Jerk Chicken Legs

I follow a chef from Great Britain on Instagram. He has this incredible grill called a Braaiman Grill. I covet those things. He put together a jerk recipe and I liked it a ton and decided to tweak it for my own tastes. This turns out fantastic every time and is a go to for having a crowd over when I want to serve something more substantive than just wings. This recipe, however, works great with wings too.

Jerk Chicken Legs

Author
Erick Erickson
Prep time
15 Min
Cook time
30 Min
Inactive time
12 Hour
Total time
12 H & 45 M
I found this recipe following a British gentleman on Instagram who goes by SmokingElk. He's an amazing griller and these chicken legs are fantastic. I tweaked the recipe a bit to my tastes.

Ingredients

  • 2 Scotch Bonnets or Habaneros Peppers
  • 6 Green Onions
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • Thumb sized piece of Ginger
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 3 limes
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp Allspice
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup Oil
  • 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
  • 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
  • Chicken -- all the same cut, preferably legs. Use bone-in cuts.

Instructions

  1. Decide on the peppers. If you leave in the seeds, you'll have a very hot jerk marinade. If you leave the seeds out, you'll reduce the heat.
  2. Rough chop all the vegetables and place them in a food processor or blender. Add the herbs and spices. Add the liquids and brown sugar. Process until smooth.
  3. Using chicken legs, make three shallow cuts across the meat. Add to a gallon ziplock bag. Add in half the marinade. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Massage the chicken to coat the marinade evenly. Marinate for at least 3 hours, but 12 hours will be amazing.
  4. Get your grill ready with indirect heat by either putting coals to one side or turning on the grill on all sides for 15 minutes with medium heat, then turning off one side of the grill while leaving the other side on medium heat.
  5. Add the chicken to the grill on the indirect side. Flip after 15 minutes. After the flip, heat the reserved marinade on the stove to boiling then reduce to simmer. After the fifteen minutes are up, baste the chicken with the reserved marinade, leave for five minutes, flip and baste. After five minutes check the internal temp. If at 165º, remove. Otherwise, flip the chicken a second time while moving to direct heat, baste one last time, and let the char develop over the direct heat until it gets to temperature.
  6. Remember, the chicken will continue to heat up after it is off the grill. It is safe to pull at 162º, then cover with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Dinner, PoultryErick Erickson