Jerk Chicken is marinated in a flavorful and spicy Jerk Chicken Marinade and cooked on the grill. This marinade is made with scallions, onion, spicy pepper, garlic, lime and an aromatic array of spices that infuse a great amount of flavor into the chicken. This chicken is sweet, spicy, and aromatic but the spice level can be easily adjusted. For BEST results, marinate chicken overnight.
For the grilling season, you need many marinade and dry rub recipes so try my Greek Chicken Marinade and the Ultimate Dry Rub.
JERK CHICKEN
Jerk Chicken is a chicken that has 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.
The most important ingredients in the marinade is scallions, spicy pepper, aromatic spices like allspice, and lime. When a recipes is this spicy, there is also a need for the balance of flavor and that’s why I believe that sugar is also quite important. Most other ingredients are added to increase the overall flavor of the chicken.
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 less spicy, just spicy enough where I can still taste all other flavors.
WHAT PEPPER TO USE IN JERK MARINADE
How spicy is Jerk Chicken 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, Jerk Chicken marinade spiciness can be easily adjusted by choosing a different spicy pepper.
So before deciding which pepper to use for jerk marinade, figure out how much spice you can handle
Jalapeno – choose a jalapeno pepper is you want the least amount of spice. For the least spice, scrape out all the seeds and discard them.
Serrano or Cayenne – for moderate amount of heat, you can choose either Serrano or cayenne chili pepper.
Habanero – habanero is a much hotter chili pepper and you should choose that one if you are 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 – Scotch bonnet pepper is a Caribbean variety of a chili pepper and most commonly used in an authentic Jerk marinade. It is similar to habanero but does tend to be spicier. So using this pepper will make the marinade HOT.
Personally, I would not dare to add more than ONE scotch bonnet or habanero pepper to the average marinade recipe. If we’re talking jalapeno, feel free to add two or even three. Younger jalapeno peppers are the lease spicy ones and you can add more of those. As jalapeno pepper ages, it gets spicier.
HOW TO MAKE JERK MARINADE
Making Jerk marinade is as simple as combining all ingredients in a blender and pulsing until smooth.
Before blending everything together, choose your pepper. Next step is to 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.
Chop onion and scallions and add it to the food processor. Add spicy pepper, garlic cloves, and all remaining ingredients. Pulse until the mixture if completely smooth and blended.
Place chicken into a large zip-lock bag and pour all the marinade over it. Close the bag and mix so chicken is coated evenly. Lay the bag down in a large plate and refrigerate overnight to marinade.
HOW TO COOK JERK CHICKEN
On The Grill
Start the coals and make sure to preheat the grill first. Brush the grill grate with some oil to grease it and place chicken drumsticks on the grill.
Close the lid and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Open the lid and use metal tongues to flip the chicken quarter of the way. Close the lid and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Flip chicken another quarter of the way. Repeat until chicken is cooked all around. (Depending on the size of the drumsticks, it will take 30-35 minutes.)
Use a leave-in thermometer to take the temperature of the chicken as it cooks. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the biggest drumstick and cook until the internal temperature is 165°.
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° and grease the cast iron skillet. Take drumsticks out of the marinade and place chicken into the skillet. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour until the internal temperature reaches 165°.
SOME MORE RECIPES TO TRY
Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken Wings
Grilled Garlic Chicken Drumsticks
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Jerk Chicken Marinade
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
Marinade:
- Chop onion and scallions and add it to the food processor. Add spicy pepper, garlic cloves, and all remaining ingredients.
- 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 and mix so chicken is coated evenly.
- Lay the bag down in a large plate and refrigerate overnight to marinade.
Cooking Jerk Chicken on the Grill:
- Start the coals and make sure to preheat the grill first. Brush the grill grate with some oil to grease it and place chicken drumsticks on the grill.
- Close the lid and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Open the lid and use metal tongues to flip the chicken quarter of the way. Close the lid and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Flip chicken another quarter of the way. Repeat until chicken is cooked all around. (Depending on the size of the drumsticks, it will take 30-35 minutes.)
- Use a leave-in thermometer to take the temperature of the chicken as it cooks. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the biggest drumstick and cook until the internal temperature is 165°.
Notes
Nutrition
Saba says
Hi Lyuba,
Did you use chicken drumsticks with the skin still on?
LyubaB says
Hi, Saba! Yes, I did use drumsticks with the skin it will get nice and crispy when you grill it.