Instantpot LCHF / Keto Hot Wings

 There was a time when I was growing up that, chicken wings were the part of the chicken that no one wanted to buy. Like skirt steak (now used for fajitas), chicken wings were the cheap leftovers. Fast forward thirty years and chicken wings are as popular as hamburgers and french fries, and they now command a premium price as well. If you have read any of my articles and or recipes, then you know that we raise not only chickens but meat rabbits on our small homestead. And before you ask, no rabbit doesn't taste like chicken. Having said that, when you dress out a rabbit, each carcass presents you with two forelegs that are very similar in size and weight as a chicken wing.

In fact, you can cut the forelegs at the joint, and they are not only very similar in size to chicken wings, but they can be cooked in exactly the same way. So whenever we butcher some of our rabbits, we separate the forelegs and vacuum seal them by themselves so that we can prepare rabbit forelegs (hot wings) whenever we get the hankering for some hot wings. Having said that, if you do not raise rabbit and want to cook some great chicken wings, then you can follow this same recipe and simply substitute chicken wings in place of the rabbit forelegs.

As you may know, my wife and I have embarked on a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) way of eating about a year ago. The great thing about this recipe is that is a great LCHF / Ketogenic way to cook not only chicken wings, but rabbit forelegs. Because we do not use any flour or other ingredients other than the sauce (hot sauce and butter) to coat the meat, they are virtually carbohydrate free! Keep in mind that if you use any commercially prepared sauces they may have hidden carbs in the form of sugar and or sugar alcohols. You can find a number of LCHF sauce recipes on our blog if you need a good LCHF / Keto sauce for your chicken wings or rabbit forelegs. If your not eating LCHF, then sauce them as you wish.

I will say this, I love my Instant pot electric pressure cooker. It is great for reducing the cook times for a wide variety of dishes, and it is perfect for this recipe. Start to finish you can have a mess of wings ready for your friends and family to enjoy in less than 45 minutes, or less than 30 minutes if you use the quick release cooking method. So grab your electric pressure cooker and let's go make some hot wings / forelegs.

Chicken / Rabbit Hot Wings

You will need 2 to 4 pounds of chicken wings or rabbit forelegs for this recipe. I like to keep it simple when I am making buffalo style hot wings and simply season the meat with salt and pepper, but you can use any number of flavored seasonings, just keep in mind the final flavor profile you are looking to present as some seasonings may not be compatible with your sauce of choice.

2 – 4 pounds of rabbit forelegs or chicken wings

½ cup hot sauce of choice (Franks' or Louisiana Hot Sauce)

½ stick of butter (melted)

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the rabbit forelegs at the joint so that you have two pieces similar to that of a chicken wing. Season with salt and black pepper. Place a steamer rack in your electric pressure cooker and add 1 cup of water. Add the rabbit forelegs on top of the rack and close your pressure cooker making sure that the vent is closed. Cook the forelegs on high pressure (manual mode) for 10 minutes and then quick release the pressure; or, you can pressure cook them for cook for 8 minutes and let the pressure come down naturally (about 15 – 20 minutes.)

Chef's Note: I personally like to cook my wings/forelegs for the 8 minutes and allow the pressure to release naturally. I find that this way the wings/forelegs are cooked to perfection and they are nice, tender and juicy. Using a steamer rack is an important step, I do not like my wings to sit in the bottom of the pressure cooker in the water, but this is just a personal preference.

While the wings/forelegs are cooking combine 1/2 cup of hot sauce with 1/2 cup of butter in a medium sized plastic bowl and heat in the microwave until the butter melts and them whisk until thoroughly combined. If you wish to melt the butter separately and them combine it with the hot sauce you can, but it does not really matter.

Once the pressure is released from your pressure cooker, remove the the wings or forelegs and pat dry with a paper towel if necessary. Place the wings/forelegs into the bowl with your wing sauce and toss them until they are totally coated with the sauce. Then remove them from the bowl and place them on a foil lined baking sheet.

Chef's Note: At this point the wings/forelegs are completely cooked, and you could eat them striaght form the bowl, and they would be quite good. However, broiling them for 5 minutes and then tossing them into the wing sauce a second time gives the final product a greater depth of taste as more sauce adheres to the wings/forelegs after they have been broiled and tossed a second time.

Once the wings/forelegs have been arranged on your foil lined baking sheet place it in your preheated oven and broil the wings/forelegs on high for about 5 minutes. Because every oven's broiler is slightly different carefully watch the wings/forelegs as they can quickly go from light brown to burned rather quickly. In my particular oven, 5 minutes is perfect.

Once your wings/forelegs have been broiled for 5 minutes and they are nice and brown, remove them from the foil and place them back in the bowl with the wing sauce and toss them one more time to re-coat the wings/forelegs. Then serve the wings on a platter, divide them onto equal portions, or simply eat them out of the bowl. 

Nutritional Information

The nutritional information for this recipe is based on a two pounds of rabbit forelegs and or 2 pounds of chicken wings. Farm raised meat rabbits like we raise are lean all white meat, and it is closer to chicken breast when you look at the fat content. Because of this, rabbit forelegs have quite a bit less fat than chicken wings with the skin on. However, the butter in the sauce does add a substantial amount of fat which still makes these rabbit hot wings a good LCHF option. Having said that, chicken wings with the skin on has almost six times more fat, so they are really a better choice if you need to increase your fat uptake.

Total Recipe

Rabbit Forelegs (2 lbs): Calories – 1682, fat 20 grams, protein 198 grams, carbohydrates 0 grams

Chicken Wings (2 lbs): Calories – 2091, fat 113 grams, protein 246 grams, carbohydrates 0 grams

Remember, if you are eating LCHF / Keto, the chicken wings would probably be a better choice if you had to choose between the two. Fortunately for us, we do not have to choose and all I can say it that the rabbit “wings” were fantastic.

Conclusion

As I have mentioned before, I love my Instantpot. Whether you have an Instantpot or other electric pressure cooker, you can make delicious hot wings in 30 to 45 minutes that both you and your family will love by following this simple recipe. Heck, you can have a big batch of LCHF / Keto friendly wings ready in less time than it takes to have a pizza delivered. So if you like hot wings, but have been missing out on them because those deep fried, flour coated deliciousness will blow you out of ketosis, then this recipe is for you. So fire up your electric pressure cooker, and turn on your broiler and let us know how you like this recipe.

