Mojo Chicken (Oven, Air Fryer, or Grill)

This Cuban-inspired Mojo Chicken recipe is packed with garlicky citrus flavor! It’s super delicious and versatile—you can make it in the oven, air fryer, or on the grill using easy to find ingredients. Plus, it’s naturally keto-friendly, Whole30, paleo, and gluten-free!

What is Cuban Mojo?

Cuban mojo is a versatile no-cook sauce that can be used both as a marinade and a dipping sauce. The traditional preparation is made with sour orange juice, loads of garlic, salt, and olive oil or lard. Some versions also include oregano and cumin to impart extra flavor. This tangy and garlic-forward sauce is often drizzled on fried yucca or used to marinate various proteins.

I’ve riffed on the traditional recipe by adding shallots to balance the sharpness of the raw garlic. Also, in place of sour orange juice, I use a combination of freshly squeezed orange juice and lime juice. It still hits the perfect savory, acidic, and garlicky notes expected from a classic mojo!

Do you have to stick with chicken thighs?

Nope! I like to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe (in my opinion, it tastes the best, and it’s hard to overcook), but you can substitute chicken breast or skinless and boneless chicken. Just make sure you decrease the cooking time and check that the internal temperature reaches at least 165°F for dark meat and 150°F for white meat. Not a chicken fan? This recipe also works well with pork and shrimp.

Can you make Mojo Chicken in an air fryer or on the grill?

Yes! If you don’t want to heat up your kitchen, you can definitely make Mojo Chicken in an air fryer or on the grill. Instructions are below—or you can just jump to the printer-friendly recipe card at the bottom of this post.

What do you serve with it?

Traditionally, Cuban-style Mojo Chicken is served with black beans and rice and fried sweet plantains. I like to serve this chicken dish with a big green salad, cauliflower rice, roasted vegetables, and/or fried green plantains.

Ingredients

• Garlic: Yep—you’ll need almost a whole head!
• Shallot: It’s not a traditional component in mojo, but it adds subtle sweetness to the marinade and sauce. No shallot? Just use 4 more cloves of garlic or ¼ of a sweet onion.
• Orange zest and juice: Buy 2 oranges to make sure you have enough juice.
• Lime zest and juice: Buy 3 limes to make sure you have enough juice.
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Ground cumin
• Dried oregano
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Chicken thighs: it’s my favorite, but as I mentioned above, you can definitely change up the protein in this recipe!

How to make Mojo Chicken

Blend the mojo sauce

In a high speed blender, combine the garlic cloves, shallot, kosher salt, zest, cumin, oregano, black pepper, juices, and olive oil.

Blitz until smooth.

Reserve some mojo sauce for serving

Pour out about ⅓ cup of the marinade so you can use it as a dipping sauce when the chicken is served. (Just so this step is 100% clear—this reserved 1/3 cup of sauce does not touch raw chicken! You pour 1/3 cup from the blender into a bowl and save it for later to dip the cooked chicken.)

Marinate the chicken

Toss the chicken with some kosher salt…

…and add the remaining marinade.

Cover and marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least an hour and up to a day.

Roast in the oven

Heat the oven to 400°F on convection mode or 425°F on regular mode with the rack in the middle position. Place the chicken skin-side down in a single layer on a stainless steel wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet.

Pop the chicken in the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Then, flip the chicken skin-side up and rotate the tray 180°.

Roast for an additional 15 to 25 minutes or until the skin is brown and crispy and a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part is at least 165°F. (If you’re cooking chicken breasts, aim for an internal temperature of 150°F to 155°F.)

Air Fryer instructions

Cook the chicken thighs in a single layer in the air fryer at 400°F for about 20 to 25 minutes, starting skin-side down and flipping the thighs skin-side up at the halfway mark. Repeat in batches until done.

Grill instructions

Set the grill on high, and once it’s hot, place the chicken pieces on the grates. Then, immediately decrease the heat to low.

Grill the chicken for approximately 25 minutes (or until the internal temperature reaches at least 165°F for thighs or 150°F to 155°F for breasts), turning every 5-7 minutes. Be patient: Don’t go and flip the chicken before they naturally release from the grill surface; otherwise, you’ll leave a lot of tasty, crispy, marinated skin stuck on the grates!

Serve with the mojo chicken with the reserved sauce!

Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 4 months. The sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days in a sealed container. If the sauce separates, just whisk again before serving.

More Nom Nom Paleo chicken thigh recipes

Got a hankering for more nomtastic chicken recipes? Here are some of my faves:

• Asian Chicken Thighs
• Cracklin’ Chicken
• Cantonese Crispy Chicken Thighs
• Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken
• Umami Roast Chicken

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Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).

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 PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD