Marinate Chicken
Marinating chicken infuses it with flavor and keeps it moist while you cook it. To marinate chicken, you'll need to make a marinade using oil, vinegar or another acidic ingredient, and plenty of seasonings; then, combine the marinade with the chicken for four hours to overnight (keeping it chilled) before cooking it. While there are many great marinades for chicken, some popular options include mustard-based, Italian-style, Chinese-style, and spicy chipotle.
Contents
Ingredients
Mustard Marinade
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup olive oil
Italian Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 pound chicken (breasts, thighs, wings, or any other part)
Chinese Marinade
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or molasses
- 3 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pound chicken (breasts, thighs, wings, or any other part)
Spicy Chipotle Marinade
- 1/4 cup canned chipotle chiles in adobo
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 onion, minced
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound chicken (breasts, thighs, wings, or any other part)
Steps
Making the Marinade
- Finely mince garlic and other fresh ingredients. In order for the flavors of fresh ingredients like garlic, onion, peppers and ginger to be absorbed into the skin of the chicken, it's important to mince them as finely as possible. This way they'll coat the chicken entirely rather than flavoring just one area.
- Mix the ingredients well. Place all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and use a whisk to stir them together well. The oil should become mixed in with the other ingredients, rather than separating.
- You can put the ingredients in a blender and pulse for a few seconds to make sure they are thoroughly combined.
- Some cooks like to put the marinade ingredients in a jar and shake them up.
- Don't worry about getting the ingredients just right. The beauty of marinades is that many ingredients can be substituted for other ones. If you don't have one on hand, check your cabinet to see what you do have. Consider these convenient substitutions:
- Substitute lemon juice for vinegar, or vice versa
- Substitute any kind of oil for olive oil, or vice versa
- Substitute honey or maple syrup for sugar, or vice versa
Marinating the Chicken
- Choose any chicken parts to marinate. The same marinades taste great with chicken breasts, thighs, legs, or wings. Marinate an entire chicken or choose to cut it into parts. You can also marinate either bone-in or boneless chicken.
- Wash the chicken and pat it dry. This removes any leftover flavor from the packaging the chicken came in and gets it ready to absorb the marinade.
- Place the raw chicken and marinade in a food storage container. Find one that just fits the chicken, so when you pour the marinade over it, the liquid will cover most of the chicken parts. Put a lid on the container when you're finished.
- You can use a food storage bag if you don't have glass or plastic containers.
- Don't use a metal container; the chemicals in the metal can react with the marinade and change the flavor.
- Refrigerate the chicken for at least four hours. During this time the flavors in the marinate will become one with the chicken. You can marinate a chicken for just four hours or leave it in the refrigerator overnight for maximum flavor.
Cooking Marinated Chicken
- Bake Chicken. Marinated chicken tastes great when it's baked. Just preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place the chicken in a baking dish, cover it with aluminum foil, and bake until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 degrees.
- The amount of time you need to cook the chicken depends on how much chicken you have. It will usually be about 40 minutes for 1 pound of chicken pieces.
- Pour the extra marinade over the chicken before baking for extra flavor.
- When the chicken is almost finished cooking, remove the aluminum foil and put it back in the oven for a few minutes for a crispy exterior.
- Cook it on the grill. Grilled marinated chicken is a treat, but it requires a little finesse to get it right. Heat the grill, then position the chicken pieces so they get indirect heat; otherwise, you may accidentally overcook them.
- Saute it on the stovetop. Heat a large skillet with a little olive oil. When the pan is hot, place the chicken pieces in the skillet and put a lid on top. Cook the chicken slowly for about 1/2 an hour; the pieces are ready when they've reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
Things You'll Need
- Bowl
- Sealable plastic bag
- Spoon
