Lebanese Chicken Marinade Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What is the longest you should marinate chicken? ›

Information. Most recipes for marinating meat and poultry recommend six hours up to 24 hours. It is safe to keep the food in the marinade longer, but after two days it is possible that the marinade can start to break down the fibers of the meat, causing it to become mushy.

The ingredients that you need most… chicken, olive oil, lemons, garlic, spices, and dried herbs. If you've got these you can make your version of this recipe. And yes, it's going to be great.

Avoid over-marinating

While you can cook and eat chicken that has been marinating for more than 24 hours, you're risking exposing yourself to some strange textures. Chicken can get both mushy and tough when it's been left to marinate too long. If it's been more than 48 hours, the USDA recommends throwing it out.

Making a mouth-watering homemade marinade isn't rocket science! You simply need to follow this simple formula: an acidic ingredient to tenderize the meat (think vinegar, juice, yogurt, or mustard), fresh herbs and spices for added flavour, and a fatty ingredient, such as oil or butter.

Just make sure that you don't marinate chicken for much longer than 24 hours, because the acid in the marinade will start to make the meat stringy and tough—no, thank you!

Marinades generally consist of cooking oil, an acidic liquid, such as vinegar, wine, tomato, or citrus juice (or a natural enzyme, such as ginger or pineapple), and flavorings, including garlic, molasses, honey, fresh or dried herbs, and spices.

A typical marinade is made up of three essential components: an acid (such as vinegar, wine, or citrus), an oil (such as olive oil or sesame oil), and a flavouring agent (such as herbs and spices). These elements work together to transform the taste and texture of your dish in different ways.

Marinades typically feature an oil and an acid — but the sky's the limit for creativity: For your oil base, try olive, peanut, truffle, sesame, walnut, or chile oil. You can also use milk, coconut milk, buttermilk, or yogurt. For acids, experiment with different types of vinegar, wines, beers, lemon, or lime juice.

Baharat. The Arabic word for spices, “baharat” refers to a Middle Eastern seasoning blend that's also known as Lebanese seven-spice blend. The mixture varies by region but it typically contains some combination of black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, cumin, paprika, cardamom and cloves.

What can I use instead of 7 spices? ›

Baharat is the Arabic name for the Middle Eastern 7-Spice blend which includes coriander, allspice, cumin, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg. What is the best substitute for Baharat (7-Spice)? Substitute one tablespoon of baharat with a scant teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin, and cinnamon.

Once you make a fresh batch of this Lebanese seven spice, you can use it to make the best beef and lamb shawarma, an easy one pan Mediterranean baked chicken, or quickly whip up some crispy arayes with cheese. It's so easy to make your own Lebanese seven spice blend, you'll never go back to store-bought!

Can I Marinate Chicken for Too Long? The USDA recommends not keeping poultry in marinade for longer than two days, as it's possible that the marinade will start breaking down the meat's fibers and cause it to become mushy. A good rule of thumb is to keep marinating time under 24 hours.

Avoid over-marinating

While you can cook and eat chicken that has been marinating for more than 24 hours, you're risking exposing yourself to some strange textures. Chicken can get both mushy and tough when it's been left to marinate too long. If it's been more than 48 hours, the USDA recommends throwing it out.

You can definitely develop big flavor on the outer layer of the meat this way, but it will never truly reach the center of the protein. Regardless of what type of protein dinner happens to be, make sure to keep your marinating period under 24 hours. And when we say under 24 hours, we're also talking way under 24 hours.