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Instant-Pot Bone Broth

There are a lot of different approaches to making bone broth. The most common is either cooking the broth on the stove on in a slow cooker for 8 to 24 hours. Heck, a friend of mine cooks his bone broth in the slow cooker for two days. The idea behind the length of cooking bone broth is to get all of the goodness (minerals, gelatin, marrow, vitamins) out of the bones and vegetables and into the liquid. While both of these methods are simple, time tested, and effective, they are painfully slow. There is however a faster and more efficient way, and that is to use a pressure cooker.

As a homesteader, gardener, and canner, my wife and I have a variety of pressure canners, however most of them are quite large, 12-quarts or larger. However, a few years ago we bought a 6-quart Instant-pot electric pressure canner. This is our go to bone broth making machine as it allows us to make awesome, nutritious, and delicious bone broth in about 2 hours. So, in just two hours, (after the pressure cooker gets up to pressure) the pressure will leech out all the collagen, marrow, minerals, and vitamins locked into the bones and veggies that would typically take a stockpot or slow cooker 24 hours. So for us, using the Instant-pot is optimum choice.

Typically, whenever we roast a chicken, or buy a rotisserie chicken from our local supermarket, I save the bones and put them in the freezer, once I get about two or three pounds of bones, I put them in my Instant-pot pressure cooker and make bone broth. The best bone broth however comes from when we butcher an old laying hen which is no longer productive. Typically and older hen is a “tough old bird” hence the saying, and they are relegated to the crock pot or slow cooker in order to make them edible. In addition, an older chicken tends to have more fat (at least ours do) which is something we are looking for in a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) / Ketogenic (Keto) bone broth. Having said that, if all you have are bones, and or a couple of whole chickens you got on sale at your local supermarket that will work as well. Anyway, let's get on with making some awesome bone broth.

My Recipe

I will say upfront, the best bone broth comes from cooking one or two whole birds and reserving the cooking liquid and then after you have deboned the carcasses for other meals, add the bones back to the cooking liquid and add the remaining ingredients. Making bone broth this way gives the final product a depth of flavor that cannot be beat. However, many people make excellent tasting bone broth with just leftover bones.

2 to 3 pounds beef, chicken, pork, or rabbit bones

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar, with the Mother

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

mirepoix, optional (see below)

Place bones in your electric pressure cooker and add the remaining ingredients. Add enough water until the pot is ¾ full (my instant-pot holds 4 liters, so I fill it with liquid to the 3 liter line).

Chef's Note: Typically, you should allow the bones to sit in the water with the vinegar for 30 minutes. The idea is that this allows the vinegar to begin to soften the bones and helps to leech out the minerals into the broth. This increases your cook time, and to be honest, I do not think that it matters when you are using a pressure cooker, so I generally skip the additional wait time.

If you are using an Instant-pot electric pressure cooker, Select the 'Soup' button and change the pressure setting to 'low'. Then set the cook time for 2 hours (120 minutes). When the timer is goes off, unplug your Instant-pot and allow it to depressurize naturally.

All that is left to do is to strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer and discard the bones and or any vegetables or herbs that you may have added to the pressure cooker. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. We like to store some of our bone broth in individual one cup portions and the remaining in glass Mason canning jars. (Yield: 2 quarts)

Chef's Note: Most of my bone broth comes from chicken or rabbit bones (we raise both for meat). If you have a good supply of beef, lamb, or pork bones, then roasting them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes really kicks up the flavor profile. To see how to roast bones for bone broth see below.

Roasting The Bones

Beef, pork, and lamb bones when roasted in the oven adds a depth of flavor that you just do not get from simply boiling the bones. The great thing is that it only takes about half an hour to take your bone broth to the next level. To roast the bones, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees then place the bones in a roasting pan in a single layer, and lightly coat them with olive or canola oil and place them in the oven and set your timer for 25 minutes. When the timer goes off check the bones, they should be a deep rich brown color. If they are not, then roast for another 5 – 10 minutes.

Once the bones have been roasted to perfection, toss them in your stockpot of pressure cooker. Now another key to developing great flavor is to take a small amount of hot water and add it to the roasting pan after you have removed the bones. Then take a wooden or plastic spoon and carefully scrap all the bits from the pan (aka fond) and add them to your stockpot or pressure cooker.

Mirepoix (The Vegetables)

I will be honest, I keep my bone broth pretty virgin, just bones, water, salt, pepper and a basic mirepoix. However, if you want to throw in some additional odd vegetables or herbs please feel free to do so. In classic French cuisine, the way I was trained, when making beef, chicken or fish stock you would use a mirepoix (combination of onions, carrots, and celery). Which you would either roast with your bones or not, depending on the type of stock you were making. The amounts of vegetables used varies depending on the amount of stock or broth you are making, but the ratio stays the same, 2 part onions, to 1 part celery, and 1 part carrot. So for this recipe, my mirepoix contains a variety of leftover vegetables (ends and pieces) of onions, bell pepper, carrots, and celery that I keep in a plastic one gallon zip lock bag in my freezer. These are the trimmings from when I do any prep for our family meals (waste not want not). If you do not have any trimmings, then for this recipe I would suggest 1 cup diced onion, and ½ cup each diced carrots, and celery (a total of 2 cups of vegetables)

Of course, you can leave the veggies out and just make the bone broth without them and you will still have a delicious and nutritious broth. Having said that multiple studies show that the majority of the minerals found in bone broths come from the vegetable matter, not the bones that is in the broth. So while bones alone are good, bones and veggies are better.

Think of this base recipe as a blank canvas and you are the artist. You can add so many different vegetables, herbs and aromatics to this basic bone broth depending on your personal tastes. Some of my favorite additions in no specific order are: garlic, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, red pepper flakes, thyme, rosemary, kombu (dried seaweed), and Korean red pepper paste (gochujang). The skies the limit, so experiment and enjoy your creations.

What If Your Bone Broth Tastes Weak?

