Orange BBQ Marinade Perfect For Grilled Chicken Or Smoked Chicken

Orange BBQ Marinade

This orange bbq marinade works really well on barbeque chicken whether you’re going to grill it or smoke it. I prefer to use chicken thighs (and keep the bone on if smoking) because they are the most succulent.

The marinade takes no time at all to make but of course remember that you need time for the flavours to work their magic so make sure you allow at least about 30 minutes for the marinade time.

You'll notice in the ingredients that I have used mirin. This is a Japanese ingredient, a sweet rice wine that's lower in alcohol content than sake and sometimes containing a salt content.

If you're not able to get hold of mirin then a good alternative for the amount I've used would be 2 tablespoons of white wine and a teaspoon of white sugar.

To continue the citrus theme you may fancy trying my pineapple barbecue sauce as an accompaniment to your culinary creation.

The choice of chicken is down to you. If you don't want to use thigh meat like I have then you can also use breast fillets, in either case make sure that you remove the skin so that the marinade has the maximum surface area upon which to work.

Yield:- 5 cups

Preparation Time:- 30 minutes
Marinade Time:- 30 minutes
Cooking Time:- n/a

Total Time:- 1 hour

Allergens:

There are no allergens in my orange bbq marinade recipe if you're using fresh vegetable stock. If using a prepared stock or cube the check the label because some contain gluten.

Ingredients:-

1½ pints vegetable stock

2 cups orange juice

1 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons muscovado sugar

2 tablespoons Japanese mirin or sweet white wine

3 teaspoons black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

1 star anise

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

3 cloves

Method:-

Throw all the ingredients into a pan and bring it up to the boil. Gently stir until all the sugar has dissolved then leave to cool.

When cool place your chicken into a marinade bowl and pour the marinade over and cover it with stretch wrap. For 30 minutes marinade time there's no need to refrigerate.

Note: - Cooking from room temperature makes for more even cooking because the temperature differential between the raw and the cooked meat is less marked. This differential is further accentuated by the varying thickness of meat so it's best to keep the temperature differential to a minimum.

When the marinade time is up it's time to slap your chicken on the grill!