When the islands are calling, this flavorful, spicy Jamaican jerk chicken will make you think you’re on a tropical vacation. In just minutes, you can throw together this homemade jerk marinade for easy entertaining. Grill or oven roast this chicken — both methods are delicious and guaranteed crowd pleasers.
When I think about the best experiences of my life, a week spent in Jamaica with Matt easily ranks at the top, namely because of the abundance of jerk chicken, bottomless drinks and beautiful views, but getting there was filled with hunger and dreams of a good meal.
Our first flight was at 6 a.m., so we didn’t bother with breakfast. Mistake. We figured we’d have enough time to pick up a quick lunch before our connecting flight. But in typical airport fashion, our first flight was so delayed that we had to breathlessly sprint to our connecting gate with no time for lunch.
By the time we arrived in Jamaica in the early evening, we only had a couple bags of sad crackers all day. This lady can’t live like that. After all, you don’t run a food blog if you don’t treasure every meal.
So we grabbed a couple frozen drinks to hold us over as we explored the resort looking for some food. Fortunately, it didn’t take us long to discover a big beach party with piles of fried fish and dumplings, a table full of dessert and all the jerk chicken I could eat.
That meal cured me. Since that moment, jerk chicken and I became soul mates. Dramatic? A bit. But it’s true.
Only two days after returning to reality in the states, I needed some Caribbean food back in my life, especially that comforting Jamaican jerk chicken, so I made it happen with this easy yet flavorful recipe.
Ingredients in Jerk Marinade
Before we jump into the cooking process, let’s take a moment to gather our ingredients.
Obviously, we need chicken. For the chicken, you can cut up a whole chicken or buy your favorite type of meat precut, such as a package or two of chicken thighs, which is my preferred cut. If you’d like a whole chicken for a combination of white and dark meat but don’t want to cut it yourself, you can ask your butcher to cut it for you. They’re handy like that.
Or you could always grab a package of thighs, drumsticks and breasts and mix it all together. Sometimes I do that and freeze what I don’t use. As long as you have your favorite type of bone-in chicken, you’re good to go.
If you plan to use chicken breasts, I suggest cutting them in the middle first. A sharp knife takes care of this easily, and it makes for more even cooking.
For the marinade, we need soy sauce, spiced rum, lime juice and olive oil for our liquids, and onion, garlic, fresh ginger, dark brown sugar and plenty of warms spices for flavor. I love using these spices for our jerk marinade.
- Allspice
- Five-spice powder
- Pepper
- Nutmeg
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
Traditionally, jerk chicken also uses scotch bonnet peppers, but I’ve struggled to find them at my local grocery stores. Bummer. Fortunately, habanero peppers are close cousins and work well in this recipe, so I use two habaneros for heat. This is enough to give the jerk sauce a lingering spice kick without overwhelming the other flavors. That said, if you like to get extra fiery, feel free to add another pepper or two.
How to Make Jerk Marinade
Now that we have our ingredients, we’re ready to put together our jerk marinade. We start by tossing our habaneros, onion, ginger, garlic, dark brown sugar and spices into a food processor and giving it a whirl until everything begins to roughly come together like so.
With the food processor running, we pour in our liquid ingredients and blend. The mixture won’t be perfectly smooth. We’ll still have a chunky texture, but that’s OK.
That’s it as far as making the marinade. We pour the marinade over raw chicken and let it sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of four hours, though I highly recommend an overnight soak. Once the time passes, we’re ready to cook our Jamaican jerk chicken.
How to Grill Jamaican Jerk Chicken
I love how this Jamaican jerk chicken recipe works well in the oven or grill. Both methods are delicious, though I prefer grilling this chicken. Not only is grilling the traditional preparation method but it also adds a more tropical feel. As someone who perpetually daydreams about lounging at the beach, this is an important factor for me.
For our grilled Jamaican jerk chicken, we create two zones on our grill: a hot zone and a cool zone. To do this, we heat one side of the grill over medium heat and leave the other side of the grill on low. We place our chicken skin-side down, close the lid and let the chicken grill until those perfect char marks appear.