Well, the simple answer for a basic stock would be to cook it down until the water content is reduced to about one-third, or one-half. The quick solution however, is to enhance your bone broth by adding some powdered chicken or beef broth. I can hear you now, some of you are screaming 'NO!!!!!!', but yes, I will on occasion add a small amount of powdered bouillon to my bone broth if it needs it. I prefer the Knorr brand, but use whichever brand you prefer. If the idea of adding powdered bouillon offends you, then do not add it to your bone broth and simply simmer your broth until it reduces enough to concentrate the flavors to your liking.

Conclusion

There you have it. My fool proof recipe for a delicious and nutritious bone broth that you can make in less than three hours from start to finish. Not only is it great for those of you who are on a schedule of intermittent fasting, it is an excellent source of fat which helps you to increase your fat intake while you are on a LCHF / Keto diet. Bone broth contains electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus), and collagen (which contains the proteins glycine and proline), which are found in all land animal bones. There is, still no specific scientific research that supports the many of the health claims made about bone broth. In fact, the current limited scientific evidence suggests that many of the health benefits that are attributed to bone broth are simply false. As I often do, I have included many of the references I examined while writing this article so that you can go and do the research the possible benefits of bone broth and come to your own conclusions.

The bottom line, I like bone broth and it is a good source of natural fat, and if like me you are on a LCHF / Keto diet, or do any intermittent fasting (IF) then bone broth is an excellent way to add fat to your diet without any unwanted carbohydrates. In addition, many proponents of IF advocate and or allow the limited use of bone broth during the fasting period. And last but not least, bone broth is an excellent base for making homemade LCHF soups. As always, we ask that if you have found this article interesting or helpful, that you share it with your friends and share it on other social media outlets. Don't forget the checkout our Facebook page at CulinaryYouLCHF, or add use to your circle of friends on Google+. You can also check out all of our articles on Pintrest.

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Resources:

Christ, Scott, Is Bone Broth Good For You? Here's What Science Says, Pure Food, 2017. Accessed October 3,2017.

Kresser, Chris, The Bountiful Benefits of Bone Broth: A Comprehensive Guide,

February 21, 2017. Accessed September 22, 2107.

McCance, R.A., Sheldon W., Widdowson, E.W., Bone and Vegetable Broth, Kings College Hospital, 1934.Accessed September 28, 2017.

The Health Benefits Of Bone Broth: Science or Science Fiction? Lifetime Daily, 2017. Accessed September 25, 2017.

Heid, Markham, Science Can't Explain Why Everyone is Drinking Bone Broth, Time Magazine, January 6, 2016. Accessed October 2, 2017.

What's The Scoop On Bone Soup?, Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, September 2015. Accessed October 1, 2017.

Keto Shake And Bake

We eat a lot of chicken in our home, and one of my favorite recipes is chicken deep fat fried in lard without any coating and then lightly brushed with butter and seasoned with salt and pepper (For more information on this recipe, check out Butter Bob's video on Fried Chicken). But it takes a fair amount of time to setup and clean up. One of our favorite alternative recipes is oven baked “fried” chicken using my homemade version 'Shake And Bake' made with ground pork rinds in place of the wheat flour products.

This recipe makes a delicious oven fried chicken that is better than the original Kraft recipes both nutritionally and in it's flavor profile. This low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) and Ketogenic (Keto) recipe will really amaze you at how well a low carbohydrate seasoned coating can taste. The best part about this recipe is that it is easy to make and it tastes fantastic. In this article, I will be teaching you how to make your own Keto style Shake and Bake that both you and your family will love.

The Recipe

This homemade LCHF / Keto Shake and Bake recipe does include a small amount of cornstarch which adds a total of 4.6 carbohydrates to the overall recipe, but the end result is that each piece of chicken only contains about 1 carbohydrate per piece. Personally I believe that the minimal amount of cornstarch used it an integral part of the coating mix.

1 ¾ cups processed pork rinds (one 5 ounce bag)

2 tablespoon dried parsley

4 teaspoons chicken bouillon

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoon onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

Mix all dry ingredients together and store in an airtight container. When ready to use, add 1 cup Keto shake and bake to a medium sized bowl or zip lock bag or container and add the poultry a few pieces at a time and mix until evenly coated. 1 cup will coat about 8 - 10 chicken thighs.

For Chicken – Place on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until done, larger thighs or pieces of chicken may take an additional 10 – 15 minutes. Do not cover chicken.

For Pork - Place on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 15 to 30 minutes or until done. Do not cover or turn pork chops.

Keto Shake and Bake (Total Recipe: 1 ¾ cups)

Calories – 914, protein 2 grams, fat 50.6 grams, carbohydrates 14.4 grams

Keto Shake and Bake Per Cup

Calories – 522, protein 1.14 grams, 28.9 grams, carbohydrates 8.22 grams

Kraft Shake And Bake Total Recipe (2 pouches)

Calories – 480, protein 0 grams, fat 4 grams, carbohydrates 80 grams

Per Pouch (Coats 6 to 8 pieces of chicken or pork chops)

Calories – 240, protein 0 grams, 2 grams, carbohydrates 40 grams

For nutritional information, one pouch of the original Shake and Bake coats 6 to 8 pieces of chicken per the package instructions. While 1 cup of the Keto Shake and Bake easily coats the same amount of chicken as you can see in the pictures accompanying this article. The big difference here is the caloric and fat intake are quite a bit higher (55% more calories, and 94% more fat) in the Keto Shake and Bake mix while the carbohydrate count is significantly reduced (64% less carbs in Keto Shake and Bake) as opposed to the original Kraft Shake and Bake.

To put this into perspective, if you bake eight pieces of chicken using both the original Kraft recipe versus the Keto shake and bake, you really begin to see the difference when you specifically look at the carbohydrate count. The Kraft original Shake and Bake adds approximately 5 carbohydrates per piece of chicken, while the Keto Shake and Bake only adds 1 carbohydrate per piece of chicken, that's 80% less carbohydrates overall. As for fats, the Keto Shake and Bake adds about 3.6 grams of fat per piece of chicken (28.9 grams / 8 pieces = 3.61 grams per piece), so fat wise, it fits in just fine with our LCHF / Keto diet plan.

The Ingredients

The big advantage to making your own is that you can make this old family favorite LCHF and Keto friendly by substituting ground pork rinds in place of the bread products (carbohydrates). By removing the unwanted carbohydrates (flour, breadcrumbs, and sugar) this seasoned coating is virtually carbohydrate free, and it tastes great. You can go one step further and eliminate the powdered chicken bouillon in this recipe if you are wanted to eliminate the MSG, but personally I like the recipe as it is. Feel free however to modify it to suit your personal tastes.

