Grilled Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe (Overnight Marinade)

Why You'll Love this Recipe

• Incredible flavor that will take you to the Caribbean!
• Easy to put together
• Marinates overnight without any attention needed
• The marinade can be used with pork as well

What is Jamaican Jerk Chicken?

Obviously, jerk is native to Jamaican cuisine and is most often associated with pork or chicken. The bold flavors of the marinade in an authentic Jamaican Jerk chicken recipe is based around spicy peppers (native bird peppers have been widely replaced by Scotch Bonnet peppers for broader use), warm spices, such as allspice, and fresh thyme. Grilled over wood, the result is a fantastic, uniquely flavored dish.

Ingredients

Here is what you need to make this recipe:

• Onion: Yellow onion is a good foundation for the marinade.
• Green Onion: Another delicious addition to this marinade.
• Kosher Salt & Black Pepper
• Brown Sugar: Just a small amount balances the marinade and helps with some caramelization when cooked on the grill.
• Allspice: Allspice is authentic and the perfect warm spice in jerk dishes adding to the Caribbean flavors.
• Nutmeg: A tiny bit of this warm spice really enhances the chicken. We prefer to freshly grate whole nutmeg, but buying ground nutmeg works too.
• Cinnamon: This final warm spice is delicious in this marinade.
• Thyme: Fresh thyme is authentic in jerk marinades.
• Ginger: Fresh ginger or ginger puree both work well here.
• Garlic: Just a little fresh garlic adds a great flavor
• Scotch Bonnet Peppers: This spicy, sweet and fruity flavored pepper is very common in Caribbean cuisine. If you can't find fresh you can use a puree or crushed pepper sauce. 
• Apple Cider Vinegar: You'd never know it is in the marinade, but it is important.
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce: Low sodium soy sauce gives a perfect flavor to this dish
• Oil: Any neutral oil works, we use avocado oil
• Chicken: We use a whole broken down chicken (hindquarters, breasts, and wings), bone-in and skin-on.

See recipe card below for quantities.

Substitutions

Here are a couple of common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:

• Chicken: Pork is a great alternative to chicken and is common as well.
• Scotch Bonnet Peppers: Although Scotch Bonnet peppers are the perfect pepper for this dish, other hot peppers can be used as well, such as serrano, habanero peppers, or jalapeños.

How to Make Jamaican Jerk Chicken

The marinade ingredients are simply blended and combined with the chicken in a zip-top plastic bag or airtight container and refrigerated overnight. Then the marinated chicken is grilled to perfection the next day and served with your favorite sides!

Equipment

Here is what you need to make this dish

• Blender
• Instant-Read Thermometer

Step-by-Step Instructions

Blend the Marinade

• Add all of the ingredients, except the chicken, to the blender and blend until you have a smooth marinade.

Marinate the Chicken

• Add the wet marinade to a zip-top bag or large airtight container with the chicken and refrigerate overnight.

Grill the Chicken

• Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels to remove excess marinade. Grill over medium high heat until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 180°F for thighs/hindquarters and 160°F for breast meat (approximately approximately 25 minutes for thighs/hindquarters, and 18-20 minutes for chicken breast meat, and. Let the chicken rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
• If you want extra jerk sauce on the side, add the remaining marinade to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Reduce to low and continue simmer until your chicken is ready, then serve alongside the grilled chicken. 

Variations

Here are a couple ways to change up this recipe:

• Need a different cooking method? You can oven roast the chicken in a 400°F oven on a wire rack placed over a foil-lined baking sheet for about 45-50 minutes (flip halfway through) until the internal temp reaches 180°F using a meat thermometer inserted into the thigh meat.
• You don't have to use the whole chicken pieces, bone-in skin-on thighs work best, but you can use different cuts of chicken, such as the breasts, legs, wings or thighs. You will need to adjust your cook time depending on the size of the chicken pieces, but aim for 180°F internal temp for chicken legs/thighs and 160°F internal temp for chicken breast meat.

Storage

How to store leftover Jamaican Jerk Chicken:

• Keep leftover cooked chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

How to reheat leftover Jamaican Jerk Chicken:

• Cover in an oven-safe dish and reheat in a 325°F oven until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.

Can you freeze leftover Jerk Chicken?

• You can also marinate the raw chicken in advance and freeze it for up to 3 months until ready to defrost and grill.
• Yes! You can freeze the leftover cooked chicken. Thaw and reheat as above when ready to use.

Troubleshooting

This is pretty straightforward and as easy as it gets. If you don't have a blender, food processor, or immersion blender, all ingredients can be chopped finely by hand and it will also work.

What to serve with Jamaican Jerk Chicken

We love a traditional Caribbean side dish such as pigeon peas and rice. Peas such as pigeon peas, or black beans, or pinto beans all work well for this too. Our favorite is pigeon peas with jasmine rice that has been cooked with a bay leaf and we finish it off with a few dashes of Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce! Fried plantains or coconut rice are commonly served along with jerk chicken for more flavors of the Caribbean as well.

What To Drink with Jerk Chicken

Beer is a great choice with this dish. A lager that is full bodied goes well with spicy jerk chicken. As far as wines, any white wine that is off-dry or semi-dry will pair well as there is a tiny bit of sweetness to balance the smoky and spicy chicken. Rosé wine is also great to pair with spicy dishes.