The best marinated chicken with spicy barbecue watermelon

Move over ham and pineapple, chicken and watermelon is our new favourite combo and we will be making this sweet, spicy, smoky, barbecued yumminess all summer long. Jude Cottle, who entered her winning recipe in our reader recipe barbecue competition, says she makes the “delish” spice mix in larger quantities and stores it in the pantry in a jar for when it’s needed. We have gone one step further and frozen the chicken in the marinade, so it’s a quick and easy thaw and barbecue on weeknights.

Ingredients

1 tsp	Sea salt flakes
½ tsp	Freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp	Paprika
½ tsp	Ground cumin
¼ tsp	Cayenne pepper
½ cup	Olive oil
2	Garlic cloves, chopped
3 Tbsp	Onions, finely chopped
½ cup	Chopped parsley
1 ½ cups	Beer
8	Chicken pieces, use up to 10, legs and bone-in thighs are good here (Main)

Directions

1. Mix together salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and cayenne. Saving 1 tsp of spice mix for the watermelon (see below), combine the rest of the spice mix with oil, garlic, onion, parsley and beer.
2. Place chicken in an airtight container or ziplock bag and coat with marinade. Leave in fridge for at least an hour (overnight is better) turning every few hours to keep nicely coated.
3. Remove chicken from marinade and barbecue until cooked through. Serve with spicy barbecue watermelon and a green salad.

Spicy barbecue watermelon

Cut ½ small watermelon in to 2cm thick wedges or discs. Drizzle with honey and a sprinkle of spice mix (above) and cook on the barbecue grill until caramelised. Don’t overcook or it will go mushy. Squeeze with lime juice and sprinkle with lime zest and coriander to serve.