Sweet Heat Marinade for Grilled Chicken

In the South you really only have two seasons... HOT and cool. Other regions call it Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. So you'll find that most southerners grill year round. Fortunately for us, our grill is just off our kitchen on our screened in deck. Even if it is around the freezing degree mark, it's still comfortable to grill.

One of our favorite things to grill during the week is chicken. If we have any for leftovers, we make salads or chicken sandwiches. And there are so many different fun and easy marinades for chicken; some of our favorites can be found over at Plain Chicken.

Our go to, and ultimate favorite, is this sweet heat marinade concoction that we made back when we were dating. My dad always marinades his chicken in Italian dressing, but I love the taste of BBQ sauce mixed with it. And while those two are delicious together. Adding a few more key ingredients takes this simple marinade to a whole new level. It's sweet and has just the right about of heat. There won't be a bite left on your plate, I promise!

Something that is important to know is I'm not what you would call a food blogger and here's why — I don't measure anything. That is unless I'm following someone else's recipe. And even then I eye ball it and will add more or less for what it calls for. A little extra cheese or sour cream never hurt anyone. Ha! So when I posted this video on my social media and people started asking for the recipe, I just told them what you see is the recipe... I didn't measure anything.

Thankfully Stephanie over at Plain Chicken knows how I am in the kitchen. And she's planning on making this marinade this weekend. (Hopefully she will have a post up soon with detailed measurements for you!) But, until she does... here is how I make my sweet heat marinade.

This is for 2-3 large chicken breasts...
• equal parts of Italian dressing and your favorite BBQ sauce (about a cup each)
• about a 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
• about a tablespoon of chili powder
• about a tablespoon of red pepper flakes

I pour half to three fourths of the mixture over the chicken breasts and let them soak about an hour to two hours before grilling in a ziplock bag. Once the grill is ready and the chicken is on, Terry uses the rest of the marinade in the bowl to coat the chicken while he is grilling.

Serve with your favorite side(s)... we usually have loaded mashed potatoes and cajun green beans. This time we had homemade mac and cheese!

I promise you this, you can't really mess up this marinade. If you want more heat, add more red pepper flakes. If you want more sweet, add more brown sugar. The possibilities are endless!

Happy grilling, y'all!!