How to complement your grilled feast with an easy BBQ marinade

Grilling is one of the best ways to make delicious, mouthwatering dishes for your friends and family. And one of the best parts about grilling is that you don’t have to be a world-class chef to do it—you just need the right recipe.

Now, you can just pop meat with some seasoning onto your grill and start cooking right away, but if you want your meat to be succulent and bursting with flavour, you should marinate it.

Marinating involves immersing meat in a mixture of ingredients to infuse it with all kinds of flavours. All you need to do is leave the meat in the marinade overnight in the fridge and violà—the meat will be bursting with flavour and ready for grilling!

Marinades are also really easy to make—you just need a few simple ingredients and you’re done! In this blog post, we take a look at several easy BBQ marinade recipes that you can try for your next big cookout.

The dos and don’ts of marinating

Before we get into easy BBQ marinade recipes, there are a few dos and don’ts of marinating that everyone needs to know. Making marinades is easy, but marinating meat can be a little tricky.

Do know how long you should marinate the meat

How long the marination process should be depends on the type of meat you plan to grill. 

Seafood: 15 minutes to 1 hour

Poultry: 30 minutes to 3 hours

Red meat: 30 minutes to overnight

Do know the amount of marinade needed

For every 450 grams of meat, you should prepare at least 250 ml of marinade.

Do turn the meat

While the meat is marinating, turn it over a few times during the process to ensure that the marinade covers all surfaces of the meat. This will also help maximise the flavour.

Don’t reuse marinades

After using a marinade for raw meat, don’t use it again for other foods. This is because the marinade may contain harmful bacteria after coming in contact with raw meat.

Don’t overuse the salt

Make sure you don’t add too much salt to the meat, as this could draw moisture and make the meat too dry. You can add salt after the meat has been cooked.

The 5 easy BBQ marinades you must try

Now that we have the dos and don’ts of marinating out of the way, let’s take a look at some tasty BBQ marinade recipes!

01. Simple grilled chicken marinade

Chicken may not always be the first choice for a BBQ, but this simple marinade can make grilled chicken so much better! All you need to do is add some brown sugar, lemon juice, dijon mustard, thyme, salt, olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, and black pepper into a jar and give it a good shake.

02. Greek chicken kebab marinade

If you love Mediterranean-style food, this is the ideal marinade for you. To make the marinade, add lemon pepper, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and fennel seeds into a bowl and whisk all the ingredients together.

03. Soy and ginger marinade

This is a great marinade for beef and a very easy one to prepare at that. Just whisk some oyster sauce, sherry, soy sauce, honey, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, ginger, vinegar, and garlic in a bowl and you’re done!

04. Cilantro lime marinade

A cilantro and lime marinade can bring a lot of zing to your regular chicken dish. To make this tangy marinade, just add finely chopped cilantro, lime juice, chicken broth, and honey to a bowl and mix thoroughly.

05. Souvlaki marinade for lamb

Grilling lamb? Then this delicious marinade will make the meat practically melt in your mouth. You can make this marinade by combining oregano, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and onion. Mix and enjoy your delicious lamb.

Try these easy BBQ marinade recipes today!

If you’re planning on having a great grilled feast for your family and friends, these BBQ marinades will make your dishes much more memorable. So douse your meat in some juicy marinade and offer a plethora of amazing flavours at your grilled feast!