My sister, who looks for excellent and unique dishes, gave me this recipe. Everyone in the family adored this one, which lighted up the room. Small alterations happened as it was shared with relatives and friends. There are countless variations you may try, such using less nutmeg and more cloves if you don’t like cilantro. Just make sure you exercise caution when handling habaneros. Ideal gloves would be rubber ones.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 day |
| Total Time: | 1 day 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 habanero pepper, seeded
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- ½ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
- 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine onion, garlic, habanero pepper, and ginger. Pulse until ingredients are minced. Blend in olive oil, brown sugar, vinegar, orange juice concentrate, soy sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cilantro, salt, and pepper. In a container, combine marinade with chicken. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat and lightly oil grate.
- Grill chicken for 10 minutes per side, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes information for the full amount of the marinade ingredients. Depending on marinating time, ingredients, cooking method, etc., the actual amount of the marinade consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 279 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 67 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 309 mg |
| Sugars | 14 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
it was also way too sweet.
I didn’t even make it to the eat part. I followed everything exactly and tried the marinade before I even put the chicken in it. It was, um, just gross. Definitely not for me, which is weird because I love all the ingredients that go in it. Something is just off in this recipe. The balance of spiciness, saltiness, sourness and sweetness must be considered not only in each dish, but also between the six or more dishes shared per sitting, and this recipe fails miserably. For those who want to try this recipe, I recommend reducing the spices. It overpowers the marinade. I am disappointed. Oh well…. not all recipes are for everyone.
I took a big risk with this recipe by making it for a party of over 30 people without testing it first, and was made very nervous by the smell of the marinade (which before cooking isn’t very pleasant) and the smoke when cooking it on the stovetop (it set off the fire alarm 3 times before I was done cooking, and filled the house with smoke!), but ultimately it did not disappoint! Everyone loved it, even one of my friends who is from the Virgin Islands. I adjusted the recipe for 25 servings, and rather than using the 4 habanero peppers, I just used one jalepeno pepper without seeds, and it still came out great but not too spicy.
This is really good! My husband liked it, too. Restaurant quality and flavor. Made twice already. Will make often.
I am in love with this marinade in general. For my family’s sake I omitted the habanero and substituted three seeded jalapenos. I seared the chicken over hot coals then cooked it indirectly on the grill. Boil your marinade and pack it on the meat while it’s cooking, the chicken is juicy and superbly flavored! This is definitely going into our regular rotation!
Cinnamon and nutmeg are a little overpowering , I would recommend decreasing these spices .
The kids and hubby enjoyed this so it’s a keeper. I didn’t use pepper, sugar or cilantro so it was not spicy but still was flavorful.
This was great, so much flavour. I used half a red onion and half a habenero and it was enough, my toddler loved it. I made the full recipe so we had leftovers and made quesidillas the next night yum!
Great marinade! will definitely make again. Really good served with a mango-pineapple salsa!
Wonderful on the Grill, careful with the Habanero it can bite!
this was good you just need to double the spices
This recipe is AWESOME… When I found it I wanted to make it right away so I only marinated it for about 3 hrs with the chicken cut up in chunks for skewers on the grill… it tasted great with the grilled veggies. I also used jalapeno in it instead of habanero, next time I will go with the habanero. My boyfriend raved about it he can’t wait till we make it again. I made coconut black bean rice from this site to go with it and it paired really well. :0)
I’ve been in jamaica many times, and pretty much found this recipe to be quite boring. I thought the habenero’s would kick it up, but not really. Will look for something with more taste and will toss this one.
This marinade recipe is fantastic and so versatile! I decided to try it, because I my boyfriend and I recently went to jamaica and he loved the jerk chicken. Although this is not as spicy made as it, still excellent and you can make it spicy to taste. It is slightly a pain to make, but has superb flavor that everyone raved about. I made a huge batch to keep some on hand, so it is worth the hassle. It can even be used to make a quick and tasty pasta sauce with some added milk or cream. Thank you for the favorable recipe!
This was okay – it didn’t taste like authentice Jamaican food to me – something was missing.
Yet another fantastic recipe from this site. I was hesitant….just couldn’t imagine what that spice/herb/ingredient list would yield but the net result was fabulous!
WOW!
My husband and I love this recipe; it really reminds us of Jamaica! You can add or not add anything and it’ll still turn out great. I make a double recipe and use 1/2 to marinate the chicken, and then cook the other 1/2 in a sauce pan on the grill to pour on top of the cooked chicken, so it’s extra saucy!
really good. Used 1 Jalepeno. Next time will use 2 Marinated for 6 hrs.
This stuff is fantastic! Made it with chicken tenders on skewers. I put this together and took it with us camping last weekend. It was a big hit and I’m making it again this weekend.
I was surprised at how little of this marinade actually permiated the chicken. It was acceptable, but will have to be tweaked, I think.