Jamaican jerk chicken

If you like spicy flavours, you’ll love our Jamaican jerk chicken. The flavour of a Jamaican jerk marinade is a wonderful mix of spice sweet and zingy acid, it really gets your taste buds going. This easy recipe is great cooked indoors in the oven of outdoors in a covered BBQ. Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice.

  • Prep Time

    15 Minutes

  • Cook Time

    50 Minutes

  • Serves

    4 People

Ingredients

  • 1 large chicken  (butterflied)

Marinade

  • 3 fresh Jalapeño chillies, stalks, seeds removed ¼ cup olive oil
  • 5 medium cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 large brown onion peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves or 2 teaspoons dry thyme leaves
  • juice and grated zest of 2 limes
  • 2 tablespoons wine or cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons ground allspice
  • 2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 heaped teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 heaped tablespoon dark brown sugar

To serve

  • 2 spring onions thinly sliced

Peas and rice (optional)

  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 1 cup cooked red kidney beans (red peas in the Carribean)
  • 1 pinch of salt

You'll Need

  • 2 large Multix Freezer bags
  • Multix Bake
  • 2 soaked wooden skewers

Method

  1. Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blitz until well combined. Place the butterflied chicken inside 2 large Multix freezer bags (1 inside the other). Pour the marinade in with the chicken, seal the bag, massage the marinade all over the chicken and and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. Turn the chicken in the marinade once or twice during this time to ensure the flavours work right through the meat.
  2. Preheat a oven to 200°C or covered BBQ to medium high.
  3. Remove the chicken from the freezer bags (leave as much of the marinade and possible in the bags) and lay it flat with the breast side up on a large oven proof tray or roasting tin. Skewer the legs in place using the pre soaked skewers. Drizzle with the remaining marinade form the bags. Transfer to the preheated oven or BBQ and roast for about 50 minutes or until the chicken is golden and cooked through. Remove form the oven over with Alfoil and allow to rest for about 20 minutes.
  4. When your ready to serve, cook the rice using the absorption method, in a medium pan on a medium high heat, add the rice, water, salt and coconut milk put a firm fitting lid on the pan, bring to the boil. Turn the heat off allowing the rice to sit and finish cooking in its own heat for around 10 minutes until its tender.
  5. While the chicken rests, fluff the rice up with a fork, stir in the red kidney beans. Transfer to a microwave proof dish covered in Multix Cling and heat for about 3 minutes or until the beans are piping hot. Serve the Chicken cut in pieces on a pile of peas and rice and finish with a scatter of sliced spring onions.
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