Dining and Cooking
American Recipes

How To Make Jamaican Jerk Chicken



Chef Kwame Onwuachi of Kith/Kin in Washington DC is in the Munchies Test Kitchen to share everything there is to know about making Jamaican jerk chicken. Kwame celebrates this iconic Caribbean dish by honoring its history and its cooking method, which requires brining and smoking the chicken. He creates a jerk paste from scratch with ingredients like soy sauce, thyme, Scotch bonnet peppers, tamarind paste, cinnamon, and more. Finally, he serves the jerk chicken with a simple jerk barbecue sauce.

Check out the recipe here: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akw3bb/the-best-jerk-chicken-recipe

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25 Comments

  9. Tee Bryson

    I just made the jerk paste and written as is, it makes a wet marinade, not a paste. I ended adding more bunches of green onion just to give it enough body to resemble a paste.

    Take my advise, start by processing the dry ingredients with the tamarind and sugar then slowly add the soy/Worcestershire mixture in until it comes together and don’t expect to use it all.

  14. Jerry Wu

    Sad to discover this – Kith/Kin is permanently closed. Hope he started a new business! Wanna try out his jerk chicken for sure

  15. edwin cendejas

    So, wait…
    Do you boil it or no??
    Because you say, bring to a boil, then the very next sentence, you say, it doesn’t have to come to a boil..

  16. Tina B

    Love how you didn’t peel the garlic and ginger. Use the whole thing even onions. You get so flava and nutrients.

  19. 🤎Gentle Aurora Asmr 🖤

    Be aware trying his recipe. The jerk sauce will come out runny. I don't know what it was but I used tamarind concenreate and not the paste which was the same thing when I googled, and it still came out watery. The flavor wasn't jerk as it should've been when I tasted it after blending and I follow every step on that recipe. From Brining the chicken, to letting it sit in the jerk sauce. Even the quantity did come out as much as it did for him. Idk what I did wrong!

  20. StoborKing

    As someone of Jamaican descent, I didn't know the history behind the dish I was brought up on. I'm thankful you brought up the history of the dish.

  21. rob boswell

    Brother loved the presentation. There were some good things and bad things that happened during my cook. Tried to follow the recipe to the letter. First I'm in California, no Scotch bonnets had to use habernos. My Jamaican grocer had Scotch bonnet powder but I decided to stay fresh. My tamarind paste had no sugar added. I was surprised that there was no vinegar or lime juice in the recipe. The cook itself went well and. Got the charr I wanted. Probably pulled it a little too soon because I didn't want to have dry chicken. Now taste wise it was way to salty, Maybe I needed low sodium soy sauce but the marinade recipe only said one tablespoon of salt if I remember correctly. The brine must have added the extra salt. Didn't get the tang or the sweetness I expected but I did taste the spices. More savory than sweet. 6/10

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