Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Mix this Jamaican jerk marinade recipe up the night before your barbeque party, and you'll be ready to go straight to the grill.
Yield: 4 servings
Preparation Instructions:
Mix the marinade ingredients together, pour over the chicken, and refrigerate overnight (at least 4 to 6 hours, and up to 2 days).
Zip lock bags make great disposable marinating containers.
Throw the left-over marinade away. Grill as desired.
thespicehouse.com
More About This Recipe
This marinade works for any cut of chicken, especially chicken wings. It's also great for fish, but you don't need a long marination time.
We use 10 or so bone in/skin on thighs and smoke them on our Weber charcoal grill and everyone is hooked!! This seasoning is amazing. We have tried some of the popular jarred brands of jerk and they don’t even compare. Everything we have gotten from The Spice House has been excellent. But this Jerk seasoning is the best!
Would that be okay to inject into a turkey? And what’s the vinegar for? Thanks,
Years ago, maybe 13-14 years ago (maybe even more) I worked on a Jerk recipe after reading a story in the Sunday Magazine in the good old Journal Sentinel newspaper. Having never been to Jamaica (at that time) is was a bit of trial & error on my part and the recipe called for something like 8-10 different spices. So I loaded up and walked down to the local Spice House and started assembling the spices I would need to replicate the recipe in the paper. A few weeks later I would come back and add something here, take something away. During this time I got to know one of the clerks in the store and shared my story as to what I was up to. Let me just say I’m extremely happy with what came of it and I’m glad everyone has enjoyed it!
We substituted fresh smoked chipotle pepper for the scotch bonnet peppers traditionally used in Jamaica. We also added about 2 Tbs. of Jamaican honey, fresh basil, parsley and rosemary from our herb garden and Vidalia onions minced fine. We increased the measurements by 6 all around to accommodate a larger volume needed and put the marinade into empty Walkerwood jerk marinade bottles which we obtained in our last trip to Jamaica. This recipe is not as hot as the Walkerwood, but to us that is great. The balance is better tasting to us and we used the recipe for a glaze which we applied to the jerk chicken during the last stages of the smoking process. The hundreds who ate it, loved the results, as did we.
I took the marinade and brought it to a boil and then added 1 TBSP of starch to it after it simmered for a couple of minutes. This makes a thick sauce that is exploding with flavor to pour over the chicken. The wife is already begging me to make it again.
I’ve used this marinade on chicken wings, breasts, & thighs, burgers, turkey ribs, I’ve even made a jerk turkey breast. Whether grilled, broiled, or baked, it"s always a great entree. The marinade definitely is worth the effort, but when you don’t have time or are missing an ingredient, the seasoning is excellent as a rub also. Another creative spin on it is to use the seasoning with maple sugar and smoked paprika…Magnificent!
The recipe was a piece of cake to make and absolutely delicious. I marinated four chicken breasts in a bag overnight and grilled them the next. Absolutely delicious, tender, juicy chicken was the result. My girlfriend and I love this stuff and are going to make some tomorrow night for a few guests. Can’t wait!
I’ve never had jerk chicken before, but I can guarantee I’ll have it again and again now. I halved the recipe on the bottle, and just used a couple chicken breasts. Patty recommended I reserve a little of the marinade ahead of time for dipping after the chicken was cooked, and that was a fabulous thing. This was so good I want to do it again tomorrow. The marinade really isn’t hard to make, and it imparts such wonderful flavor.
A big bag of this will definitely be in my next order. This is going to make summer grilling extra delicious.
Great seasoning! I’ve used on boneless pork loin and chicken and love the spicy aroma of the marinade, not to mention the great flavor!
I doubled up on the Marinade but I like it hotter and more like the Jerk Chicken at Boston Beach, Jamaica so I add a teaspoon of Habanero powder. Then let 2 packages of Chicken thighs Marinade for 2 days. On the second day I put all of the chicken and marinade in a 6qt Pressure cooker and cooked it all on high pressure for 20 minutes. Use natural release. While it’s in the pressure cooker get a charcoal grill real hot. Take the chicken out of the pressure cooker with tongs being careful not to pull the skin off.
Coat the chicken with dry Jamaican rub and put on the grill long enough to char the skin.
This has to be the best Jerk Chicken ever. The meat falls off of the bone and has a great smokey flavor.
My friends devoured the chicken like they were starving.