Q&A for How to Marinate Chicken

Choosing chicken thighs over breasts will be your best bet in ensuring that the chicken is never dry. Although most people prefer the appearance of the chicken breast, thighs are your best bet flavor-wise. One key difference between the two is the fat content—chicken thighs are fattier than the breasts and they will always cook moister in comparison. If you're choosing breasts because of their low fat content, consider the fact that you'll probably just add the fat back in (even more so if the meat is dry, via marinades and a fatty sauce). Both thighs and breasts have the same relative content of iron, sodium, and good cholesterol.

Yes, as mentioned above, you can leave it longer than 4 hours. Marinating the chicken for more than 3 days is a bit overkill, the flavors won't be stronger past that point - all the sauce would be spread evenly inside the chicken.

No - the marinade has juices from the raw chicken in it, so you would essentially be eating raw chicken.

To give the chicken extra flavor and juiciness. The chicken you're pouring it over is raw, too. It's all going to be baked, so that's a non-issue.

You don't need to poke holes in it. For chicken breasts, two hours will do. You can cut it into smaller pieces if you wish. Otherwise, put all the seasonings in a thick bottom pan, mix them with water, place the breasts in it, and steam it for ten minutes. After that, turn the grill on high and cook the chicken.

You certainly can, it'll still taste fantastic.

It's up to you. Leaving the marinade on will give the chicken extra flavor. In fact, you could pour the excess marinade over the chicken before cooking it for additional flavor.

Yes you can, it actually increases the flavor because the spices are on the chicken and marinating for a long time.

There is no reason to thicken the marinade before the marinating process, if anything it prevents the chicken from absorbing as much flavor. If you want to thicken the marinade after the chicken is done marinating in it and turn it into a sauce, that's fine as long as you cook everything thoroughly.

There is risk of burning it, but it's not as noticeable as frying garlic by itself.

Yes, but you'll lose a lot of flavor. The water will pull the marinade out of the chicken and dilute it, defeating the purpose of marinating it in the first place.

Yes, but I don't think this would be ideal for the flavor.

Yes, this is fine. Just make sure the bowl is covered.

The ratio should be less than or equal to the oil in the marinade in order to prevent excessive breakdown of the meat, which could result in a chalky consistency.

Yes! Put the frozen chicken pieces into your bag of marinade and place it in the fridge. The chicken will absorb the flavors of the marinade as it defrosts.

Yes—transfer all of the chicken and the marinade into a crock pot or pressure cooker and cook the chicken until it's completely tender.