How to Marinate Chicken?

How do you marinate chicken — an affordable, easy-to-cook, and incredibly tasty meat? What are the details and tips to keep in mind?

Marinade, marinat, or terbiye — they all mean the same thing. The general term for sauces built on a foundation of liquid, acidic ingredients, salt, and spices is called a marinade. It's a process done before cooking that adds flavor and tenderness to chicken. In many of the recipes on our site, you'll see the cooking suggestion "marinate the chicken." So how is it done?

First, cut the chicken you're going to cook into pieces of your desired size. If you want to cook it whole, clean out the inside — or you can have your butcher do this before you purchase it. Pour olive oil into a bowl. Remember, olive oil is the most important element in the marinating process! Along with the olive oil, you can use plenty of spices. The spices you use here depend a bit on your personal preference and taste. However, it's important not to use salt! Using salt in a marinade — that is, using salt before cooking — can cause your chicken to turn out tough rather than tender. For this reason, you can freely use any spices except salt. Adding salt during cooking is an important point to keep in mind! Place your whole chicken or chicken pieces into this prepared sauce, toss well to coat, and then let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. You can even cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. If you don't have that much time, you need to keep it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. However, if the marinade contains highly acidic ingredients such as lemon or vinegar, take care not to marinate for too many hours. Note: You can marinate chicken for a maximum of 24 hours.

You can use a variety of spices when marinating chicken — in fact, you can use whatever you like. Black pepper, oregano, rosemary, sage, basil… These ingredients are the secret to making the most incredibly flavorful chicken you've ever tasted. If you want spicy chicken, you can turn to spices like mustard, red chili powder, or chili pepper. If you prefer tangier flavors, you can use ingredients such as lemongrass, soy sauce, salça (Turkish tomato/pepper paste), or lemon. If you prefer sweeter flavors, you can use honey and pekmez (Turkish grape molasses). Of course, there's no rule that says you have to use each of these separately. You can combine one acidic ingredient, one spicy ingredient, and one sweet ingredient all together — that way, you'll capture all the flavors at once. Also, if you love barbecue sauce, you can make it at home yourself or simply buy it ready-made and use it in your chicken marinade and during cooking.

Click for the Barbecue Chicken Recipe!