It is nearly summer which means I want to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen as possible.
We tend to grill out at least once a week and I love making simple dinners of chicken, salads, grilled veggies. I thought you might feel the same and came up with (4) easy and quick marinades to use for chicken. You can bake your chicken, grill it or even pop it into the slow cooker/instant pot.
Make a few bags of marinade up at the start of the week for quick dinner prep or you can mix these up and pop in the freezer to use later.
I have spicy, mild, creamy, citrusy and tangy so hopefully there is something for everyone.
Ready to grill? Here goes:
- Jerk:
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
- ¼ cup Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 chopped habanero chile
- ¼ cup chopped green onions
- 2 lbs of chicken thighs or breast
- Rosemary/Lemon:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice (juice from about 1 larger lemon)
- ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
- 2 lbs of chicken thighs or breast
- .
- Huli Huli:
- ½ cup fresh pineapple juice*
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons chicken broth
- 4 lbs chicken thighs or breast
- .
- Thai Coconut:
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- fresh cilantro to top if desired
- 4 lbs chicken breast or thighs
- .
- Jerk Marinade:
- Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until the chiles and onions are pretty well integrated.
- Mixture will be somewhat muddy.
- Score your chicken breast, season with salt and pepper and pour over chicken.
- Rub the marinade into the chicken breast to really get the flavors inside and store in fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Rosemary/Lemon Chicken:
- Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl to incorporate
- Score chicken and pour marinade over chicken- allow to sit in fridge for 6 hours to overnight.
- Thai Coconut:
- Mix together all ingredients and whisk to incorporate.
- Score chicken gently and pour marinade over the top or place in a large ziploc bag.
- Allow to rest in fridge for 6 hours to overnight.
- Huli Huli:
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and pour over scored chicken breast or thighs.
- Allow to marinade at least 6 hours or overnight.
I do like to score the chicken gently so the marinades can really get in to flavor the chicken.
I place these in large Ziploc bags and gently massage the marinades in to the chicken.
For the jerk chicken, you can substitute pumpkin pie spice for a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
For the Huli Huli chicken, it can be difficult to find pineapple juice. I often look in the fresh juice section (usually near chopped fruits) or the section with lemon and lime juices. If you are using a sugary pineapple juice (not a fresh squeezed 100% juice), you might omit or reduce the sugar in that recipe.
Two of these recipes are for larger quantities of chicken (4 lbs) and some are smaller quantities (1-2 lbs.) You can easily double the recipe or cut the recipe in half to suit your needs.
If you give one of these a shot, please come back and let me know what you think!
Here are a few other ideas for chicken that you might like:
Copycat Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken
Creamy Garlic and Rosemary Chicken
Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
I think i will try Huli Huli out and by the way, is the name given by you, it is very unique.
Hi Amphasis, it is a Hawaiian dish. Huli is the Hawaiian word for turn so it refers to the technique to grill the chicken. The original Huli Huli recipe is proprietary but it is sort of similar to a teriyaki chicken.
Hope you like it 🙂