Jerk Chicken
Ingredients
- 10 green onions, chopped
- 6 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 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 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 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 marinade is 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 on lined baking sheet. Discard marinade.
- 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.
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. Make this dish gluten-free by swapping tamari (a wheat-free version of soy sauce) for the soy sauce!
Reviews
What others are saying
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!!
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.
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.
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.