Making this jerk sauce at home is easy. It’s the perfect way to pack my desired meats with LOTS of flavors! This jerk marinade doesn’t need a lot of time to prepare. And with a few simple steps and some ingredients, you can have an awesome jerk paste in no time!
But before we go on, what is jerk sauce? It’s a marinade that’s native to Jamaica. A Jamaican jerk sauce is often a wet marinade that’s applied to meat before cooking. It’s typically used on pork or chicken, but you can also use it as a dipping sauce too!
The staples of a homemade jerk sauce are scotch bonnet peppers and allspice. But in this recipe, you can also use habanero as a substitute for scotch bonnet. Soy sauce adds a savory taste. Aromatics such as garlic and scallions are also added for the fragrance they provide. I also mixed in cinnamon, nutmeg, and thyme for the Jerk spice to compliment the allspice.
Making this sauce is as easy as 1-2-3! Simply toss in your spices and chilies into a high-speed blender or a food processor. This yields a smooth and almost creamy texture, making it easier to spread on meats and veggies. If you are using whole allspice, I recommend grinding them with a mortar and pestle prior! This will help release a lot of flavors and make your jerk sauce grittier. Though for a smoother sauce, you can sift the freshly ground allspice.
This Caribbean jerk sauce has a lot of uses. As mentioned, you can use it to flavor chicken or pork. I also LOVE having it as marinades for my seafood, lamb, and beef. But it’s not always just for meat lovers! If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can also use this as a marinade for tofu and grilled veggies.
As you can see, this jerk paste is quite simple, but it adds spicy and nutty flavors to your food. And in my recipe, I tried to stay true to the Jamaican taste. So, if you’re like me and want to explore new ways of flavoring your dishes, I highly recommend this Jamaican jerk sauce recipe!
How To Make Jerk Sauce
Jerk sauce hails from Jamaica, and is an important component of Jamaican cuisine. The sauce is flavorful and really hits you with its signature spice.
Ingredients
- ½ cup ground allspice
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 bunches scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 8 cloves garlic
- 6 scotch bonnet peppers, or habanero, seeded and cored; leave some seeds in for more heat
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dried thyme, (or 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp kosher salt, or more to taste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper, or more to taste
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, add the allspice, sugar, scallions, garlic, bonnet peppers, soy sauce, dried thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
- Process until smooth.
- Use to marinate meat of choice.
Nutrition
- Sugar: 9g
- :
- Calcium: 55mg
- Calories: 57kcal
- Carbohydrates: 14g
- Fat: 1g
- Fiber: 2g
- Iron: 1mg
- Monounsaturated Fat: 1g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g
- Potassium: 108mg
- Protein: 1g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Sodium: 369mg
- Vitamin A: 127IU
- Vitamin C: 11mg
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