Shake and Bake Original Chicken Seasoned Coating Mix – Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [Vitamin B1], riboflavin [Vitamin B2], folic acid), enriched bleached wheat flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [Vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), maltodextrin, salt, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, canola oil, paprika, contains less than 2% of celery seed, spice, high fructose corn syrup, dried garlic, yeast, dried onions, natural flavors.

Keto Shake & Bake – Pork rinds (ground), salt, sugar, cornstarch, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, and powdered chicken bouillon*.

*Chicken bouillon contains quite a few additives including monosodium glutamate (MSG). For further reading on the ingredients of powdered bouillons, see my previous article: 'Restaurants Use Them, So Should You?'

Conclusion

Making your own Keto style Shake and Bake gives you another tool in your arsenal to cook delicious LCHF and Keto meals. You can use this recipe to coat both chicken and pork to add a delicious and crunchy coating that is far easier and less messy than frying. By using ground pork rinds in place of the wheat products it reduces the overall carbohydrate count by 80%, or about 1 gram of carbohydrates per piece of chicken. The great thing about using ground pork rinds is that they are neutral in flavor and when baked, the pork rind coating tastes just like a flour style coating. In fact, I served it to some non-keto friends and when I told them afterwards that the coating was made of ground pork rinds they were amazed.

While I have not made it personally as my wife is not a big fan of hot and spicy. If you want a spicy style coating then try using hot pork rinds. I would advise that you stay away from the barbecue flavor as the have about 3 carbohydrates per serving (added sugar) or about 30 carbohydrate for a 5 ounce bag! I hope you will try this recipe and that you will find it a great alternative to commercially prepared Kraft Shake and Bake. As always, I hope that you have found this article informative and beneficial for you and your family, if so please take the time to share it with your friends so that they can benefit as well. Don't forget to follow our blog, or check us out on our Facebook page 'CulinaryYouLCHF' or add us to your circle on 'Google+' to continue to receive our latest LCHF and Keto recipes.

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References:

Butter Bob's Fried Chicken Video

Eating LCHF: Red Meat, Pork And Poultry On A Budget

If you are new to the low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) or Ketogenic (Keto) lifestyle, I am going to encourage you to do one thing for the first three or four months until you have developed good eating habits, and that's follow the 'KISS' principle. Of course 'KISS' is normally an acronym for 'keep it simple stupid', but I also like to think of it as meaning 'keto is simple stupid'. Now, before anyone gets riled up, the point is that following a keto eating program is really easy if you purchase the correct foods and prepare them properly. My advice is that you stay away from the LCHF and Keto dessert recipes as much as possible as overeating of these so called “fat bombs” and other low carb treats can blow you right out of ketosis. Once you have the basics of the Keto lifestyle down and have been doing it for several months, then slowly start adding some “treats” to your eating plan.

In my previous article, I talked about strategies you can use to help stretch your food dollars when you embark on a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) or Ketogenic (Keto) lifestyle. While it might cost a little more to eat LCHF and Keto due to the increased amount of protein sources, money should not be your biggest hurdle, most people fail because they purchase the wrong foods, or do not prepare enough ready meals during the week. Now that you know where to buy food and how to store it, let's examine what to buy in order to help you meet your weight loss goals. BTW, If you haven't read my previous article 'Money SavingLCHF and Keto Strategies', you can find it by following this link.

I mentioned that Keto is simple, well it is, you have only one goal, and that is to keep your total carbohydrate intake less than 20 grams a day. Sounds hard right? Well actually it is pretty simple, and I am going to show you how to accomplish this goal without breaking the bank and help you to stay “keto strong”. Let's face it if you do not have LCHF and Keto friendly foods in your home, then you are destined to fail, and no ones wants that. So let's look at some of the basic type of meat and poultry that you should be looking for on sale when eating LCHF and Keto.

Cheaper Cuts Of Meat and Poultry

First, all unprocessed meats and poultry contain zero carbohydrates, so on LCHF or Keto you generally want to purchase cheaper cuts of meat. Why you ask? Well, the great thing about cheaper cuts of meat is that they are higher in fat, and that's exactly what we are looking for when eating LCHF and Keto. In fact, cheaper beef and pork roasts generally have more fat, and purchasing chicken (thighs and legs) in family packs with the skin on is far cheaper than purchasing lean chicken breasts. Yes, remember natural fats from animal products are good, and triglycerides are bad. Btw, animal fat does not normally contain any triglycerides.

For now, don't worry about your beef being “grass feed” or your chicken being “organic” or “free range”. We are in budget mode, and these options cost way more, and there is no guarantee that they are actually what the label states. If you want to purchase these types of items later then go for it, for now our focus is getting you started on keto without wiping out your food budget. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about buying inferior cuts of meat, I am talking about purchasing the cheaper higher fat cuts, that many so-called “health addicts” think are bad for you.

Beef

Fat is flavor, a rib-eye or sirloin steak with a good amount of marbling is far more tasty, and less apt to dry out on the grill then one with less fat. Having said that, we generally do not purchase a lot of steak, but when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. it's on sale) we purchase it and place it in the freezer for later use. Our primary source of red meat protein comes from roasts, and ground beef. If you have the disposable income to purchase steak on a regular basis then I suggest rib-eye as one having the best fat to protein ratio and is also one of the best tasting cuts, sirloin would be my next choice.

Beef Stew Meat – Forget buying the pre-packaged beef stew meat and buy the whole roast instead. Doing this and cutting your own beef stew meat will save you about 20 – 30% off your purchase, and you have the option to either cook it as a whole roast, or cut it up and use it for many other Keto dishes that require cubed beef.

Ground Beef – Forget about the lean and go for the fat! Use the high fat hamburger (73/27) when making hamburger patties, meat loaves, meat balls, spaghetti, or cooking tacos. It is also great for hamburger stew and Keto dirty rice made with cauliflower. Not only is the higher fat better for you when you are on a LCHF diet, it is easier on your wallet. They only time that I buy lean ground beef is when I am making my own jerky (it needs to be lean to prevent spoilage), otherwise, go for the fat.

