4 Ingredient Chicken Marinade

This 4 ingredient chicken marinade has an amazing sweet, tangy, spicy kick with so little effort but a huge pay-off in flavor. This Asian inspired marinade mixes up in less than five minutes, but tastes like you spent hours!

Be sure to check out my full collection of easy gluten-free sauces and marinades including my homemade raspberry balsamic glaze, spicy cashew dressing, and easy sesame teriyaki sauce.

Ingredients

To make a delicious chicken marinade, a combination of sweet, tangy, spicy and a hint of bitter is the key. I almost always add salt to anything I cook, but I prefer to salt marinated meats right before cooking. So this marinade does not contain any salt or salty ingredients. You’ll sprinkle a light coating on both sides of the chicken before grilling, baking or stir-frying.

The spicy ingredient is sesame chili oil. The aroma of this toasted sesame oil is intoxicating! The little bit of spice it adds, brings the marinade flavor to another level! Sesame chili oil can be found in the Asian foods section of most grocery stores. There is a pretty good spicy kick in this oil. I consider it to be medium spicy but if you don’t want any heat in your marinade, replace it with plain, toasted sesame oil.

Rice vinegar is the vinegar of choice in most Asian cooking and adds the tangy element to the marinade. If you don’t have rice vinegar, white balsamic or apple cider vinegar will be good substitutes,

The sweet in this marinade is coconut palm sugar – my favorite sweetener. It has a caramel-like flavor and is less processed than most sweeteners. Coconut sugar is not made from actual coconuts – it comes from the nectar of the flower on coconut trees. I highly recommend trying it. Use brown sugar, maple syrup or agave instead if you prefer.

Finally, a slightly bitter ingredient will round out the flavor profile. Onion powder is the perfect fast, easy way to get onion flavor into a sauce or marinade.

How to Marinate Chicken

Here is the best way to marinate chicken:

• Place the chicken and marinade in a zip top bag, press out all of the air and seal. This method keeps the marinade in close contact with the chicken.
• Gently massage the bag to spread the marinade around and assure that all of the chicken gets coated.
• Place the bag in a bowl and refrigerate.
• Marinate for 2 hours or as long as 48 hours. If using skin-on chicken, marinate overnight, at the least.
• Remove the chicken from the bag and place on a plate or tray.
• Pat dry with a paper towel.
• Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with a light coating of salt and let sit 5 minutes.
• Grill, bake, stir-fry or cook any way you please.
• Do not re-use the marinade that the chickens was in. If you want extra to brush on the chicken after cooking or for a dipping sauce, make extra.