From here, we flip our chicken skin-side up and move it to the cool part of the grill and turn off the low burners. We close the lid again and cook until the chicken reaches 165 degrees. And that’s it! Easy, huh?
How to Make Jamaican Jerk Chicken in the Oven
While grilling this jerk chicken is my favorite method, it also cooks nicely in the oven. This is perfect for those cold winter days when you’re longing for an island-inspired meal but also don’t want to freeze while standing over the grill.
To make our Jamaican jerk chicken in the oven, we place our chicken in a cast-iron skillet or baking dish. I prefer the cast-iron skillet for its rustic presentation, but a baking dish works just fine. Now we pop it in a hot oven and roast until the chicken cooks through. About 45 minutes or so should do it. We then allow a chicken to sit for a few minutes and then proceed to devour. Bonus points for enjoy with a heaping side of tropical coconut-lime rice.
Perfect Pairing
With this spicy Caribbean dish, I recommend a helles lager. With a helles, you get a malt-forward profile that tackles the heat as well as plenty of palate-refreshing bubbles for the spice. Plus, a nice helles lager has that crisp finish that makes it perfect for patio drinking. I also love a citrus-forward saison with this Jamaican jerk chicken.
Craving a glass of wine instead? Try this chicken with a riesling. The touch of sweet fruit helps balance the heat, and the zippy acidity helps brighten all those rich flavors.
When a taste of the Caribbean is just what you need, I hope you try this jerk chicken. Please let me know how you enjoyed this jerk chicken recipe in the comment section and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can also catch me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.
Cheers!
Can’t Get Enough Jerk Chicken?
- Jamaican jerk pork shoulder
- Jamaican jerk salsa
- Jerk chicken enchiladas
- Maple-braised turkey legs and thighs
- Beer-braised Mexican shredded beef
Jerk Chicken
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
When the islands are calling, this flavorful, spicy Jamaican jerk chicken will make you think you’re on a tropical vacation. In just minutes, you can throw together this homemade jerk marinade for easy entertaining. Grill or oven roast this chicken — both methods are delicious and guaranteed crowd pleasers.
Ingredients
2 habanero or scotch bonnet peppers, sliced, leave in seeds and membrane
1 onion, roughly chopped
6 green onions, sliced
1-inch knob of ginger, peeled and sliced or grated
3 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon five-spice powder
1 tablespoon pepper
1 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup spiced rum
Juice of three limes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bone-in chicken, cut-up, about 4 pounds (see note)
Instructions
For Grilling
- Toss the peppers, onion, green onions, ginger, garlic, sugar and spices into a food processor. Blend until everything roughly combines. As the machine runs, add soy sauce, rum, lime juice and canola oil. When you remove the lid from the food processor, it will smell intensely peppery. Don’t worry. This is normal. Pour over chicken and turn a few times to ensure it’s well-coated. Refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight.
- Before cooking, pull chicken from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Heat one side of the grill over medium heat. On the other side, heat over low. Grease the grill. Place the chicken skin-side down on the hot side of the grill, cover and cook until grill marks appear, about three to five minutes.
- Flip the chicken and move to the cooler side of the grill. Leave the burners as they are. Close the lid and cook for about 10 minutes. Check on the chicken. It’s ready when it reaches 165 degrees. If the chicken hasn’t reached that internal temperature yet, close the lid and check on the chicken in about five minutes. Repeat if necessary. The exact cooking time of the chicken depends on the size of your pieces.
- When the chicken reaches the safe internal temperature, remove from the grill, tent with foil and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
For Oven Roasting
- Toss the peppers, onion, green onions, ginger, garlic, sugar and spices into a food processor. Blend until everything is roughly combines. As the machine runs, add soy sauce, rum, lime juice and canola oil. When you remove the lid from the food processor, it will smell intensely peppery. Don’t worry. This is normal. Pour over chicken and turn a few times to ensure it’s well-coated. Refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight.
