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Lynds
Aug 10, 20203 min read

Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Chicken with Fresh Blueberry Salad

Fresh from my garden, this meal had the theme of a lovely purple dinner that was as unique as it was tasty.


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I have blueberry bushes in the backyard and now is the time of year they are ready to eat. My kids definitely eat them plain, in fact I love that every once and while I catch them playing out back and just helping themselves to a snack right off the plant. It's exactly why I wanted a garden in the first place, to teach my kids where their food comes from and that it takes work to care for them, but there is a delicious pay off.


I wanted to create something special and though hmmmmm Blueberries would work well in a BBQ sauce... so off I went on the mission of making something delicious.



I started my BBQ sauce base here.




I cut up a white onion and placed in a pan, with some mince garlic and saute'd them until translucent. I added 1/2 a cup of tomato sauce, and the second most important ingredient....




I added 1/2 a cup of bourbon while the onions sauted, so the flavour fully incorporated into the onions. A dash of chipotle ensured this had a sweet heat to it, which really worked overall.


I added 1/4 cup of ketchup, a 1/4 cup of molasses, 1 Tbsp of grainy mustard, 3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar and 1 Tbsp of coconut sugar.





For seasoning, I generously dusted the sauce with celery salt, pepper, oregano and threw in 2 bay leaves while it simmered. The base was coming together nicely!



I added the blueberries to the sauce and simmered on low to start breaking the fruit down.



I simmered this stirring occasionally for about 1 hour. Some of the blueberries rendered down and others did not. I wanted to make this a smooth sauce but with a few remaining blueberries so you definitely knew they were in there. Thus I placed half the sauce only in my ninja blender to puree.




It worked perfectly! I was so pleased with my creation.




For this meal I chose to bake chicken breasts in my sauce. I purchased antibiotic free chicken thighs and marinated them in the BBQ sauce for about 1 hour before starting to cook them. I cooked them at 350 degrees for just under 1 hours. As usual make sure the internal temp gets to at least 165 degrees to be safe.








I wanted to stick with the "blue/purple" theme and purchased this.....


Cauliflower is not a normal addition to a salad but I thought I would try it out as I really wanted this plate to be vibrant!


I chopped the cauli into small florets and boiled them for a very short while to get them past the "raw" texture but only very al dente so they still had some crunch to them.




My salad base was a simple romaine and roma tomato salad. I also added some cut up cooked asparagus. I started to layer both my blue berries and the purple cauliflower to the top.



Looks pretty no? I also cut up some potatoes into thin slices and placed in a baking dish with some herbs and seasoning and oil and baked them into crispy disks while cooking the chicken as a carb side. Honestly I could have done without it.



A shot of the chicken once out of the oven. It had delicious crispy skin and the sauce itself was thick enough to stay with the chicken which I liked!.


I plated this out and I have to say I think it tasted pretty amazing!



The recipe:


BBQ sauce

1 white onion diced

1 Tbsp of minced garlic

1/2 cup of tomato sauce

1/2 cup of bourbon

1/4 cup of ketchup


Saute until the onions are translucent


1/4 cup of molasses

1 Tbsp of grainy mustard

3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar and

1 Tbsp of coconut sugar

approx 1 Tbsp celery salt,

1 Tbsp pepper, & oregano

2 bay leaves

1 cup blueberries

Simmer gently until the blueberries render down about 1 hour.


Blend some of the mix in the blender and bring back to the rest of the sauce and stir in. This should give you a smooth consistency but with a few noticeable berries.


Add to chicken thighs (or meat of your liking) and allow to marinade for at least 1 hour and cook until the meat is fully cooked.





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