Jamaican Jerk Chicken (Grilling and Oven Method)

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

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

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 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?

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• Jamaican jerk salsa
• Jerk chicken enchiladas
• Maple-braised turkey legs and thighs
• Beer-braised Mexican shredded beef

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