Barbecue Marinades

Use one of my barbecue marinades and transform your meat so that it melts in the mouth. My guide below will help you select the right marinade for whatever meat your are grilling or smoking.

There's three reasons why I use barbecue marinades and bastes with my smoker or grill:-

First - It tenderizes the meat. This is extremely important with beef when using the lower cost cuts such as chuck steak and even then I don't recommend grilling, it really is one for the smoker.

Second - a marinade can be used to flavor meat and this is evident in a lot of my Asian influenced marinades. When flavor is king you'll often find me recommending that the marinade is used to baste the meat during the cooking process too.

Third and finally, barbecue marinades moisten meat. If cooking any meat on a skewer it's easy to overdo it slightly and the meat dries out. If however it's been marinaded there's more tolerance between perfect and bone dry and using the marinade as a baste helps again here. Note that there is never any salt in a marinade because this would dry out the meat and work away from exactly what we're trying to achieve.

I like to marinade overnight although sometimes you can get away with less so remember to leave plenty of preparation time when using a marinade.

Generally speaking you’ll need about 150ml / ¼ pint of marinade for every 450g or pound of meat. Oily marinades for dry lean foods such as fish and vinegar based marinades for red meat and richer fatty foods.

TIP - Use a shallow non metallic bowl. This means that the meat will lie in a single layer and we get the maximum effect.

I've included two basic barbecue marinades below and then check out all my other recipes that use a marinade.

My basic barbecue marinade is perfect for both meat and fish.

Ingredients:-

• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• freshly ground pepper

This Red wine marinade is directed more at the richer flavours such as red meat and game.

Ingredients:-

• 150ml / ¼ pint red wine
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 dried bay leaf crumbled
• 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• freshly ground black pepper

In all cases it's simply a matter of mixing the ingredients up and hey presto, you're done. Try one of these barbecue marinades today:-

Garlic Chicken Marinade - An easy to make garlic and citrus combination.

More Grilled Chicken Marinades - Similar to the one above but more garlic and with a novel way of application that makes for a quick result.

Grilled Chicken Marinade Recipe - and stuff this under the skin of a spatchcocked chicken too.

California Jerky Seasoning Recipe - If Jerky is your thing then this marinade is perfect for homemade.

Guinness Marinade - Put a simple steak in this and you'll have a meal to remember.

Grilled Steak Marinade - Ideal for kabobs (or kebabs - depending which part of the world you come from)

Balsamic Marinade - Typically Mediterranean, it brings lamb alive!

Cointreau Marinade - Sweet and full of orange flavour this goes really well with duck.

Barbecue Goose Marinade - For the whole Goose. Change your bird this Yuletide season.

Coriander Marinade For Grilled Tuna

Mint Marinade for Lamb - Traditional and one of the best.

A Grilled Lamb Recipe - including a fragrant marinade of red wine and rosemary.

Traditional Greek Marinade - Perfect for lamb and try it with pork too.

Grilled Pork Chop Marinade - A brine infused with garlic, chili and sugar.

Turkish Style Grilled Chicken Marinade - For best results this one needs an overnight soak.

Tandoori Marinade - A hot barbecue and this spicy yogurt marinade transforms pieces of chicken.

Chicken Tikka Marinade - Bring out those authentic Indian flavors.

Spicy Indian Marinade for Pork, Lamb or Chicken - whatever your choice of meat, it's a hot one!

Chuck Roast Marinade - designed to tenderize.

Thai Spiced Marinade Recipe For Grilled Shrimp - hot and sweet, just as you'd expect.

Ginger and Lime Marinade - Great with all white fish and one of my favorites for monkfish or shrimps.

Olive Oil & Garlic - Works well with any white fish but why do I always come back to a monkfish tail?

Citrus Marinade - citrus fruits abound in this seafood marinade.

Orange Marinade - a great partner for BBQ chicken

Wild Game Marinade - Strong flavors for strong meats. The saltiness of soy sauce with the sweetness of molasses all rounded off with a kick from dried chili flakes. Perfect for duck or goose.

Wild West Beef Jerky Marinade Recipe - The original and maybe the best?

Brines:

There's a separate section on the website dedicated to brine recipes

Return to Home Page from Barbecue Marinades

New! Comments