Roasts – Chuck, pot or rib, it does not matter. We purchase which ever ones we can get on sale. Beef roasts are used in a variety of recipes at our house. In addition, to cooking them whole, we cut them up to make beef stew meat that can then be used to make, stew, chili, curry, and even barbecue. Purchase the cheapest you can find and trim it if you wish. For slow cooker and pressure cooker recipes the type or grade of roast doesn't matter as the cooking process will tenderize the meat. Again the emphasis is to purchase the cheaper roast to stretch your food dollars.

There are obviously other cuts of beef, that you can buy and incorporate into your menu plan (ribs, flank steak, brisket, etc...), but the ones listed in this article will supply you with the most bang for your buck which is extremely important when you are doing Keto on a budget.

Chicken

You can purchase whole chickens and break down the carcasses and use the bones for bone broth, or you can simply purchase legs and thighs. Legs and thighs with the skin on can usually be purchased in family packs and I can often find them on sale for as low as $0.49 per pound, but more commonly in the $0.69 - $0.99 per pound price range. Especially if you are willing to purchase the 5lb bags of legs and thighs which are often sold at even cheaper prices. I have never really been satisfied with the 5lb bags of legs and thighs, they always see to taste different to me, so I generally just purchase the family packs of legs and or thighs when I can get them on sale. Unless you just get a great price on whole chickens, I recommend purchasing the legs and thighs when just starting on your keto lifestyle.

Legs (Drumsticks) – Depending on the size of the drumstick the grams of fat and protein vary, but on average the protein to fat ratio is about 2:1. When it comes to calories, 48% of the calories come from fat, and 52% of the calories come from protein.

Thighs – Depending on the size of the thigh the grams of fat and protein vary, but on average the protein to fat ratio is about 2:1. When it comes to calories, 58% of the calories come from fat, and 42% of the calories come from protein.

Yes, you can buy split breasts, and whole chickens if you like, but you will get your best value when you purchase the family packs of drumsticks, thighs, or leg quarters when they are on sale. Purchasing whole chickens allows you to make bone broth which is full of Keto goodness, but if you are just starting out I would rather you focus on keeping your carbohydrate count under 20, then attempting to learn to many things at one time. Get the basics down first, learn to spend wisely, and then expand your repertoire.

Pork

Also known as the other white meat, pork can be an important part of your Keto meal planning, unless of course you do not eat pork for religious reasons. So if pork is a no go for you, then skip this section, but for everyone else, pork is a big part of the LCHF and Keto diet. We generally avoid purchasing traditional pork ribs and baby back ribs unless we can get them at rock bottom prices, simply because you are paying for way to much bone as opposed to meat.

Bacon – Bacon is your friend when you are on a LCHF of Keto diet. Having no carbohydrates and being high fat make this crunchy goodness a dietary staple for many following a LCHF or Keto eating program. You can eat almost all the bacon you want when doing Keto, but I would not recommend eating a pound of bacon a day, there are simply better sources of protein, but having 3 – 5 slices of bacon with your breakfast, and having some crumbled in your salad are definitely acceptable.  I eat three slices of bacon everyday with my breakfast, so we go through a lot each week. Btw, the fat to protein ratio of bacon is about 1:1, that's one gram of fat for each gram of protein.

Just be careful when selecting bacon, there are some varieties that have sugar such as 'Maple Bacon Flavor'. It may indicate that there are no carbs on the package, but the USDA let's them list an ingredients as zero carbs, it is is generally < 0.8 grams per serving.

Breakfast Sausage – Another high fat low carb breakfast option is pork sausage. While the percentage of fat may vary between brands, most ground pork breakfast sausage is 20 to 30% fat. Unlike bacon, breakfast sausage does have some seasonings and spices (including sugar) that can cause it to have about 1 carb per ounce, so make sure you check the label. Breakfast sausage is a great ingredient for making Cajun style sausage with cauliflower rice (aka. dirty rice).

Chops – Pork chops (blade, rib, and center cut) are a great source of both protein and fat. Like chicken, purchase them in the family packs to maximize your savings. Just as with beef, the lower cost cuts have more fat, however the protein content is the same. If you think there is too much fat on the cheaper chops, then you can trim them, but we do not worry about it, we simply eat the fat. Every couple of weeks the Hispanic markets in the Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) area have pork chops on sale in the family packs and we get them priced matched at our local Walmart. While the fat content will vary depending on whether the chops, are thick or thin cut, pork chops generally have a 1.6:1 protein to fat ratio with 54% of the calories coming from fat, and 46% from protein.

Hams - Cut from the hind leg, hams can be another good source of protein. Care must be taken however to ensure you get the best possible ham when you are on a Keto of LCHF diet. Fresh hams are your best choice, smoked or cured hams can also be a good choice if they contain no sugars. Stay away from most spiral cut hams as they generally contain sugar. You will also want to avoid any hams that contain one of the following in the description 'honey', 'Black Forest', Virginia, Maple cured...etc Always look at the label to determine the sugar content. Even if it states zero carbs, if it has one of the previous words in it's title choose another type of ham.  

Roasts – Whether it is a pork butt (aka Boston butt), shoulder (aka picnic), or blade roast like beef, purchase which ever pork roast you can get on sale. In general, the protein to fat ratio for pork roasts is about 1.3:1, however 39% of the calories the calories from pork roasts come from protein, while 61% come from fat. Trimming some of the fat from a roast can reduce the fat percentage, but remember when eating LCHF and Keto, fat is good. Pork roasts are used in a variety of recipes at our house. In addition, to cooking them whole and served sliced as a roast, we use them to make pulled pork barbecue sandwiches, with our LCHF barbecue sauce. Like beef, they can also be used to make, stew, chili, and various curries. Purchase the cheapest roasts you can find and trim them if you wish. For slow cooker and pressure cooker recipes the type of pork roast doesn't matter as the cooking process will tenderize the meat. Again the emphasis is to purchase the cheaper roast to stretch your food dollars.

Conclusion

There are many different meat related protein sources that you can purchase when on a LCHF and Keto diet. Obviously, you want to purchase the ones that you and you family will enjoy. I have listed some of the best purchases you can make if you are on attempting to eat LCHF or Keto on a budget. Remember to use the money saving strategies that I discussed in my previous article 'Strategies To Control Your LCHF/Keto Budget'. Having your refrigerator, freezer and pantry stocked with LCHF and Keto friendly items allows you to make more recipes from scratch allowing you to stretch your food dollar even more, especially if you can buy them when they are one sale.

