Crispy, moist, flavorful chicken smothered in spicy jerk sauce that’s easy to make and a tastebud explosion! A Caribbean vacation right out of your oven.
Get excited!
I can see it coming. You will feel it after you take a bite. I love jerk chicken! Now who doesn’t? Most people who travel to the Caribbean will say it is the highlight of their trip. Well, second to coconut rum drinks – of course.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to try jerk chicken before, it’s a very popular Jamaican or dare I say Caribbean dish. It is a really spicy dish. However, it can be made mild to taste. I kept the recipe very mild. If you are a heat seeker, you can definitely add more scotch bonnet, to taste.
This comes together super fast especially after you have all the ingredients together. It is preferable to marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge for the flavors to come together.
Serve it with beans and rice featured here or this super easy oven baked rice.
Oven Baked Jerk Chicken
Ingredients
- I lime or lemon
- 8 chicken legs or 2 ½ - 3-pound chicken cut up
- 2 teaspoons creole seasoning replace with salt and pepper or chicken spice
- 1 or more Scotch Bonnet Pepper Habaneros
- 6 garlic cloves chopped
- ½ tablespoon cinnamon powder
- ½ tablespoon allspice coarsely ground
- ½ teaspoon coarsely ground white pepper
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 medium onion coarsely chopped
- 3 medium scallions chopped
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger chopped
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1/4-1/2 cup pineapple Juice or water
- 1- tablespoon bouillon powder optional
- Salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- Trim chicken of excess fat and pat dry with a cloth or paper napkin. Rub with lemon, and 2 teaspoons creole spice or season with salt and pepper
- Heat oil in a skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Then add scotch bonnet pepper, garlic sauté until it turns brown about 2-3 minutes.
- Add nutmeg, brown sugar, all spice, cinnamon and continue stirring until the sugar melts and the mixture starts to clump together.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool
- Place the mixture in a food processor or blender, then add, thyme, white pepper, ginger,green onions, soy sauce, Maggi/bouillon, onion and pineapple juice . Pulse for about 30 seconds until blended
- Drench the chicken with jerk marinate, place in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Try not to touch the jerk blend with your hands because it extremely spicy hot- If possible use gloves.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425°. Remove chicken from the jerk marinade and remove excess marinate. Reserve the marinade
- Line a baking pan with foil; top with a wire rack. Arrange chicken legs out in a single layer. While the chicken legs are baking oil will slowly drip to the bottom of the baking pan.
- Bake chicken legs until cooked through and skin is crispy, about 45-50 minutes-rotate chicken half way through-roughly 20 minutes.
- In a small saucepan simmer the remaining jerk marinade and the one from the chicken for about 7 minutes. Serve with chicken or mix with chicken serve with beans and rice featured here
Nutrition Information:
Pearl says
Hi. Will garlic paste and ginger paste be ok instead of the fresh ginger and garlic?
Immaculate Bites says
Yes, that’s okay Pearl.
Andrew says
Great recipe
Arya says
love your website
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks
menelek wilson says
hi imma i’m menelek a young boy who always loved delicious foods i grew up in town with my father and my mother was from the country side, and there was always a difference in cooking when i went out to visit my mom and that different was the raw flavors that they grew up on cooking. i’ve been following and reading a lot of recipes from your page about 2 yrs now and always was reluctant on trying but i finally did and it was fantastic i did this recipe with the trinidad macaroni pie
imma africanbites says
Hi, Menelek. I’m glad you finally took the step in making this. And I’m glad you like it as much as I do.
Sheema says
Hiya Imma! Well, you didn’t disappoint again…. I made this last night for company and it was out of this world!! So moist and flavourful !! Everyone loved it and we can’t wait for leftovers for easy dinner tonight!
Thank you so much for fulfilling my tastebuds with these delicious Caribbean delights!!
With much gratitude your newest fan,
Chef Sheem
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome!!! Now I want to have some :)! Glad you loved this one too, Chef Sheem. Thanks for the feedback :).
Jamie Johnson says
Instead of Chicken legs, can I use Chicken breasts as a substitute?
ImmaculateBites says
You sure can.
Connie says
Thank you so much for this lovely recipe!
imma africanbites says
You’re always welcome, Connie! Hope you’ll also try some of my other recipes. Enjoy!
Lisa says
I am soooo excited about this recipe. Sunday can’t arrive soon enough!!!!
Kia88 says
Love love love only had limited time so marinated 4 hours next time will marinate over night as I do all my meats to maximal flavor came out tasty with flavor an not just heat most recipes give u the heat. But lack the flavor will Be a go to may even experiment with mango an or fresh pineapple as didn’t have white pepper my hubby looked at it an said that’s looks like it’s gonna be good i after adding the remaining dripping along with the extra marinate I put it into the broiler to to give it slight crispness did the job now we are all mad we only had a small pk of chicken will be making this again real soon an let’s just say jerk is my favorite chicken I will never ever buy it again will be making them mArinade the night before as well An maybe gifting some
ImmaculateBites says
YESS! You can’t beat Homemade! Thank you so much!!!
Jon says
Excellent recipe! I Forgot to buy green onions so I used a shallot instead. And I’m lazy so I added the lime juice and creole spice to the marinade. Made two versions – one with no scotch bonnet for my wife and younger son, the other with lots of scotch bonnet for my older son and me. Both came out great! Caribbean Rice and Beans was a winner too.
ImmaculateBites says
Fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
B $ says
If using bone in chicken breast, what temp do you recommend?
ImmaculateBites says
I would go with the same temperature – but cook it for a shorter time- cause chicken breast dries up pretty quickly.
Ruth says
Could you substitute ground beef uncross recipe?
ImmaculateBites says
Didn’t quite get the question. Do you mean replacing the chicken with beef?
Jarad says
Just made this with 2 habaneros instead of one… perfect marinade!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Thank you so much Jarad!!!
Patience says
Another excellent recipe Imma. Thanks. I Always used the jerk marinade in the jar, but no more. I used all the ingredient you listed except the pineapple juice and fresh thyme which I didn’t have at home, so I used water and dried thyme. I also used the light brown sugar, because that was what I had at home. It came out really great, and very spicy ( used 3 scotch bonnet), so I can imagine the flavour when I use the pineapple juice and fresh thyme next time I make it. What I love about your recipes is that, you use most of the ingredients and spices most of us already have in our pantry. Thanks again for sharing, and I look forward to making more of your recipes.
Corey says
Great afternoon. I will be trying your recipe but I have a question concerning the scotch bonnet pepper. Before adding do I cut, slice etc.? And how many would you recommend for a medium to hot spice? Thanks in advance.
Donna says
I wondered this too
ImmaculateBites says
The scotch bonnet peppers are used whole in this recipe. Usually, scotch bonnet peppers are on the very hot end of the spectrum. Unless you have a high spice/heat tolerance, I would recommend starting with just one or two. Just throw them in whole. Happy cooking!
Atiyah Rahman-Anderson says
Can I use light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar?
ImmaculateBites says
You sure can.