ISO Help with Using Marinades

[951Michael]

My question is regarding marinades,

If I marinate chicken overnight I really shouldn't have to throw away the marinade. Correct? If I keep the marinade in the refrigerator I understand that it will have bacteria in it from the chicken. But if I reuse it again, the breast that I use it on will be cooked to an internal temperature of 165° Fahrenheit, so all bacteria should be dead. Please explain more if you could as to whether or not my understanding is correct.

Also, if it is okay to reuse the marinade how long can I keep on doing this with the marinade? The ingredients in the marinade seem to have a very long shelf life, except for the parsley.

thank you

 

[CraigC]

The only time I keep a marinade is if it will be cooked and reduced for a sauce/mop. I never keep a brine. IMO the cost of ingredients for both are so low, it isn't worth the health risk to reuse them.

 

[Andy M.]

I understand your logic but it's still an issue. Even if you cook the chicken and kill off any harmful bacteria you are growing a bacteria farm in your fridge that could accidentally contaminate other things. Bacteria will continue to grow but at a slower rate. After a short time, the marinade will be more strongly contaminated so even a scant quantity could make you very sick.

Also, the marinade will change in flavor and the second use won't taste the same as the first. Make a smaller amount of marinade, use it once and toss it. Save money somewhere else.

 

[Kayelle]

Nope, I won't keep it either for all the above reasons.

In addition, Andy has a valid point about the already used marinade loosing it's flavor to the protein. For example, I like to pickle hard cooked eggs in the jar of leftover dill pickle juice...it works great the first time, but not the second. The second batch of eggs had hardly any flavor at all.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Well, the "nays" have it. Below 40F, Salmonella, Camelobacter and the other pathogens that infest our chickens tend to doze off. They will not make you sick, and they won't invade anything else in your fridge (they are not air borne), but they will be raring to go once the temp of their host goes above 40F, increasing in activity to about 140F (hence the "40-40 rule") at which point they start to die. Even if you freeze the marinade, it is unlikely that all the bacteria will be killed.

But as has been noted, the marinade will change with prolonged use. The pH or acidity, will move towards neutral and the marinade will become less effective. Marinades are easily made, so throw out your used liquid and start again with the next batch of chicken.

 

[951Michael]

The main reason why I would like to do this is because of the time it takes to make the marinade each time I grilled chicken breasts. I grill a lot of chicken breasts. Perhaps I will just make a large amount of marinade, stick it in the fridge, and then use the amount required for each batch. This large batch won't come into contact with any chicken breast so that problem is gone. The next problem to solve will be how long I can keep this batch of marinade in the fridge before I notice a difference in the grilled chicken. One week, 2 weeks, etc.?
This will tell me how big of a batch I can make up.
FYI this is the website with ingredients Marinade for Chicken Recipe - Allrecipes.com
Thanks as always for the help

 

[Dawgluver]

The main reason why I would like to do this is because of the time it takes to make the marinade each time I grilled chicken breasts. I grill a lot of chicken breasts. Perhaps I will just make a large amount of marinade, stick it in the fridge, and then use the amount required for each batch. This large batch won't come into contact with any chicken breast so that problem is gone. The next problem to solve will be how long I can keep this batch of marinade in the fridge before I notice a difference in the grilled chicken. One week, 2 weeks, etc.?
This will tell me how big of a batch I can make up.
FYI this is the website with ingredients Marinade for Chicken Recipe - Allrecipes.com
Thanks as always for the help

I suspect you could freeze portions of unused marinade in freezer baggies, just pull out and defrost as needed. You could then marinate the chicken right in the baggie. Another thought would be to freeze the mix without the oil, then add the oil when you're ready to use it.

 

[PhilinYuma]

I suspect you could freeze portions of unused marinade in freezer baggies, just pull out and defrost as needed. You could then marinate the chicken right in the baggie. Another thought would be to freeze the mix without the oil, then add the oil when you're ready to use it.

This.

 

[Kayelle]

Looks like a good recipe and I think I'll give it a try. I noticed that one of the five star reviewers by the name of Mjay, keeps a bottle of it in the fridge.......I don't see why not.

 

[jennyema]

That marinade is very simple and would take about 90 seconds to make. I'd make it fresh every time.

Its a very bad idea to reuse potentially contaminated marinade.

Also a marinade with that much acid in it might do done damage on boneless skinless breasts if you leave them in overnight.

 

[GotGarlic]

Ms

Looks like a good recipe and I think I'll give it a try. I noticed that one of the five star reviewers by the name of Mjay, keeps a bottle of it in the fridge.......I don't see why not.

This is what I would do - no different from a homemade vinaigrette, imo. I'd keep it for a week or so.

The recipe makes 3 cups or so of marinade, which seems like a lot for one meal, to me. 951Michael, how much chicken do you marinate in it?

 

[Steve Kroll]

I use a little different approach. I marinate a dozen or so breasts at a time and grill them all up at once. Then I reheat the breasts throughout the week, or chop them up cold to use in salads or pitas/wraps.

 

[Kayelle]

Just one more thing. One of the nice things about that particular recipe web site is they have that handy dandy little calculator to turn that huge quantity of marinade into a more manageable amount.