5 Spice Grilled Chicken Thighs with a Blackberry Glaze

I was looking for a blackberry chicken recipe.  I like blackberries and always thought that the flavors would go really well with chicken.  So I was looking on My Recipes and found a really easy one that uses blackberry preserves and Chinese 5 Spice powder.  If you never had Chinese 5 Spice powder give it a try.  It's made up of different things such as: cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise which gives it that licorice flavor and yet I still like the way the powder tastes...LOL!!  Mixed with the other spices it just works really well.  It also has a tiny bit of heat as there are some ground up Szechuan peppercorns in it as well.

5 Spice Grilled Chicken Thighs with a Blackberry Glaze

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 (3-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking spray
3/4 cup sugar-free seedless blackberry jam (such as Smucker's)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon water
3/4 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
Fresh blackberries (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare grill.
2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle spice mixture evenly over chicken. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cook chicken 6 minutes on each side or until done.
3. While chicken grills, combine jam and next 3 ingredients in a nonstick skillet. Simmer over medium-low heat 8 minutes or until glaze is reduced to 1/2 cup. Drizzle glaze evenly over chicken; garnish with blackberries, if desired. Serve immediately.