Yes, you can purchase whole chickens, and beef and pork ribs which have a lot of bones so that you can make nutritious bone broth, but such purchases are more expensive. If you are on a limited budget, or are just starting out I would ask that you concentrate on purchasing the types of items listed in this article to get you successfully of your weight loss journey. Once you have become somewhat comfortable with the LCHF and Keto lifestyle, then you can expand your skill set to making bone broth and examining purchasing other items. Having said that, if you can find while chickens, turkey's, or ribs at super low prices, then by all means purchase them.

As always, I hope that you have found this article informative and beneficial for you and your family, if so please take the time to share it with your friends so that they can benefit as well. Do not forget to follow us on our Facebook page 'CulinaryYouLCHF' or add us to your circle on Goggle+.

Similar Article On Our Blog:

Money Saving LCHF and Keto Strategies

References:

Calorie Count, There's Strength In Numbers, accessed December 18, 2016

Fat Secret, accessed December 21, 2016

Self Nutrition Data,Know What You Eat, accessed November 19, 2016

Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

While we live in a rural area, we are only about sixty miles form the Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) metroplex which has a multitude of supermarkets including many ethnic markets. What this means for us is that our local Walmart actually price matches all the sale ads from the DFW area. Almost every week someone has chicken thighs and or drumsticks on sale. As I am writing this article 'Save-A-Lot' supermarkets has chicken drumsticks and thighs on sale for $0.69 per lb, while the Mexican market 'Rio Grande' has drumsticks regular or marinaded for $0.39 per lb. Chicken breasts on the other hand were $1.69 per lb on sale. The drumsticks I am cooking for this article we comp'd at our local Walmart for $0.49 per lb a few weeks ago. While not as nutritious as chicken breasts, legs and thighs can help you to put good quality food on your table for a quarter of the cost ($1.69 / $0.39 = 4.33). And I do not have to tell you if you are cooking on a budget or fixed income, every little bit of savings you can find helps to stretch your food dollars.

Cooking chicken on the grill is pretty easy, but my brother-in-law “bless his heart” just cannot seem to get the hang of it. His chicken either looks like it is cooked but ends being raw and bloody in the middle, or he cooks the bejesus out of it and it is so burned on the outside that it is not only unappealing to look at, it's not very tasty either. The sad thing is that he thinks he is a grill master, but everyone is just to polite to say anything. It is not all his fault, part of the problem is the equipment he uses. The recipe for this chicken is quite simple, season the chicken with salt and pepper and grill it for 36 minutes and then apply the sauce of my choice and cook for another 5 minutes. No rub, no marinade, simply put, this grilled chicken could not be easier.

The Grill Matters

Multi-burner gas grills are great for cooking foods, the old single burner type of gas grill (which is 20 years old) that my brother-in-law uses is terrible. It is simply to hard to regulate the heat effectively without either burning the food or having it be undercooked. The problem with single burner grills (as well as cooking directly over charcoal) is that you have to stand there and constantly monitor the cooking process and most often you have to grill with the lid open to be able to manage flareups and keep the food from burning. This not only causes you to lose heat, but it uses up more of your valuable gas and or charcoal costing you money. So why is this important? Well the key to cooking moist and delicious chicken on the grill is indirect heat, regardless of whether you are using a gas or charcoal grill.

Gas grills with multiple burners help you to maintain an even heating and cooking source, as well as allowing you to cook foods throughly while using less gas. Your gas grill does not have to be fancy. I cooked for years on a small two burner Char-Broil grill without a temperature gauge with amazing results. All you need is the ability to turn off the burner that is directly under the food during the cooking process. Have not fear, if all you have is a charcoal grill you can still cook fantastic chicken. While the process for cooking with indirect heat on a charcoal grill is slightly different, it is not difficult, and I will quickly cover how to do so later in this article.

Saving The Sauce For Last

Before we get into the actual instructions for grilling the drumsticks, there is one key thing that you must do to keep your chicken from burning, and that is saving the sauce for last. When it comes to grilled meats, the sauce that you apply will not absorb into the meat, rather the sauce is used as an additional flavor component to the poultry. Almost all sauces contain sugar which when heated will burn and increase the number of flareups during the cooking process.

Properly grilled chicken only needs to have the sauce applied during the last five minutes of cooking. Apply the sauce liberally to one side, then turn the chicken and apply the sauce to the other side and cook for 5 minutes. Adding multiple applications of sauce during the grilling process does nothing but waste sauce, increases the chance the chicken will burn and does not add any additional flavor to the chicken. It simply falls down into the bottom of the grill. If you want to add an additional layer of sauce, then when you remove the chicken from the grill and place it on your tray or plate add another light coat of sauce. Then allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving. This not only allows the additional layer of sauce to slightly thicken, but keeps you and your guests from burning your mouths when you bite into your hot and juicy grilled chicken.

Grilling The Drumsticks

A lot of people prefer the flavor of cooking meats on a charcoal grill, and I must admit I do like the flavor of charcoal, but to be honest it is down right inconvenient when you have a group of hungry guests or family members and you need to quickly throw something on the grill. The biggest disadvantage to using a charcoal grill is that it is more difficult to cook on consistently using indirect heat. It can be done, but you have less control of the temperature range of the grill so it requires a more experienced hand managing the grill.

If you want to cook your chicken over direct heat regardless of the type of grill you are using, you need to get yourself a cold beverage because you will need to stand outside and monitor the grill as there will be multiple flareups due to the fats released from the skin of the chicken during the cooking process. Now, depending on your house guests and your cold beverage of choice, standing outside by the grill cooking over direct heat just might be considered an advantage. Anyway, when cooking over direct heat, the outside of the chicken tends to cooks quickly and while the drumsticks may look cooked on the outside, the inside often remains raw and bloody. So keep in mind that if you are cooking your drumsticks over direct heat you may need to turn them every 5 to 7 minutes to keep them from burning. Cooked drumsticks are fantastic, burned and blackened drumsticks not so much; and no one I know likes to eat bloody chicken.

