Basic Meat Marinade

This is my go-to basic meat marinade. If I haven't planned dinner and I need to come up with something quickly, I mix this up in a flash. The marinade includes soy sauce (gluten free in our case), Worcestershire sauce, honey, vegetable oil, and spices. The combination of soy sauce and Worcestershire have all the salt and richness you need to quickly infuse meat with great flavor. We'll talk about optional add-ins later, but these are ingredients that I always have on hand and are always included.

Another reason this basic meat marinade is my "go-to," it's great on chicken, beef, OR pork. So whether I'm making this at the last minute or have planned on this days in advance, I can make dinner like so:

1. Choose a protein: chicken, beef, or pork.
2. Pick a starch: potato, rice, baked beans.
3. Add some veggies: zucchini, red onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, broccoli, green beans, the list goes on.

Now, pictured above I have grilled chicken with zucchini, mushrooms, red onion, and red bell pepper. I cook veggies on a grill pan because I like the flavor and it's easy. (Some days I just want things to be easy!) This way, the meat and veggies hit the grill at the same time and in less that 30 minutes I have a perfectly cooked dinner. Just make sure the meat is portioned to cook as quickly as the vegetables. I always cut chicken into thin cutlets so it's cooked evenly and doesn't dry out. Then, I serve alongside a baked potato or saffron rice, and you have a meal made in heaven.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Basic Meat Marinade

Pantry ingredients for a flavorful go-to marinade.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Marinade

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• ¼ cup veg oil
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbs honey or brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Meat

• 2-3 Chicken breasts cut into thin cutlets (or steak/pork loin cutlets)

Instructions

• Mix all marinade ingredients in a zip top bag and add chicken.
• Marinade in refrigerator 2-4 hours.
• Slice veggies in medium sized pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt, and paper.
• Turn on grill to med/high heat~ 375 F.
• Pour veggies onto a vegetable grill pan.
• Grill veggies and chicken for 25 minutes, flipping chicken once and giving the veg a toss around.
• Pull off the grill when chicken temp reads 165.
• Slice chicken and serve with veggies and a baked potato or rice.

Basic Meat Marinade 2.0

First off, the recipe card says to marinade for 2-4 hours, but if you only have an hour, that's okay. Also, I keep a few tablespoons of marinade off to the side or make extra for drizzling over the meat and veggies for serving.

Now we can talk about more ingredients to add in to dress up your basic meat marinade.

1. Cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (just a pinch will do ya) for a kick.
2. Acid such as rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar. About 1-2 teaspoons is a good amount.
3. Fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.
4. Sesame oil. Just a few dashes because it has a strong flavor.
5. Other spices such as ginger, mustard, or paprika.

Finally, this basic marinade is so versatile and can be modified so many ways, it will never get old. If you think about it, any marinade is set up just like a salad dressing. You have an oil, an acid, spices and added flavors. Pull out these basic ingredients and think about what else you would like in it.

I'd love to know how this marinade worked out for and what you try it on. Send me a note or find me on my social accounts 😉

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