Oven Baked Jerk Chicken

Content… How Spicy Is It? Recipe Ingredients How to Make It Recipe Variations Tips and Tricks Make-Ahead Instructions Serving and Storage Instructions What to Serve More Jammin’ Jamaican Recipes to Try

How Spicy Is Jamaican Jerk Chicken?

If you’ve never had the opportunity to try jerk chicken before, it’s a Jamaican dish popular throughout the Caribbean. Traditionally, it is a super spicy dish. However, you can adjust the ingredients to turn down the heat.

This particular recipe is very mild if you leave out the scotch bonnet. But if you’re a heat seeker like me, just keep the scotch bonnet as per the recipe. For those of you who enjoy next-level spicy dishes, add as much hot pepper as you can handle. ❤️‍🔥

Recipe Ingredients

1. Chicken – I love making this with chicken legs, but you can use any chicken cuts you have on hand. Just adjust the cooking time for the cut you use. And while leaving the chicken skin on is optional, it crisps up beautifully for extra decadence.
2. Lemon or Lime – Before marinating the chicken, I rub it down with lemon or lime juice. It adds flavor and helps the dry seasoning stick to the chicken.
3. Creole Seasoning – Before marinating, but after the lemon juice, I give the chicken a good coating of Creole seasoning. It adds a little more heat and an extra flavor layer to the dish as a whole.
4. Jerk Marinade Ingredients – Jerk sauce has a long list of ingredients that includes scotch bonnet, garlic, onion, scallions, fresh thyme, fresh ginger, cinnamon, allspice, white pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, brown sugar, bouillon powder, soy sauce, and pineapple juice. Trust the process here; the final product tastes so amazing you’ll be glad you put in the work. (Plus, homemade jerk sauce? That’s just impressive! 👏)

How to Oven-Bake Jerk Chicken

Prep the Chicken and Make the Marinade

• Trim chicken of any excess fat and pat dry with a cloth or paper napkin. 
• Rub each piece down with lemon and creole seasoning, plus salt and pepper if you desire. 
• Heat oil in a sauté pan or skillet set to medium heat. Then, add the scotch bonnet pepper and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until it gets nice and browned.
• Spices – Add the nutmeg, brown sugar, allspice, and cinnamon. Keep stirring until the sugar melts and the mixture starts to clump together.
• Cool – Take it off the heat and let it cool.
• Blend – Place the mixture in a food processor or blender. Add the thyme, white pepper, ginger, green onions, soy sauce, bouillon powder, onion, and pineapple juice. Pulse for about 30 seconds until blended.
• Marinate – Drench the chicken with jerk marinade in a ziplock bag or another airtight container. Chill it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. 

Bake the Jerk Chicken

• Preheat your oven to 425℉ (220℃). Line your baking pan with foil, then top it with a wire rack.
• Drain – Remove chicken from the jerk marinade and let any excess drip off. Reserve the marinade.
• Place the chicken legs in a single layer on the wire rack. While the chicken legs bake, the fat will drip to the bottom of the pan for crispier skin.
• Bake the chicken legs until cooked through and the skin is crispy, for 45-50 minutes. Rotate the chicken halfway through, around the 20-minute mark.
• Jerk Sauce – In a small saucepan, simmer the remaining jerk marinade for about 7 minutes to cook it. You can serve the jerk sauce on the side or drizzle it directly over the cooked chicken.

Recipe Variations

1. Add fresh pineapple. Add chunks of fresh pineapple to the marinade and then bake them alongside the chicken for an extra fresh and tangy twist on your baked jerk chicken recipe. 
2. Make chicken skewers! For a fun party version of this dish, thread chicken breast onto skewers. You can marinate the meat on the skewers and then bake them in the oven as directed; just know they’ll cook a lot quicker.
3. Coconut jerk chicken. Add shredded coconut and coconut milk to your jerk marinade for a creamy, tropical take on this Caribbean classic.
4. Wings elevated. Use the same recipe for oven-baked jerk chicken wings for your next game-day event.

Tips and Tricks

1. Try not to touch the jerk marinade with your hands because it is extremely spicy hot. If possible, use gloves. You don’t want to get this stuff into your eyes accidentally! 😭
2. Give it plenty of time to marinate. The longer you marinate the chicken, the deeper the flavors will penetrate. Overnight marination is ideal.
3. Use a meat thermometer to check doneness. It’s the best way to make sure your chicken is fully cooked and to avoid overcooking it to the point of drying it out. 🙅🏿‍♀️

Make-Ahead Instructions

To make this dish ahead of time, simply follow the recipe and store the baked chicken drenched in the jerk sauce in an airtight container in the fridge.

To reheat it, use the microwave or dump those saucy legs in an oven-safe dish and reheat them at low heat for about 15 minutes. Take them out as soon as they’re heated through to keep them from drying out. You can also freeze this dish for up to three months. Thaw the chicken in the fridge the night before you want to serve it.

Serving and Storage Instructions 

Serve this dish with plenty of tasty sides as soon as it comes out of the oven! Refrigerate leftover jerk chicken for 3-5 days in an airtight container. Or freeze them for up to 3 months.

What Goes With Oven Baked Jerk Chicken

I love me some baked jerk chicken with a hearty helping of Caribbean rice and beans. However, it goes great with Mexican rice, which you can bake at the same time. I like to add some baked plantains to the menu as well, along with a tall, cool glass of sorrel drink.

More Jammin’ Jamaican Recipes to Try

1. Escovitch Fish
2. Curry Shrimp
3. Beef Patty
4. Ackee and Saltfish
5. Oxtail Stew