Jerk Chicken

Are you ready for some heat in your kitchen? Because this jerk chicken is no joke. Well of course you can make it less spicy by only using 1 scotch bonnet instead of 2. I’ve made it both ways and, in our household, the spicier version was the preferred one. However, I can totally understand wanting a milder taste.

So, while making the marinade you must remember that it will mellow out once used on a chicken and cooked in the oven or grill. If you’re tasting it on its own you will be hit by all the flavors and might feel the need add more ingredients to lower the intensity, but it will mellow out once cooked. The other thing is that once the chicken has marinated overnight you remove any excess marinade and save that to make a sauce. The chicken won’t be drenched in it, and if you want more heat you can add more of the sauce to the chicken while eating.

One of the main ingredients in this jerk marinade is the all spice. I just remember growing up that my mom would use all spice in a lot of her dishes and as a child I always thought this was literally a mixture of all spices. Later in life I realized that it’s one dried berry that actually tastes like a combination of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and pepper.

Another key ingredient is the scotch bonnet, also a pepper that is widely used in the Caribbean. In Curaçao we would actually cut a tiny piece and stir it into our soup and quickly remove it. Just to get that hint of spice. I think people in Curaçao even though they like their spices, have a certain respect when it comes to scotch bonnet, so that’s why a tiny bit goes a long way. I get mine at a small shop or at the market. When prepping the scotch bonnet and removing seeds I would definitely recommend using gloves. 

With all these spices I wanted something refreshing on the side and the coriander slaw with tostones are the perfect side dish for this jerk chicken. Combining these 3 dishes together creates a pretty well-balanced meal when it comes to flavors and they all complement each other.