Grilled Balsamic Chicken

AP exams start next week and I should be studying but instead I spent Saturday at the Virginia Beach boardwalk with Keisha and Maddie, eating funnel cake and making plans we'll probably never keep. 'We should get an apartment together,' Keisha said, which is what people say when they're eighteen and haven't priced apartments. I checked Zillow once. A one-bedroom in Norfolk costs more than my future monthly salary at whatever communications job I eventually get. I closed the app and ate more funnel cake. Senioritis is real and it is consuming me. I have a paper due in history that I haven't started, a calculus problem set that makes me want to set things on fire, and exactly zero motivation to do any of it. The only class I care about anymore is AP English, where Mr. Patterson is having us read 'The Glass Castle' by Jeannette Walls, which is about a girl who grew up chaotic and transient and made something of herself anyway. I feel seen in a way that's uncomfortable. I've been thinking a lot about what 'home' means. For military kids, home is a loaded word. It's not where you live — you live everywhere and nowhere. It's not where you're from — I was born in Norfolk but I've lived in five states. When people at school ask 'Where are you from?' I never know what to say. From Norfolk? From wherever the Navy sent us? From the backseat of a minivan somewhere on I-95 between duty stations? Home is Mom's kitchen. That's the answer I keep coming back to. Home is the smell of onions in butter and the sound of the exhaust fan and the way the light comes through whatever window happens to be above whatever sink we happen to be using that year. Speaking of Mom's kitchen: she made fried chicken tonight. Not the fancy buttermilk-brined kind that food blogs go crazy over. Donna Abernathy fried chicken: seasoned flour (salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and 'a little cayenne if you're feeling brave'), chicken pieces dipped in egg wash, dredged in flour, and fried in a cast iron skillet with an inch of vegetable oil. The cast iron skillet is the one non-negotiable item in every move. I have watched movers wrap china cabinets and bedroom sets and once an entire piano, but Mom wraps the cast iron skillet herself, in her own towels, in her own suitcase. It goes in the car, not the truck. The skillet is family. The chicken was perfect. It's always perfect. Crispy outside, juicy inside, and the kitchen smells like a grandmother's house — not any specific grandmother, just the Platonic ideal of grandmother's house that exists in the collective unconscious. Dad ate four pieces and told Mom she should open a restaurant. She said, 'I already run one. It's called this house.' Which is the most savage and accurate thing she's ever said. Six weeks. I should study. I'm going to eat leftover chicken instead.

Some recipes aren’t just food — they’re proof that home can be rebuilt anywhere, as long as the cast iron skillet makes it into the car. After six weeks of feeling like a guest in my own life, watching Mom work through that flour-dusted routine felt like the most grounding thing I’d witnessed since we arrived. If you want to understand what I mean by that — by the smell, the sound, the way it just works — here’s exactly how she does it.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons light brown sugar (packed, or to taste)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to a uniform thickness (boneless chicken thighs may be substituted)
Fresh herbs for garnishing (optional — parsley, basil, mint, cilantro, etc.)

Instructions

Marinate the chicken. To a large ziptop bag, add all the ingredients through and including the chicken, seal the bag, and squish the chicken around to evenly coat it. Alternatively, you may use a large mixing bowl for marinating the chicken, flip it around well, and seal it with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate. Place the chicken in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours. While 1 hour is fine, it’s the bare minimum. Aim for 2–3 hours for best results. This isn’t the type of marinade you’d want to let sit overnight though because it’s fairly acidic, which isn’t great for the chicken texture.
Preheat the grill. When you’re ready to grill, oil the grill grates to prevent sticking, and preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter about 15 minutes prior to grilling (basically while the grill is preheating) because it will cook more evenly. For nice grill marks, make sure your grill has been properly preheated and that you’re not starting with a cold or lukewarm grill.
Grill the first side. Place the chicken on the grill, discard the marinade, close the grill lid, and grill for about 5 minutes. Be very careful controlling the heat output and temperature of your grill. It’s better to go lower and slower, so take care that your grill isn’t too hot.
Flip and finish. Flip the chicken and grill for another 4–5 minutes. Flip one last time, cooking for just a minute, or until the chicken is done. Chicken is done when it reaches 160°F; allow it to rest on a plate for 5–10 minutes and the internal temp will rise to 165°F, which is the safe consumption temperature. If the chicken is sticking and doesn’t want to flip, give it another 1–2 minutes — when protein is closer to being done, it will release easier than when it’s raw. Because all grills vary, temperatures vary, and the thickness of the chicken varies, grill your chicken for as long as necessary until it’s done. The minutes per side are just estimates; watch your chicken, not the clock.
Rest and serve. Allow the chicken to rest for 5–10 minutes to lock in the juices before optionally garnishing with fresh herbs, or sprinkle red pepper flakes for more heat and/or add salt and pepper to taste. Slice and serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Grilled Balsamic Chicken — Because Home Is Wherever the Skillet Lands