So the million dollar question is at what temperature do I grill my chicken? My basic answer is somewhere between 325 to 400 degrees. That may seem like quite a temperature range and it is, but to be honest when I used my old Char-Broil gas grill, it had no thermometer so I just cooked the chicken with one burner on high and the one under the chicken turned off. My new Char-Griller has a temperature gauge that reads a consistent 400 degrees (if this is accurate) when it comes up to heat and one burner is kept on low. The optimum temperature would be 350 degrees. For this recipe the gauge on my grill was always at 400 degrees. If cooking at a slightly lower temperature 325 to 350 you may need to increase the overall cook time by about 10 minutes.

Using A Gas Grill – When using a gas grill, heat with both burners on high for 5 minutes, then turn one burner off and place the meat on the side of the grill in which the burner is off and cook for 12 minutes. Then turn on both burners and turn the meat and place it on the other side of the grill and turn the burner under the meat off and cook for another 12 minutes. Repeat this process for three times or a total of 36 minutes. After 36 minutes, baste the chicken with the your sauce of your choice and then turn and move the chicken to the opposite side of the grill and baste the other side (at this point you should have sauce on both sides). Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Using A Charcoal Grill – If you are using a charcoal grill heat the coals until they turn ash white. To cook the chicken indirectly on a charcoal grill you will need to move the coals either to the middle of the grill and cook the chicken on the outside of the grate away from the coals, or push the coals all to one side and cook on the side away from the coals. Follow the same cooking process as if you are using a gas grill.

Conclusion

Buying meat and poultry when it is on sale and freezing them for later use can be a valuable way to stretch your families food budget. At our house, we rarely any purchase meat or poultry unless it is on sale. Having purchased chicken when it was on sale is only half the equation, if you cannot grill it correctly, you are simply throwing your money away. The great thing is that grilling chicken thighs and drumsticks on the grill is easy and anyone can learn to grill juicy, delicious chicken, all it takes is a little practice. Just because I did not use a rub or a marinade for this recipe does not mean that you cannot. I have several recipes such as jerk chicken in which I use a marinade, and I have my own barbecue chicken rub that I also like to use. Rather my goal was to show you just how easy you could cook great grilled chicken with just a liberal amount of salt and pepper and a quick grilling sauce of your choice. Heck you do not even have to use a sauce. I grilled a couple of pieces for the wife without the sauce because she likes her grilled chicken with just salt and pepper. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us on friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

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Dry Heat Cooking Methods

Pressure Cooker: Sweet And Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour dishes have always been popular in Chinese American restaurants throughout the United States. These dishes are usually made with chicken or pork and include pineapple, bell peppers and onions as well as garlic and ginger. The biggest difference from restaurant to restaurant seems to be the sweet and sour sauce used. The sauces either tend to be red in color or a more clear yellow color. The two sauces are made the same way, with the exception of the red sauce which has a tomato based component which in most cases is ketchup.

I have included two recipes for making sweet and sour chicken in your electric pressure cooker. Version one is the one illustrated in the photos in this article, and is the one I make most often. I have included a recipe to make your own red sweet and sour dipping sauce that is required for version two. You can of course use any sweet and sour sauce you have on hand for version two, but making your own is really easy and most of you should have the necessary ingredients in your pantry.

The Recipes

This recipe is pretty quick and easy to make. The part which takes the longest is coating the chicken with cornstarch and sauteing it prior to cooking. If you have read in my article on 'Electric Pressure Cookers', then you know that I do not brown my meat in my pressure cooker. No matter how hard I try, the meat always seems to stick and I get crappy results. So as always, I browned the chicken after it was coated in cornstarch in a skillet and then transferred it to my Power Cooker XL. Having said that, if you have had good results sauteing meat in your pressure cooker then please save yourself the trouble of washing an extra skillet and do it that way.

Sweet and Sour Chicken (Version 1)

6 chicken thighs (de-boned and cubed)

1 (20 ounce can) pineapple chunks

½ cup water or chicken stock
½ cup cornstarch
1 green pepper, cut into medium chunks
½ onion, cut into medium chunks

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon ginger paste or minced ginger or ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon each salt and white pepper

Cut up your boneless thighs into small chunks and then dredge the chicken in the cornstarch or all-purpose flour and set aside. Place the inner pot into the Pressure Cooker. Press the CHICKEN/MEAT button. Set time to 10 minutes and add two tablespoons of olive oil and the chicken to the pressure cooker and sauté the chicken until it is slightly browned. Then add the remaining ingredients and place the lid on the Pressure Cooker and lock. Switch the Pressure Release Valve to Closed.

Chefs Note: If your electric pressure cooker does not have a CHICKEN/MEAT button like the Power Pressure Cooker XL, then set it on high pressure and select 10 minutes as the cook time. You may have read in my article on 'Electric Pressure Cookers' I do not brown my meat in my pressure cooker as no matter how I try I get crappy results. So as always, I browned the chicken after it was coated in cornstarch in a skillet and then transferred it to my Power Cooker XL.

After 10 minutes when the timer reaches '0' most electric pressure cookers will automatically switch to keep warm mode. Once the pressure has been completely released, remove the lid and serve over cooked white rice, or allow to keep in warm mode until ready to eat.

Sweet and Sour Chicken (Version 2)

6 chicken thighs (de-boned and cubed)

¾ chicken stock or ¾ cup water + 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1 cup red sweet and sour sauce

6 ounces pineapple chunks.
1 green pepper, cut into medium chunks
1 medium onion, cut into medium chunks
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ginger paste or minced ginger or ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon each salt and white pepper

Follow the same cooking instructions for version one.

Red Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup pineapple juice

½ cup ketchup

¼ white vinegar

¼ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Combine cornstarch and two tablespoons of pineapple juice in a small bowl to make a slurry and set aside. Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer then add the cornstarch slurry and cook until thickened (about 5 minutes).

