Marinades are great to enhance and give the chicken a distinct flavor. Marinating the chicken before grilling or baking not only makes it more flavorful and juicer but also softens the meat. A marinade usually contains oil, seasoning, herbs and some kind of acidic ingredient such as lemon juice, wine or yogurt, which is responsible for tenderize the meat.
Some important points you should consider when marinating chicken:
- In order to get better results, you should marinate the chicken pieces for at least 1 hour. If you are marinating longer than 1 hour, put the chicken in the refrigerator in a covered container because at room temperature bacteria can grow. However make sure not to marinate the chicken longer than specified in the recipe. In case the marinade is very acidic it can break down the fibers of the meat if marinated too long, resulting in mushy flesh.
- When marinating, prefer re-sealable plastic bags or non-metallic containers such as glass or stainless steel. Aluminum containers react with the acid and may leave a metallic taste in the food.
- If you want to serve the remaining chicken marinade as sauce, make sure you boil it for some minutes to destroy any bacteria from the raw chicken.
Below you find a recipe for chicken marinade. If you want to see more chicken marinade recipes, just click here.
Marinade for Chicken
Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup salad oil
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions:
- Mix together all the above ingredients. Place marinade in a re-sealable plastic bag with chicken parts.
- Marinate chicken overnight, turning once or twice to insure complete marinate. Bake or grill chicken.
