Jerk Chicken

Name: Jerk Chicken
Total time: 3 h 10 min
Yield: 8 serving(s)
Ingredients: 10 green onions, chopped; 6 large garlic cloves; 3 habanero chiles, stemmed and deseeded; ⅓ cup fresh lime juice; 3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves; 1½ tablespoon brown sugar (packed); 1 tablespoon salt; 1 tablespoon ground allspice; 2 teaspoons ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 5 pounds bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks

Team Mealthy

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Take a culinary trip to the islands with this recipe for Jamaica's most-famous dish. The key is in the Jamaican Jerk spice blend. Start with green onion, garlic, habanero chiles, lime juice, olive oil, soy sauce, fresh thyme, brown sugar, salt, allspice, black pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon. These are all tossed in the blender to create the flavor-packed marinade for chicken thighs and drumsticks. After soaking up the flavors for at least 2 hours, the chicken is baked and then crisped under the broiler. Incredible!

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Servings: 8

Ready in: 3hr 10min PT3H10M
Prep time: 5min
Cook time: 1hr 5min

Ingredients

10 green onions, chopped
6 large garlic cloves
3 habanero chiles, stemmed and deseeded
⅓ cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1½ tablespoon brown sugar (packed)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 pounds bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks

Directions

Blend green onions, garlic, habanero chiles, lime juice, olive oil, soy sauce, thyme, brown sugar, salt, allspice, black pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a food processor until smooth; pour into a large, resealable plastic bag.
Add chicken pieces to the marinade in the bag. Remove as much air from the bag as possible and seal. Massage bag to assure chicken is entirely covered in marinade. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove chicken from marinade and shake to remove excess liquid; arrange onto lined baking sheet.
Roast in preheated oven until a probe thermometer inserted near the bone of the thickest piece of chicken registers 165°F (75°C), about 1 hour.
Set oven to broil.
Toast the chicken under the broiler until skin is crispy, 2 to 4 minutes.

Mealthy tip:

Removing the seeds from chile peppers greatly reduces the spice levels, You can also trim away the white membrane inside the pepper for further heat reduction.

Tagged:

Dinner Weeknight Chicken Latin American Caribbean Video

Reviews

4.5out of 5 Stars

(5 Reviews)

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What others are saying

chef chris says:

The flavor from the marinade is great in this dish. Its just not the authentic jerk chicken I'm used to eating. Other than that, it really was good.

Steve Failows says:

Those habaneros pack a punch, boy was this chicken a spicy little dish. it's my first time tackling a marinade with that kind of kick. I forgot to deseed the habaneros but it still turned out great - it might not be traditional "jerk chicken" but whatever it is I'm making it again real soon.

Tal Levitas says:

I like my food spicy so I didn't seed my Habaneros. If you bake it in the oven, as I did, you lose some of the smoky flavor, but it came out really tender and juicy. The marinade is great, I think I'm going to try the marinade on shrimp next time.

Paul Kriloff says:

Awesome flavor! Definitely tend to it while it cooks - the sugar and the spices in the marinade will burn if you grill on too high a heat (as I did - and foolishly walked away not realizing how hot the grill really was). I also halved the amount of habanero, and it had a perfect amount of heat. I let it marinate overnight and poured the extra marinade on the chicken as it cooked for extra flavor. Delicious!!