Jerk Chicken Marinade Recipe

4.88 from 8 votes

Jerk chicken marinade is an easy chicken marinade bursting with spicy, aromatic flavors! This marinade features scallions, onions, spicy chili peppers, garlic, brown sugar, lime juice and an aromatic array of bold spices.

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Marinating time10

Total Time10 45

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Caribbean

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings:

Calories: 577kcal

Author: Lyuba Brooke

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