Grilled Chicken Marinade
There isn't really enough room to list all the possible combinations of marinades for meats, especially chicken. There are many types of grilled chicken marinades on the market and there are even dozens more you can make at home to satisfy your palate. You really have to experiment and use your good judgment in finding your favorite grilled chicken marinade. Some people like their chicken hot and spicy and others prefer it to be light and tangy.
Chicken and other poultry go well with fruit flavoring. Pineapple chicken along with lemon chicken are often on everybody's list of favorite foods. You can try out pineapple chicken by adding a cup of pineapple juice to your basic chicken marinade or you could try orange juice, lemon juice or cranberry juice. If you are going to use juice in your grilled chicken marinade, you should the use frozen concentrate kind, as it's about three times as strong as the fresh squeezed juices and just as flavorful. Adding a little citrus zest to any type of grilled chicken marinade is a bonus.
There are the traditional ingredients you can use for a grilled chicken marinade such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, jerk seasoning, chili peppers, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, vinegar, wine, ginger, green onions, honey, vegetable oil, brown sugar, sherry, lime juice, cilantro, olive oil, rosemary, thyme, sage or oregano, Of course the ingredients you end up using in your grilled chicken marinade will depend on the type of chicken you are going to cook. Are you going to be eating tandoori chicken, Asian style chicken, Greek chicken, jerk chicken, etc. What about the Portuguese dish chicken piri piri? If you want to eat Italian style chicken, an excellent ingredient for a grilled chicken marinade is Italian style oil and vinegar salad dressing.
There are also many non-traditional ingredients you can use for a grilled chicken marinade, such as soda pop like Sprite or Coca Cola. Remember that a grilled chicken marinade is really there to add flavor to your dish, more than it is for tenderizing the meat. Use you imagination to create your own unique flavor of grilled chicken marinade.
Once you have made your grilled chicken marinade, you should place the chicken in it and then put it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Just remember for maximum flavor with chicken, don't freeze raw chicken for longer than two months. To avoid any chance of bacterial contamination never eat chicken until it's properly cooked. After cutting or handling raw chicken you should thoroughly wash utensils, cutting tools the cutting board and your hands. White meat and skinless chicken has fewer calories.