- Before cooking, pull chicken from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place chicken skin-side up in a large cast-iron skillet or baking pan and roast until the meat reaches 165 degrees. This should take about 35-45 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken. Remove from oven, tent with foil to keep warm and let sit for 10 minutes before serving chicken. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cut the chicken breasts in half, making four pieces of breast meat. Otherwise, the breast pieces tend to be huge and will take much longer to cook than the rest of the chicken. You could also simply pick up 4 pounds of your favorite cut of bone-in chicken, such as 4 pounds of thighs, drumsticks, breasts or a combination. If you want to pick up a whole chicken but don’t want to cut it yourself, your butcher can do that for you. Some grocery stores also sell whole chickens already cut up and packaged.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Grilling or Oven
- Cuisine: Jamaican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece of chicken
- Calories: 261
- Sugar: 5
- Sodium: 1,502
- Fat: 8
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 10
- Fiber: 0
- Protein: 33
- Cholesterol: 87
Keywords: jerk chicken, grilled chicken, roasted chicken
We loved Jamaica and all the food the island had to offer. So glad to bring a little bit of Jamaica into our home with this jerk chicken recipe.
★★★★★
I figure it’s the next best thing outside of another trip!
Oh my!! That jerk marinade looks and sounds to die for. I have never made one at home myself so I am going to save this drooling recipe right now and I can’t wait to make it as soon as I come back from hols – thanks for sharing !
★★★★★
You’re welcome! It really is delicious. Enjoy!
So I’ve just returned from two weeks in Portugal and I’m already dreaming about Jamaica. That travel to Jamaica – not so much. This dish looks spectacular and is a delicious way to experience Jamaica until I get the chance to actually come. Fantastic recipe!
★★★★★
That does seem like it could be an extra long trip for you, but it’s so worth it! Hope you enjoy this in the meantime. 😀
Fantastic dish and a great recipe, especially the spice mix for the marinade! Perfect for the BBQ season indeed.
★★★★★
For sure — enjoy!
I travel a lot within the Caribbean and I adore jerk chicken so much, sometimes I’m tempted to invest in my very own jerk pit so I can cook it like they do over there! Your version looks absolutely delicious though.
★★★★★
That would be a cool investment!
This dish is cooked to perfection! I had no idea Jerk chicken had Habaneros in it…no wonder it is so delicious. Can’t wait to try this !
★★★★★
The peppers definitely had great flavor!
I bet this is spicy with the peppers which would make my husband so happy, so this is a must-try recipe.
★★★★★
It’s definitely perfect for any spice lover! 🌶❤️
This chicken looks perfect. I love all the spices and the crust on the chicken. Need to make soon!
★★★★★
Thanks, Erika! I’m sure you’ll love it.
I love a good chicken marinade and this one looks amazing. I like habaneros but man they pack some heat! I’m definitely going to have to give this recipe a try soon
★★★★★
They definitely do, but I think it’s the perfect amount of heat! 😀
You made me want to travel to Jamaica right away, but for now…let’s make this at home! Love the flavors and how it turns out.
★★★★★
I highly recommend the Jamaica visit, but this is definitely great in the meantime! 🏝
I tried jerk chicken for the first time ever this year, and I am already hooked! Now I NEED to make it at home!
★★★★★
Isn’t it great? Hope you love this recipe!
I had a Jamaican jerk taco at a local restaurant few years ago and I fell in love. The spices are robust yet subtle and so so good with mango salsa. Thanks for sharing the authentic recipe.
★★★★★
You’re so welcome! Those warm spices get me every time.
This chicken is mouth wateringly delicious. I’ve never had jerk chicken ( or been to Jamaica!) but I need to change that soon! Love all the flavours in the marinade!
★★★★★
I hope you do! Both are so worth it. 😀
I already feel as if I am traveling far away to my favorite island – just by reading this delicious recipe! Time for me to get all the ingredients that I need and have a tropical trip without leaving my house LOL
★★★★★
Next best thing, I figure!
I’m literally drooling over the pictures. The flavors and the way you cooked makes me want to try this recipe ASAP.
★★★★★
Thanks! I hope you love it.
I LOVE using jamican jerk seasoning on chicken – it’s so easy and SO flavorful!
★★★★★
For sure! 😀