lemon and orange juice.)
10-12 garlic gloves
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend for 30 seconds and pour over chicken in zip bag. Marinate in fridge for 4-24 hours.

Hope you try it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks for lookin'! 

Is the lemon and orange juice fresh from the fruit?
Thanks

SmokingPiney

Photo Egg said:

Carolina Q said:

Marinade recipe for anyone interested:

2/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
   OR use 1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange) if you can find it (I didn't try, I just used standard lemon and orange juice.)
10-12 garlic gloves
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend for 30 seconds and pour over chicken in zip bag. Marinate in fridge for 4-24 hours.

Hope you try it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks for lookin'! 

Is the lemon and orange juice fresh from the fruit?
Thanks

Or organic and gluten free? 

Carolina Q

Photo Egg said:

Carolina Q said:

Marinade recipe for anyone interested:

2/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
   OR use 1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange) if you can find it (I didn't try, I just used standard lemon and orange juice.)
10-12 garlic gloves
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend for 30 seconds and pour over chicken in zip bag. Marinate in fridge for 4-24 hours.

Hope you try it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks for lookin'! 

Is the lemon and orange juice fresh from the fruit?
Thanks

Ideally, yes, of course. I used fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons) for what I did today, but I didn't have any oranges so I just used OJ from a carton. I would like find the sour orange mentioned in the recipe. That's fresh squeezed of course.

SmokingPiney

Carolina Q said:

Photo Egg said:

Carolina Q said:

Marinade recipe for anyone interested:

2/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
   OR use 1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange) if you can find it (I didn't try, I just used standard lemon and orange juice.)
10-12 garlic gloves
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend for 30 seconds and pour over chicken in zip bag. Marinate in fridge for 4-24 hours.

Hope you try it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks for lookin'! 

Is the lemon and orange juice fresh from the fruit?
Thanks

Ideally, yes, of course. I used fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons) for what I did today, but I didn't have any oranges so I just used OJ from a carton. I would like find the sour orange mentioned in the recipe. That's fresh squeezed of course.

OMG! 

You didn't use fresh squeezed oranges for the juice. I declare heresy.......

I won't go into the "organic" or "gluten free" properties of your recipe. 

Carolina Q

SmokingPiney said:

Carolina Q said:

Photo Egg said:

Carolina Q said:

Marinade recipe for anyone interested:

2/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
   OR use 1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange) if you can find it (I didn't try, I just used standard lemon and orange juice.)
10-12 garlic gloves
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend for 30 seconds and pour over chicken in zip bag. Marinate in fridge for 4-24 hours.

Hope you try it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks for lookin'! 

Is the lemon and orange juice fresh from the fruit?
Thanks

Ideally, yes, of course. I used fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons) for what I did today, but I didn't have any oranges so I just used OJ from a carton. I would like find the sour orange mentioned in the recipe. That's fresh squeezed of course.

OMG! 

You didn't use fresh squeezed oranges for the juice. I declare heresy.......

I won't go into the "organic" or "gluten free" properties of your recipe. 

Spare me...

NecessaryIndulg

"10-12 garlic cloves" . . .  SOLD! ✔️

KiterTodd

Love Mojo.  I don't mind the Goya, but home-made is better, as you know what's in it!  

Thanks for sharing.  Chicken looks great.  One question...

I love citrus marinades, but I'm always skeptical when I leave meat in lemon for too long as it can "cook" the meat and leave it kind of pastey.   Based on your results, I'm guessing the ratios here are meat texture came out as expected?

Anytime I'm on an island or even around home and Latin folks are grilling outside... I always smell the mojo.  It's the best grilled chicken smell around.

thetrim

That looks amazing!

Carolina Q

KiterTodd said:

Love Mojo.  I don't mind the Goya, but home-made is better, as you know what's in it!  

Thanks for sharing.  Chicken looks great.  One question...

I love citrus marinades, but I'm always skeptical when I leave meat in lemon for too long as it can "cook" the meat and leave it kind of pastey.   Based on your results, I'm guessing the ratios here are meat texture came out as expected?

Anytime I'm on an island or even around home and Latin folks are grilling outside... I always smell the mojo.  It's the best grilled chicken smell around.

When Molly told me about this stuff in the first place, she suggested marinating for 24 hours as I recall. I think I did only 4 hours for pic one (in 2010) and about 6 yesterday. Both results were excellent and I noticed nothing "off" at all. I doubt I'll ever do 24, but 4-6 worked well for me.

fishlessman

looks darn good, that recipe looks like a good dipping sauce as well. ive been doing my 24 hour chicken marinades for 6 hours lately on the counter, seems the warmer temp takes the marinade better, safety be damned

Carolina Q

fishlessman said:

looks darn good, that recipe looks like a good dipping sauce as well. ive been doing my 24 hour chicken marinades for 6 hours lately on the counter, seems the warmer temp takes the marinade better, safety be damned

Thanks. Good luck with the 6 hr chicken thing.

johnnyp

looks great, thanks for sharing

fishlessman

Carolina Q said:

fishlessman said:

looks darn good, that recipe looks like a good dipping sauce as well. ive been doing my 24 hour chicken marinades for 6 hours lately on the counter, seems the warmer temp takes the marinade better, safety be damned

Thanks. Good luck with the 6 hr chicken thing.

its even better done on top of the fridge

Carolina Q

fishlessman said:

Carolina Q said:

fishlessman said:

looks darn good, that recipe looks like a good dipping sauce as well. ive been doing my 24 hour chicken marinades for 6 hours lately on the counter, seems the warmer temp takes the marinade better, safety be damned

Thanks. Good luck with the 6 hr chicken thing.

its even better done on top of the fridge

JNDATHP

There's a Spanish mojo that we like as well - not as much naranja. We also like to put some cilantro paste in ours. 

Nicely done!

Carolina Q

JNDATHP said:

There's a Spanish mojo that we like as well - not as much naranja. We also like to put some cilantro paste in ours. 

Nicely done!

Thanks. I'd like to find some Naranja Agria. I've never seen it, but then, I've never looked either. Latin markets are few and far between around here. Still, lemon and orange made a delicious marinade so I'm good, even if I can't find any.

Eggcelsior

Carolina Q said:

JNDATHP said:

There's a Spanish mojo that we like as well - not as much naranja. We also like to put some cilantro paste in ours. 

Nicely done!

Thanks. I'd like to find some Naranja Agria. I've never seen it, but then, I've never looked either. Latin markets are few and far between around here. Still, lemon and orange made a delicious marinade so I'm good, even if I can't find any.

Just keep making it fresh. It's better.

ThrasherIII

have you tried this with the skinless thighs?