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Marinades

While it’s true that marinade recipes can be used with most cooking methods, they are particularly fantastic when grilling. It’s because we tend to grill smaller cuts of meat, which is where marinades really shine. We have a whole bunch of useful information and great tips and tricks for you to use while marinating.

What Is A Marinade?

A marinade is a liquid that you soak foods in before cooking to add flavor and to make meats more tender. While a brine does similar things with a salt solution, a marinade uses acidic ingredients like vinegar or wine or uses enzymes found in foods such as pineapple. Learn more about how marinades work!

It’s a popular step before grilling and you can use all sorts of amazing flavor combinations.

How Long Should You Marinate Meats?

Since marinades only flavor the surface of meats, marinating for an extended time doesn’t actually do you any favors. In fact, if you’re using an enzyme marinade, you may end up with mushy meat.

For smaller pieces of meat, even 20 minutes will have a great result and you generally want to avoid more than 2 hours. Larger cuts can be marinated for 8 hours or overnight, but only with acidic marinades, not the enzymatic marinades.

What Foods Can I Marinate?

While meats like steak, chicken, and seafood are probably what immediately come to mind, there’s so many more possibilities! Try marinating portabello mushrooms or tofu, or even Brie cheese. Take a look at the recipes below and find something new and exciting to try.

Marinade Recipes

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The Best Chicken Wing Marinade

Move over buffalo wings, this is the only Chicken Wing Marinade you’ll ever need because these wings are so juicy and flavorful they’ll melt in your mouth!

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How To Make Ceviche

Find out the science behind ceviche and how to make it at home. Includes tips for type of fish, length of marinade time and doing make-ahead ceviche.

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The BEST Steak Marinade

My all-purpose Steak Marinade, not to be confused with a wet brine, adds a tangy, garlicky flavor to steak before grilling or pan-frying. 

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How to Make Baked Brie Better Than Ever

Three great tips for making baked brie that is better than ever. Plus the hands down best baked brie recipe. We can’t wait for you to try it!

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Greek Chicken Marinade

This Greek Chicken Marinade is THE BEST because of a secret ingredient, and a technique that really gets the flavor into the chicken.

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How to Marinate Tofu

Tofu just screams for a good marinade. It absorbs any flavors you want, which makes it perfect for your flavor combination. Learn how to perfectly marinate tofu.

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Common Marinade Mistakes

Making a yummy marinade is easy. But it’s just as easy to fall into some traps. Here’s how to prevent mistakes before they happen.

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Tzatziki (Greek Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce)

Authentic tzatziki is a rich and creamy Greek sauce made from cucumber, yogurt, dill, and garlic. It’s wonderful as a marinade or dipping sauce for all kinds of savory foods.

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Grilled Chicken Parmesan in Lemon Marinade

Here’s a refreshing take on the classic chicken Parmesan. The chicken in marinaded in lemon and then grilled topped with tomato slices and cheese. The breadcrumb topping is killer on top.

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Mint Sauce Recipe

This traditional English mint sauce recipe is easy to make and is delicious served with lamb and other meats too. It’s also a tasty marinade!

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Adobo Chicken Breasts

Adobo sauce brings chicken alive in a marinade that takes only one hour.

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Christine Pittman

Christine is the founder of TheCookful and also of her blog COOKtheSTORY. Her passion is explaining the WHY behind cooking – Why should you cook things a certain way; Will they turn out if you do it differently; What are the pros and cons of the method? Learn more about Christine, her cookbooks, and her podcast.

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