Back a Yard in San Jose is my favorite place in town for jerk chicken. I love the spicy, warm, and complex flavors of the jerk rub and marinade. My BBQ Buddy @cookinwidkunchi recently came out with his Authentic Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub and it smells and tastes freaking amazing. With his dry rub, I can make my own Caribbean-style BBQ at home anytime! If you have time and want to make your own, I also have a Jamaican Jerk Rub on my blog that works great too!
For this Jerk Chicken, I also made Jamaican Jerk Wet Marinade that is inspired @cookinwidkunchi. I rubbed it under the skin and on the chicken meat, and sprinkled the dry jerk rub liberally on the skin. After barbecuing the chicken, the chicken was super moist and juicy, and tasted so flavorful and delicious! I wish I had some Red Stripe beer to wash it all down. There’s seriously nothing like charcoal barbecued chicken!
There are so many different ways you can cook jerk chicken, but for this cook, I brought out the Weber Kettle and barbecued the chicken over indirect heat using Weber’s Bullseye method. I love this method because it cooks bone-in chicken over high indirect heat at around 500 degrees, helping the fat sweat and crisp up the skin even more in less time! I love to use this method for bone-in chicken and chicken wings.
Jerk Chicken Ingredients:
4 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
Jamaican Jerk Wet Marinade
Authentic Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub
Jamaican Jerk Rub Ingredients:
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1.5 tablespoons garlic powder
1.5 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon al spice powder
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon crushed chili flakes
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Jamaican Jerk Wet Marinade Ingredients:
1/3 cup Authentic Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub
1 large yellow onion
1 orange, juiced
1 bunch green onions
1 bulb garlic
1 thumb ginger
2 Scotch Bonnet peppers or habanero peppers, de-seeded
3 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons neutral oil
2 tablespoons thick soy sauce or molasses
salt, to taste
Steps:
Make Jamaican Jerk Wet Marinade – Add all the Jamaican Jerk Wet Marinade to a blender jar. Pulse a few times to desired consistency.
Marinate Chicken – Rub Jamaican Jerk Wet Marinade directly under the chicken skin. Liberally season the skin with Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub. Marinate chicken for at least 4 hours preferably overnight.
Make Jamaican Rice and Peas – Add all the ingredients into a rice cooker and cook until the rice is fluffy and tender.
Set-up the Weber for Indirect Cooking – Light up a charcoal chimney full of charcoal. Place two char-baskets in the center of the Weber Kettle. Once the charcoal is fully lit, carefully pour the lit charcoal into the char-baskets in the center of the Weber. Toss in the wood chunk. Insert the grilling grate in the Weber. Close the lid, open all the vents, and bring the Weber to 450-500 degrees.
BBQ Chicken Wings – Place the chicken thighs around the perimeter of the grilling grate. BBQ the chicken with the lid closed for 25-30 minutes or until the skin is extra crispy or the internal temperature of the chicken wings reaches 175 degrees.
Tips:
- I used bone-in chicken thighs, but this recipe should work great on fish, pork, and tofu as well!
- I couldn’t find Scotch Bonnet peppers, so I used habaneros. I only used two since I didn’t want it to be too spicy for the girls. Add more or less peppers depending on your spice tolerance.
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