Grilled Ras El Hanout Chicken

Name: Grilled Ras El Hanout Chicken
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 4 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts; Ras El Hanout Spice Mix:; 1 Tsp Ginger; 1 Tsp Cumin; 1 Tsp Turmeric; 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon; 1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder; 1/2 Tsp Onion Powder; 1/2 Tsp Allspice; 1/2 Tsp Coriander; 1/2 Tsp Nutmeg; 1/2 Tsp Smoked Paprika; 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper; 1/4 Tsp Cloves; 1/4 Tsp Mace (optional); Dash of Cayenne Pepper (optional); Zest of 1 Lemon; Harissa Sauce (topping)

Published: Jul 20, 2016 · Modified: Apr 13, 2019 by Rebecca Pytell · This post may contain affiliate links.

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With an essential Moroccan spice blend, Grilled Ras El Hanout Chicken will become a new favorite healthy dinner recipe to throw on the grill. Gluten-free, paleo, and Whole 30 approved, entice the senses of smell and taste with this exotic dish.

The great grilled chicken recipes never have to stop! I'm still seeing people complain about sad, dry, grilled chicken, maybe flavored with some salt and pepper. Do they know that life does not have to be so plain and lackluster? If you're going to eat meat, let's not "butcher" it further by the way we cook it. That may have to be my new mission in life. End the sad, dry, tasteless chicken and bring flavor back to the family dinner table!

Trust me, my friends, it does not need to be so sad! Chicken is that blank-slate protein I always talk about. It becomes the spices, herbs, marinate, whatever you use. That's the first step. Ditch the salt and pepper and bring on the exotic "palate-intriguing" flavors! It's like vanilla ice cream. Great, but we can make it so much better!

I was actually pretty shocked the other day when my brother requested I only season his piece of salmon with some pepper...that was it! Yes, my mind was blown. I get it though, sometimes we just want to appreciate the pure taste of a simple food. I feel that was about my veggies. But when it comes to chicken and fish...I can't help myself but get a little wild with the flavors and textures.

His piece of salmon looked so sad with just pepper that I had to throw on some garlic powder; I just couldn't help myself! Salmon had a buttery rich flavor on its own, but chicken? No. You HAVE TO flavor it up! I felt like a new flavor profile for this chicken and decided to use the full range of my spice cabinet. The Moroccan spice blend, Ras El Hanout, sounded like the perfect mixture of warming and delicious spices for some grilled chicken!

It's a compilation of many spices and you may think it's a bit crazy, but rubbing the chicken down with the dry rub is going to be one of the best decisions you make this week to that boring chicken I know you have sitting in the fridge! I really hope you make this Ras El Hanout from scratch, but I know not everyone is a crazy spice hoarder like me, so I do have a suggestion for a bottled mix if you really have to.

This chicken does get a tad better too. We're topping it with some beautiful Harissa of course! There is NO WAY this chicken will leave you in tears now (maybe tears of joy, but not sadness!) I'm thinking the perfect weeknight summer dinner that should be on your menu this week is this chicken and some of my Harissa Potato Salad!

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