Summer Fresh Peach Salsa with Grilled Chicken Breasts

Summer Fresh Peach Salsa with Grilled Chicken Breasts is a delicious combination! Fresh peach salsa takes ordinary grilled chicken breasts to a whole new level!

Recipe inspirations come from many places.  When I read about a peach salsa on Biz's blog yesterday, I instantly knew what I was going to make for dinner. 

The southern peaches we have had in my grocery store for the past few weeks have been outstanding.  Juicy and sweet, yet firm enough to work with. 

Having already decided that chicken was going to be the main course, I decided to make a simple marinade that mimicked the flavors of the salsa for the chicken, grill it, and serve it all over a bed of rice pilaf topped with the salsa and steamed broccoli on the side.  It was delicious.

This salsa is really wonderful enough to stand on its own with some pita or tortilla chips.  I imagine it would also be good on top a salad or over some grilled or pan seared fish. 

I changed up Biz's original recipe, by reducing the sugar even more than she did, omitting the fish sauce and replacing it with salt, using fresh sweet red pepper, and adding onion. The only reason I replaced the fish sauce was because I planned on serving it over chicken.  But if you plan to serve this over fish, I highly recommend using the fish sauce in place of the salt, as it gives dishes such a depth of salty flavor and no...it isn't too fishy.  ( replace salt with 1 TBSP fish sauce )

I was able to use the very first harvest off my little patio garden....a jalapeno!  It wasn't very spicy though...so I did need to jazz up the salsa with a few squirts of sriracha. Not all fresh jalapenos are created equal.  Some are super spicy, others not so much. 

This really is a great summer time meal, as you use your outdoor grill and don't really need to do much cooking that will heat up your kitchen.  I hope you will enjoy this dish as much as my family did!

Summer Fresh Peach Salsa with Grilled Chicken Breasts

(peach salsa recipe adapted from My Bizzy Kitchen )

Printable Recipe

Servings - 6   Serving size - 1 grilled chicken breast and approx. 1/4 cup salsa  Points Plus per serving - 4 Points+ (for chicken and salsa),  1Points+ (for salsa alone)

Nutritional information for chicken breast and salsa:  Calories - 151.8,   Total Fat - 2.9g,   Carb - 8/1g,   Protein - 23.7g,   Fiber - 1.4g

Nutritional information for  approx 1/4 cup salsa alone:  Calories - 31.8,   Total Fat - 0.1g,   Carb - 8.1g,   Protein - 0.7g,   Fiber - 1.4g

For the chicken marinade:

6 - 4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

2 TBSP fresh lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

For the peach salsa:

3 firm, ripe, peaches, peeled and small diced

1/4 cup red onion, small diced

1/2 cup sweet red pepper, small diced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed, small diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 TBSP  fresh lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper ( optional )

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 TBSP fresh mint leaves, chopped

1.  Combine all ingredients for chicken marinade in a zipper plastic bag and allow to sit in fridge for at least 30 minutes.( not much longer though! )

2. While chicken is marinating, combine all ingredients for the salsa in small bowl.  Mix well.  Allow to sit in refrigerator until chicken is done cooking to meld flavors.  

3.  Heat grill to med-high.  Discard leftover marinade and grill marinaded chicken until done or internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. 

4.  Serve grilled chicken with about 1/4 cup of the peach salsa on top. 

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This really did make a quick and delicious weeknight dinner.  You could easily make the salsa up the night before, but I wouldn't recommend marinating the chicken for much more than 30 minutes, as the lime juice will start to cook the chicken and make the outside kind of mushy. Thirty minutes is really all you need.