Smoky, spicy Caribbean jerk chicken — wings, thighs, drumsticks, and whole birds rubbed in island heat.
★ Jerk Chicken
A delicious jerk chicken recipe from the Pepper community.
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Open in Pepper →Real jerk chicken builds its flavor in the marinade, not on the grill. Allspice, scotch bonnet, thyme, and brown sugar need overnight to settle into the meat.
Use bone-in, skin-on pieces. The fat keeps the chicken juicy under high heat and the bone protects the meat from drying out while the skin chars.
If you can't grill over pimento wood, a charcoal grill with a few wood chips gets you 90% of the way there. Indoor cooks: a hot cast iron and a quick broiler finish work too.
Marinate overnight
Jerk paste is layered and intense. Less than 8 hours and the flavor stays on the surface; 24 hours and it permeates.
Respect the scotch bonnet
These chiles are 10x hotter than jalapeños. Start with half a pepper, taste, and scale up — you can always add heat, not remove it.
Cook low and slow
Burn the sugar in the marinade and your chicken tastes acrid. Medium heat with the lid down builds char without scorching.
Rest before slicing
Five minutes off the grill lets the juices redistribute. Slice too early and all the flavor ends up on the cutting board.