Jerk chicken is a Caribbean dish that is most often associated with Jamaica. It is meat, usually chicken but could be lamb, goat, or pork as well, that is marinated and sometimes dry rubbed in a spicy, slightly sweet mixture and then grilled. The result is chicken that is smokey, slightly sweet, a bit sour, and savory that finishes with a kick of heat from the chili peppers. It is delicious.
This cooking method is believed to have begun with African slaves who fled to the mountains of Jamaica with the Tainos people to escape the British capture of the Island in 1655.
The Tainos people taught them to slow cook their meats with a spicy, flavorful sauce that used spices and peppers that grew locally.
Ingredients Needed
Chicken – I like using drumsticks, but any kind of bone-in, skin-on chicken will do.
Scallions – you could also use half of a sweet onion
Garlic
Habanero or scotch bonnet peppers – Habanero has a sweet, fruity flavor with a smokey undertone. Scotch bonnet peppers are just as hot, with a sweet, fruity flavor and an earthy undertone. Be sure to wear gloves when cutting and cleaning the peppers. If you aren’t a fan of spicy food, you could use a jalapeno pepper.
Fresh ginger
Fresh lime juice
Orange juice
Soy sauce
Brown sugar
Fresh thyme
Black pepper
Ground allspice
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cumin
How To Make This Recipe
First, make the marinade by combining all the marinade ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse to chop and combine.
Pour the marinade over the chicken and refrigerate for 3 hours up to overnight.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and grill until the skin is golden and the chicken juices run clear.
Place the chicken drumsticks in a large non-reactive container with a tight-fitting lid or in a large ziptop bag.
In a blender or a food processor, combine the scallions, garlic, peppers, ginger, lime juice, orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, thyme, black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cumin. Blend or pulse until the vegetables are chopped finely and the mixture is combined.
Pour the marinade over the chicken, turning to make sure all the chicken is covered with marinade. Place the cover or seal the bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 3 hours or up to overnight.
When ready to cook, preheat your gas grill to medium-high heat (about 400 degrees). Lightly oil the grill grates with vegetable oil.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and grill, turning occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the drumstick registers 165 degrees – about 40 minutes.