That is the BEST hen marinade recipe and is essential to getting extremely moist, juicy and flavorful hen! It’s tremendous straightforward to make and nice for grilling or baking hen.
I’ve so many various hen recipes on the positioning (like my apple cider vinegar hen and air fryer hen cutlets), so I couldn’t imagine it once I realized that I haven’t shared my favourite hen marinade recipe… that’s till in the present day!
This hen marinade is my secret weapon for remodeling strange hen into one thing actually particular. Whether or not you’re grilling, baking, or pan-searing, it is a recipe you need to maintain readily available. It’s assured to grow to be your new go-to marinade for juicy, flavorful hen!
I like meal prepping this recipe for the week to serve for dinner with a facet of rice and veggies like these air fryer brussels sprouts, roasted asparagus or roasted carrots. It will even be a scrumptious addition to any salad like this massaged kale salad, arugula salad or straightforward spinach salad. The choices are actually countless!
and the Google Privateness Coverage and
Phrases of Service apply.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Versatile – This marinade works nice with any reduce of hen (i.e. breasts, tenders or thighs) and it may be grilled (attempt it with my grilled hen), pan-seared, baked within the oven or cooked within the air fryer (attempt my air fryer hen breast). There’s no incorrect manner to make use of this marinade!
- Straightforward – This marinade makes use of pantry staple components that you simply most likely have already got in your kitchen and it takes solely 5 minutes to prep.
- Juicy and Scrumptious – This marinade helps to tenderize the hen, leading to juicy, tender hen each single time! No dry hen over right here!
Elements Wanted
- hen – you need to use breasts, tenders or thighs, bone-in or boneless, skin-on or skinless — no matter you like or have readily available will work. Every sort will take in the marinade fantastically, making the hen juicy and flavorful.
- lemon juice – this provides a vibrant, citrus taste that helps tenderize the hen. I like to recommend utilizing freshly squeezed lemon juice for one of the best taste.
- balsamic vinegar – this additionally helps to tenderize the hen, including provides a wealthy, barely candy taste with out sugar.
- soy sauce – provides a beautiful umami taste that enhances the sweetness of the vinegar and tanginess of the lemon juice. I normally use low-sodium soy sauce so I can management the sodium content material. You need to use tamari or coconut aminos if that’s what you’ve gotten readily available.
- brown sugar – provides a touch of sweetness to steadiness the acidity from the lemon juice and vinegar, serving to to create a caramelized crust on the hen when cooked. You may skip this for those who don’t need the added sugar! Be at liberty to make use of coconut sugar as an alternative.
- further virgin olive oil – that is the bottom of the marinade, serving to to coat the hen, retaining it moist and juicy.
- worcestershire sauce – don’t skip this! It provides a ton of taste to the marinade!
- garlic – a much-needed ingredient for extra taste! I like to make use of the frozen crushed garlic cubes as a time-saver. You may as well use garlic powder as an alternative of contemporary if that’s what you like. I might begin with 1/2-1 teaspoon garlic powder to interchange the three cloves.
- contemporary herbs – that is non-obligatory, however including contemporary herbs like parsley, cilantro or thyme as a garnish provides a pop of colour and contemporary taste to the completed dish.
Extra Marinade Concepts
I like the flavour of this marinade as is, however there are a ton of the way to change it up or completely different marinades you need to use. Listed here are some concepts:
How you can Make Hen Marinade
Step 1: Mix all of your components in a small bowl to create the marinade.
Step 2: Add hen to a big zip-loc bag or glass container. Pour the marinade over the hen and marinade for not less than 2 hours, or in a single day within the fridge.
Step 3: Take away hen from the marinade, shake off extra and discard leftover marinade.
Step 4: Prepare dinner your marinated hen your required methodology (on the grill, over the stovetop, within the oven or air fryer) till the inner temperature is 165°F.
Brittany’s Tip!
- Make a double batch of the marinade and freeze half in an ice dice tray. As soon as frozen, switch the cubes to a resealable plastic bag. You’ll have pre-portioned marinade prepared to make use of for future meals, making meal prep even simpler. Simply thaw and marinate as normal!
- When you’re utilizing hen breasts, I like to recommend pounding them to assist forestall uneven cooking.
- When you’re brief on time you’ll be able to marinate the hen for less than half-hour, I might simply suggest poking holes within the hen with a fork to assist the marinade penetrate the hen faster.
What to Serve with Marinated Hen
How you can Retailer
- Within the fridge: Retailer any leftover hen in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 4 days. This makes it straightforward so as to add to salads, wraps, or take pleasure in as a fast protein choice for meals.
- Within the freezer: I might solely freeze the hen for those who’re beginning with uncooked, not beforehand frozen hen. I wouldn’t defrost frozen hen after which freeze it once more. To freeze, place in a freezer-safe container and retailer within the freezer for as much as 3 months. Thaw within the fridge in a single day earlier than reheating.
- To reheat: Reheat hen within the air fryer or on the stovetop in a skillet for one of the best outcomes. You may as well reheat the hen within the microwave, nevertheless it’ll lose a few of its crispness.
Continuously Requested Questions
For one of the best taste, I like to recommend marinating the hen for not less than 2 hours. When you’re brief on time, you’ll be able to marinate it for half-hour, however you would possibly need to poke holes within the hen with a fork to assist the marinade penetrate the hen faster. You probably have the time, marinating in a single day will enable the flavors to totally penetrate the meat, making it much more scrumptious. I simply wouldn’t marinate the hen for longer than 24 hours in any other case the marinade will begin to break down the meat, inflicting it to get powerful and probably mushy.
You need to use any reduce of hen! Breasts, cutlets, tenders, thighs or drumsticks will all work. And you need to use bone-in or boneless, skin-on or skinless — no matter you like or have readily available will work. Simply be aware, that the completely different cuts of hen will take completely different quantities of time to prepare dinner. At all times you should definitely test the inner temperature of the hen earlier than consuming. It’s prepared when the inner temperature is 165°F.
Completely! This marinade works nicely with pork, beef and even tofu. Simply regulate the marinating and cooking occasions accordingly to go well with the protein you’re utilizing.
You may grill, bake or prepare dinner the hen on the stovetop or within the air fryer! The prepare dinner time will differ relying on the way you prepare dinner it, however you’ll know when the hen is prepared when the inner temperature reaches 165°F.
In style Hen Recipes
Make sure you take a look at all the hen recipes on EBF!
When you loved this recipe, please take into account leaving a ⭐ star ranking and let me know the way it went within the 📝 feedback beneath.
