Jerk Chicken Marinade
What Is Jerk Chicken?
(No, it is not a chicken that is mean!)
Jerk chicken is chicken that’s either been dry rubbed with jerk seasoning or marinated in jerk marinade. Most commonly, this chicken is cooked on the grill but you can also roast it in the oven. I prefer to cook it on the grill because the marinade flavors are beautifully enhanced by adding the smoke from the grill.
I’ve had A LOT of experience with jerk chicken, whether it was marinated or dry rubbed. There have been some recipes that made me reach for the gallon of milk and down it in one breath and there have been some that were much more pleasant to eat! Personally, I prefer it on the less spicy side, but just spicy enough where I can still taste all of the other flavors.
The most important ingredients in this marinade are the scallions, spicy pepper, aromatic spices like allspice, and fresh lime. When a recipes is this spicy, there’s also a need for the balance of those bold flavors. That’s why I believe that sugar is also quite important to toss into the marinade! Most other ingredients are added to increase the overall flavor of the chicken.
Ingredient Notes
Like I mentioned, there are some ingredients that are most important and I want to mention a few notes on those:
- Onion – A yellow onion and scallions. Keep as much of both as you can just take onion shell off and roots off of both.
- Spicy Pepper – For the best spicy flavor, use either a habanero or scotch bonnet pepper. I have more notes on this one in the recipe card below.
- Ginger – Freshly grated truly does make a huge difference so use the root. Just peel it first.
- Soy Sauce – Use low sodium soy sauce. If you need a gluten free option, use gluten free soy, tamari or coconut aminos.
- Sugar and spice – use brown sugar to balance the heat. A medley of allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried thyme and salt create the bright flavor.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
What Peppers to Use in Jerk Marinade
How spicy this jerk chicken ends up being is completely up to you. Some people like food to be so spicy that you need to call the fire department, and others like it with just a touch of spice! Luckily, the spiciness here can be easily adjusted by choosing what pepper is best for you. I’ve tested just about every pepper in my kitchen and these are my top recommendations for different spice levels:
- Jalapeño – Choose a jalapeño pepper if you want the least amount of spice. Scrape out all the seeds and discard them.
- Serrano or Cayenne – For a moderate amount of heat, you can choose either of these peppers.
- Habanero – Habanero is a much hotter chili pepper! You should choose this one if you’re looking for a moderate to high amount of spice. Again, you can choose to leave seeds in or take them out for more or less spice.
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper – The scotch bonnet pepper is a Caribbean variety of a chili pepper and most commonly used in an authentic jerk marinade. It’s similar to habanero but does tend to be a bit spicier. Using this pepper will make the marinade HOT!
How to Make Jerk Chicken Marinade
Chicken marinades come down to three basic steps: mix, cover, and let it be. After that, it’s up to you to choose the cooking method:
- Blend it up. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in the food processor or a powerful blender. Pulse the food processor until everything is blended and smooth.
- Cover the chicken. Place raw chicken into a large zip-lock bag or a large glass food storage container and pour all the marinade over it.
- Marinate the chicken. Close the bag air-tight and mix so chicken is coated evenly. Lay the bag down in a rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight to marinate.
Food Safety Tips For Marinating Chicken
After working in restaurants for years, I’ve been trained and certified (still certified) in best practices for food safety. I want to share some simple things you can do at home:
- remember to never use reusable plastic containers for marinating raw meats. Use glass storage containers, glass mixing bowls, or single use zip-top bags.
- if using a container or a mixing bowl, make sure to cover it air-tight with plastic wrap.
- do use a rimmed baking sheet under the marinating bag or container to catch leaks if it happens.
- while marinating, make sure store your raw meats on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or below any ready to eat foods.
- do not leave meats to marinate on the counter.
- do not reuse single use zip-top bags if they came in contact with raw meats.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Jerk Chicken Marinade Recipe
Ingredients
- 8-10 chicken drumsticks
Jerk Marinade:
- 1 bunch scallions
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 spicy pepper like Habanero or Scotch Bonnet* (may use jalapenos for less spice)
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
- 2 limes juice only
- 1 lime juice and zest
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- salt
Instructions
Before Making the Marinade:
- Consider your spice level. Before blending everything together, choose your pepper. Then, choose if you want to keep the seeds in or not. Seeds add additional spice and tend to be even spicier than the actual pepper so take that in consideration.
