Having a great marinade takes the guesswork out of grilling meats and vegetables.  Mix, marinate and you’re ready to roll with maximum flavor and minimal effort.  These three marinades can be used on a variety of meats, seafood and even veggies.  They’re so versatile and that’s of course, always one of my goals when developing recipes.  If you’ve been paying attention to my previous posts, you’ll have most of the ingredients from 55 ingredients you should always have on hand, to make these marinades.

Marinades: The Do’s and don’ts

Before I get into the recipes, let’s go over a few marinating do’s and don’ts.

DO marinate meats for at least one hour and up to twenty-four hours for maximum flavor.

DON’T marinate meats in highly acidic marinades (like lemon herb) for more than four hours.  If you see that the meat is starting to turn white (on a chicken breast) for example, you are chemically cooking your meat and it will result in a tougher final product.

DO freeze meats in marinades with lower acidity. (Like this teriyaki one!)

DON’T reuse a marinade that has been in contact with raw meat, on cooked meat.  Cross-contamination = people could get sick = you do not want this to happen!

*You can boil it if you’d like to reuse it, but I like to just set some aside from the get-go or double the recipe to avoid possible cross-contamination altogether.

DO try using salad dressings (like 5 salad dressings you should make) as a marinade.  Just cut down the amount of oil in the recipes by half.

DO marinate using a plastic ziptop bag to maximize contact between the meat and the marinade.  Give it a shake now and then to combine the ingredients and ensure whatever you are marinating has been fully coated.

Teriyaki

This is one of my favorites! It’s based on my mom’s recipe that she’s been using for as long as I can remember.  Try it on chicken, beef, salmon or portobellos.  I also love it on grilled pineapple slices for a teriyaki chicken burger.

Lemon herb

This one uses the zest and the juice from lemons and fresh garlic.  You can switch out the herbs and spices in the recipe to explore different cuisines.  For Greek, use oregano.  For Italian, use basil.  For Moroccan, try cumin.  I also love dill in everything, so try that too if you’re a fan.  Try this one on chicken, white fish, shrimp or pork.

Rosemary garlic

Rosemary and garlic is one of my favorite flavour combos.  It’s pairs so well together on potatoes, roasted nuts for salads, in a roast, in a rustic bread, why not in a marinade?  This one is delicious on pork tenderloin but would also be great with beef or bone-in chicken pieces.

How will you use these marinades? Share your meals on Instagram using #tblfood.