Conclusion

I hope you and your family will enjoy making this sweet and sour chicken recipe in your electric pressure cooker. It is far cheaper to make your own than it is to take the family out for Chinese food. If you prefer sweet and sour pork, then substitute 1lb pork butt cut into 1” cubes and coat and brown it the same as you would the chicken. If you prefer a little heat, you can add 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes to add a little zip to your meal. Add any additional vegetables you would like to this dish to give it even more flavor. Traditional additives such as sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, carrots and green onions make nice additions to this dish. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

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Chipotle's Adobo Marinade

Ok, so who doesn't love the burritos from Chipotle? Well there may be a few detractors, but for the most part everyone I know loves the marinated and grilled chicken, steak, and barbacoa at Chipotle restaurants. Let's face it though, not everyone has a Chipotle restaurant in their local area. Have no fear there are quite a few recipes on on the world wide web on how to make your own “Chipotle' style marinade. Some are better than others, but the problem is that even the employees working at Chipotle's restaurants do not know the recipe.So what is Chipotle's secret ingredient? Actually, it is not so secret, it is simply a marinade made from adobo sauce. However, it is the recipe for their adobo sauce that is the secret.

According to the multiple accounts I have read from employees who have worked for Chipotle, their marinade comes in clear plastic bags that are simply labeled 'adobo'. Now I cannot verify this as I have never worked for Chipotle, but it makes sense that they would make their own proprietary adobo sauce in their company commissary and then ship it to their restaurants to keep folks like me from making my own. The best recipe that I tried before deciding to make my own was originally posted over on Chipotlefan.com. I have included a small batch version of their original recipe here for you to look at.

Chipotle Fan's Chipotle Marinade

5 ancho chilies, dried (about 1 ounce)

1 (7oz can) of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

½ red onion, minced

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon black pepper

To be honest, I think this marinade it a pretty close facsimile of the 'Chipotle' marinade, but what I really disliked about this recipe was that it called for you to remove the chipotle peppers and seeds and only use the sauce. Personally I thought this was a big waste. If all you wanted from the can is the adobo sauce, why not simply buy a can of adobo sauce or make your own? With that thought in mind, I started experimenting with making my own adobo sauce. I played around with a lot of recipes making some changes here, adding some other ingredients until I was satisfied that I have a nice well rounded adobo sauce of my own.

Making Your Own Adobo Sauce

Making your own adobo sauce is pretty easy, the only thing that you may not have in your kitchen is ancho and or guajillo peppers. Adobo is traditionally made using dried guajillo peppers, however in many recipes guajillo and ancho peppers are used interchangeably, so if you do not have any guajillo peppers on hand, or do not want to spend the extra money on them, then just substitute ancho chilies for the guajillo.

My Adobo Sauce (makes ½ Cup)

5 to 6 dried guajillo or ancho chilies
1 to 2 dried jalapenos (2 if you like it spicy)

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

½ onion, minced

3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and toast the chilies, turning frequently, until very pliable and soft; do not allow them to burn. Remove the dried peppers from the skillet and transfer them to a plate. Remove the stems and seeds and place in a saucepan. Add enough hot water to just cover and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, remove from the heat and allow chilies to soak for 20 minutes. Remove the peppers and reserve soaking liquid for later use.

In a blender or food processor, combine all of the ingredients and puree until smooth. If needed, add a little of the chile soaking liquid (only as much as is needed) to enable the mixture to blend. The consistency should be thick but smooth. Cover and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Chef's Note: I will be honest, I do not always toast my dried chilies. If I am in a hurry, I simply remove the stems and split the peppers with a pair of kitchen shears and throw them in the saucepan and cover them with water.

Chipotle Marinade (The Final Product)

Once I had created an adobo sauce that I was happy with, I wanted to streamline the process to come up with a quick way to make my own Chipotle style marinade. So the next logical step was to combine the ingredients from my adobo sauce with the ingredients from the 'Chipotle Fan' marinade listed inthis article. I really enjoy this marinade and think that it is a good representation of Chipotle's marinade. Is it exact no...but unless Chipotle decides to publish the steps to make their signature marinade it will have to do.

My Chipotle Marinade

10 ancho chilies, dried (or 5 ancho and 5 guajillo chilies)
1 to 2 dried jalapenos (2 or more if you like it spicy) 

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

½ red onion, minced

3 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons liquid (water from reconstituted peppers)

1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)

2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and toast the chilies, turning frequently, until very pliable and soft; do not allow them to burn. Remove from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Remove the stems and seeds and place them in the saucepan. Add enough hot water to just cover and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, remove from the heat and allow chilies to soak for 20 minutes. Remove the peppers and reserve soaking liquid for later use.

In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients and 2 tablespoons of the chile soaking liquid and puree. Add additional chile soaking liquid as required, however, keep in mind the consistency of the marinade should be thick and smooth. Cover and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Chef's Note: This marinade or paste makes about 1 1/2 cups which is enough marinade for about 10lbs of meat (depending on how spicy you like your meat). The marinade or paste is pretty thick and can be thinned with the water reserved from the chilies or stock if you want a more wet marinade. I divide the marinade into three parts and place the other two parts in small plastic containers that I then freeze until I am ready to use next time.

How to Use This Marinade

As I mentioned, no one at the restaurant knows what is in those little clear plastic bags simply labeled 'adobo', but what they do know is how it is used. According to former employees, for 40lbs of chicken, they use two of the 10oz bags (20 ounces total) of adobo (that's ½ ounce of marinade for each pound of boneless chicken thighs). For 40lbs of steak, they use four 10oz bags (40 ounces total) of adobo (that's 1oz for each pound of steak). Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any reference to the amount of marinade used for Chipotle's Barbacoa, so some experimentation is needed here. Remember the marinade for Chipotle's chicken, steak, and barbacoa is the same, just different amounts of marinade are used depending on the meat being marinaded.

I do not believe my marinade is as concentrated as the abodo sauce that Chipotle uses. My recommendation for best results when using my marinade is to use the following ratio of marinade/paste per pound of meat.

Boneless Chicken Thighs 1 ounce of marinade per pound of meat.
Round Steak 2 ounces of marinade per pound of meat.
Barbacoa (chuck roast) 1 ounce of marinade per pound of meat.

Conclusion

There you have it, my version of Chiptole's marinade. A couple of things to think about when it comes to this marinade or paste. Chipotle is the name of the restaurant, not the marinade. The marinade they use is actually an adobo sauce that is traditionally made with ancho or guajillo peppers not chipotle's (which are smoked jalapeños). Varying the amount of marinade that you use will increase or decrease the intensity of flavor of the meat being marinaded. Soon to come, making your own Chiptole style burritos. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.


References:

Chipotle Fan Website