Marinade:
- Chop onion and scallions and add it to the food processor. Add spicy pepper, garlic cloves, and all remaining ingredients. PRO TIP: Squeeze limes that are at room temperature! They will yield more juice than cold limes.
- Pulse until the mixture if completely smooth and blended.
Marinating Chicken:
- Place chicken into a large zip-lock bag and pour all the marinade over it.
- Close the bag air-tight and mix so chicken is coated evenly.
- Lay the bag down in a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate overnight to marinade. (You can marinate it for as little as 2 hours but it's best after 8-12 hours.)
Cooking Jerk Chicken on the Grill:
- Start the charcoal or gas grill and make sure to clean and preheat the it first. Prepare the grill to have two temperature zones: a hot zone directly over the heat and a cooler zone over indirect heat. (In case you need to move the chicken away from direct heat to finish cooking.)
- Take chicken out of the marinade and let most of the marinade drip back into the bag. (Discard leftover marinade.) Spray the chicken with some cooking spray and place it on the grill over direct heat.
- Close the lid and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Open the lid and use metal tongs to flip the chicken quarter of the way. Close the lid and cook for another 5-6 minutes. If it’s browning too fast, turn it more frequently. Repeat until chicken is cooked all around. (Depending on the size of the drumsticks, it will take 30-35 minutes.)
- Use a meat thermometer to take the temperature of the chicken to check for doneness. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the biggest drumstick to check if the internal temperature reached 175°F-180°F. (Yes, chicken thigh meat has a different doneness temperature than chicken breast.)
- If the chicken is browned but not cooked through, finish cooking it over indirect heat with the grill lid closed.
Video
Notes
- *Make It More or Less Spicy: would not dare to add more than ONE scotch bonnet or 1-2 habanero peppers to the average marinade recipe. If you love the spicy, you can try two. If you want less spicy, you an use milder peppers like jalapeño. Younger jalapeño peppers are the least spicy ones and you can add more of those. As a jalapeño pepper ages, it gets spicier.
- To Cook Jerk Chicken In The Oven: To cook jerk chicken in the oven, you can use a cast iron skillet or another oven-safe pan. Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease the cast iron skillet. Take the drumsticks out of the marinade and place them into the skillet. Cook for about 45 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175°F-180°F. Make sure to flip the chicken legs half way through.
- Want to use chicken breast? No problem! You can use chicken breast meat but you will need to adjust the cook time. It will take 18-20 minutes to cook jerk marinated chicken breast. Make sure to use meat thermometer to check if the chicken reached 165°F internal temperature.
Nutrition
Recipe FAQs
My vote will always be for the grill! The grill adds a nice smoky flavor that really compliments the marinade. Plus, it’s the most authentic way to prepare jerk chicken.
Sure thing! Drumsticks are my favorite cut of chicken to marinate with this jerk recipe, but you can use any other type of chicken that you like best. Adjust the cooking time accordingly depending on the chicken you use.
In an airtight container in the fridge, any leftovers you have of grilled jerk chicken will last for about 3-4 days. With bone-in recipes like this one, I recommend reheating either in the oven or air fryer as opposed to the microwave.
More Grilled Meat Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on May 2019.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Delicious marinade. I used it on boneless, skinless chicken thighs that we grilled. Very good. The leftovers were even better. I’ll make this again.
I’m so happy you liked it! Thank you so much for coming to let me know
Very good but next time I will cut onion and scallions in half as that flavor was overwhelming and use 2 or 3 hot peppers as heat was barely detectable.
Thank you for sharing your feedback! I appreciate your input. It’s wonderful to hear you enjoyed the dish overall. Feel free to customize it to your taste, and I hope your next experience with the recipe is even more to your liking!
Fantastic on the chicken breast loved then next stop on whole chicken wings great jerk marinade.
I am so glad you liked them, George! I like this marinade with chicken wings, let me know what you think.
Going to use bone in skin on chicken breast have you use breasts before with any success? Thank you. George
Hi George,
Yes, I have used bone in skin on the breast before and they have come out delicious with this marinade.
Thank you on the menu for this evening can’t wait to try it.👍🏼
So good I felt like eating it before I even put chicken into it. Wow!
I am so glad you liked it!
Hi, Saba! Yes, I did use drumsticks with the skin it will get nice and crispy when you grill it.
Hi Lyuba,
Did you use chicken drumsticks with the skin still on?