How long should you marinate chicken for? Overnight, or just for a couple of hours? What is the best?

Question

marinade for barbequed chicken? I tend to just use Wishbone Italian Dressing mixed with Wishbone House Dressing, and then put barbeque sauce on it.

Answer 1

If you marinade chicken in Italian dressing overnight it will be awful. I did this and the vinegar in the dressing cooked the chicken in the bag. Don't marinade it for more than 2 hours.

Answer 2

Marinating Chicken Overnight

Answer 3

A marinade usually from 2 hours to overnight. Much beyond that, the protein begins to break down. Do what you can. If you only have 45 minutes, then it's better than nothing.

A brine is a different deal. You didn't ask, but I'll just quickly comment that although you get better results with brining, you can also take a chicken to a tougher stage than usual through brining, so you just have to be more careful.

But for marinating, which I really don't think gives you the same results as brining, anything up to 24 hours is probably fine. Maybe even more.

Answer 4

Marinades all have different times for the optimal flavor. The main criteria you need to look for is the amount of acidity in your marinade. The more acid, the less time you should marinate it. Vinegars and citrus fruit juices (lemon, lime, orange) break down the meat faster, so you have to be careful about the length of time you marinate things.

If you are using the Italian dressing, I would marinate it for 2-4 hours. If you were using just the House dressing, you could leave it overnight.

Answer 5

I usually put in a marinade the night before I'm going to make it for supper. But, any marinade that you have any kind of vinegar at all will start to cook the chicken in the marinade if you leave it in to long. And, then it seems to be tougher.

Answer 6

I like to marinade over night if possible but make sure u do discard the marinade right away and dont use it for nothing else...

Answer 7

5 hours should be plenty long enough...although the longer you marinade, the more tender the meat becomes. over night would be fine, if you want to....but ALWAYS marinade in the refrigerator, never leave meat out longer than 30 minutes at room temp

someone mentioned above me that they baste witht he leftover marinade, I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST THIS!!
think about it....raw meat was sitting in that juice, now youre going to put it all over the cooked meat?? that can make you really ill...its like eating raw meat!!
*** always alwayss !!always use fresh marinade/juices/whatever to baste with!!!!

Answer 8

I would marinate it for at least 6 hours, and then slowly cook it for the meat want get tough ,the best way to cook chicken I think myself is to grill it on a gas grill or you can use an inside grill also,well I wish you good luck, and enjoy your dinner.

Answer 9

marinate it for as long as possible. the marinade will also act as a preservative because of the salt and high acid. so 4 days would be sweet. i do olive oil, fresh chopped herbs, fresh squeezed lemons tossed right in, fresh garlic, salt and pepper. it is quick, easy and awesome. 2-3 days would be nice.

Answer 10

Any where from 2 hours to overnight.