This is the second instalment of the chicken marinade series — four more marinades to add to your rotation, each one coating two chicken breasts or three to four chicken thighs. Zingy jalapeño, Thai green curry, piri piri and soy garlic honey: four completely different flavour profiles, each made by combining a handful of ingredients in a bag or bowl, and each storing in the fridge for up to three days or the freezer for up to three months. If you have already made the first four — jerk, cajun, tandoori and lemon herb — you now have eight marinades to choose from, which means a fortnight of completely different weeknight dinners from a single session of mixing. This is M&S marinated chicken, made at home, at a fraction of the cost.

Why I Created This Recipe

If you read the first chicken marinades post, you already know the story, M&S, I love you, but I am not paying for something I can make at home in five minutes with a spice cupboard and a bag. You all loved the first recipe, so I thought I'd do some more!

These four marinades cover completely different flavour territories from the first instalment, fresh and citrusy with the zingy jalapeño, fragrant and aromatic with the Thai green curry, bold and smoky with the piri piri, and deeply savoury and sticky with the soy garlic honey. Together with the original four, you have a great rotation of weeknight chicken dinners that never gets repetitive, all made from ingredients that live permanently in the fridge, freezer and spice cupboard.

Same principle as before: mix, bag, store, cook when needed.

Why Slicing the Chicken in Half Horizontally Matters

If you have not read the first chicken marinades post, this is worth knowing. Every marinade in this collection uses chicken breasts sliced in half horizontally — cutting through the thickness of the breast to give two thinner, flatter pieces — or three to four boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Thinner pieces have a greater surface area relative to their volume, which means the marinade penetrates more deeply and more evenly. They also cook considerably faster and more evenly than thick pieces, with less risk of the outside becoming overcooked before the centre is done. For chicken thighs, which are naturally thinner and more irregular in shape, no slicing is needed — they work beautifully as they are.

How to Cook the Marinated Chicken

Pan-Frying

Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the marinated chicken and cook for 4–5 minutes on each side until cooked through and slightly charred at the edges. Do not move the chicken around too much — let it sit and develop colour before flipping. Rest for two minutes before serving.

Grilling

Particularly good for the piri piri and Thai curry marinades. Preheat a griddle pan or outdoor grill to a high heat and cook for 4–5 minutes per side until well-marked and cooked through. The char adds a smoky depth that works beautifully with both.

Oven-Baking

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Place on a lined baking tray (baking sheet) and bake for 18–22 minutes until cooked through. For extra colour, finish under the grill (broiler) for the final two to three minutes. Chicken thighs may need an extra three to five minutes.

Why You'll Want to Make This Recipe

Eight Marinades and Counting

Combined with the first instalment, this gives you eight different chicken marinades to choose from — enough for a fortnight of completely different weeknight dinners without repeating yourself. Make four at once, freeze half and you have dinner sorted for weeks.

Even Better Than the Supermarket Version

Pre-marinated supermarket chicken is convenient — but it often contains preservatives, excess salt and stabilisers that you simply do not need. Making it at home means you control every ingredient, adjust every flavour to your own taste and spend a fraction of the price for a noticeably better result.

Thighs or Breasts

Unlike the first instalment which specified breast only, this post explicitly offers both options. Chicken thighs are juicier, more forgiving and arguably more flavourful — particularly good with the soy garlic honey and the piri piri marinades, where a little extra richness is welcome.

A Freezer Full of Options

Keep a rotation of different marinades in the freezer and weeknight dinners become almost effortless. The chicken marinates as it defrosts, which means you get a better result from frozen than you would from a short fresh marinating time.

The Four Marinades

1. Zingy Jalapeño Chicken

A fresh, vibrant marinade built around the combination of pickled and fresh jalapeño — the pickled jalapeños bring a sharp, vinegary heat and the fresh jalapeño adds a greener, more immediate spice. Spring onions (scallions), fresh coriander (cilantro), lemon and orange zest and olive oil round it out into something that is genuinely zingy in the best possible way. The citrus zest adds a fragrant brightness that lifts the heat of the jalapeños without softening it — this is a marinade with real personality.

Best served with: rice and a simple black bean salad, alongside grilled corn on the cob, in a wrap with avocado and soured cream, or over a simple green salad with a lime dressing. The fresh, citrusy heat works equally well as a summer grill or a quick weeknight pan-fry.

2. Thai Green Curry Chicken

Built around a good quality shop-bought Thai green curry paste — the same principle as the jerk marinade in the first instalment, using a well-made paste as the flavour foundation rather than sourcing every individual spice separately. Lemongrass, a pinch of chilli, rice wine vinegar and fresh coriander (cilantro) round it out into something fragrant, aromatic and deeply flavoured. The lemongrass adds a distinctive citrusy, floral note that is characteristic of Thai cooking; the vinegar adds a sharpness that keeps the marinade from feeling heavy.

Best served with: jasmine rice or rice noodles alongside a simple cucumber salad. Also excellent with coconut rice — the creamy, fragrant rice balances the heat and aromatics of the marinade beautifully — or with a quick stir-fry of pak choi (bok choy) and spring onions (scallions). For a more substantial meal, slice the cooked chicken and serve over noodles in a light broth.

3. Piri Piri Chicken

A bold, smoky, warmly spiced marinade built from smoked paprika, cayenne, cumin, ground coriander, ground ginger, garlic, oregano, lemon and lime zest, sugar and olive oil. Piri piri — sometimes written peri peri — is a style of cooking with roots in Portuguese and African culinary traditions, characterised by its combination of chilli heat, citrus brightness and warm spicing. The smoked paprika gives the marinade its characteristic deep, slightly smoky backbone; the sugar encourages caramelisation and a light char during cooking; and the combination of lemon and lime zest gives it a bright, citrusy finish that cuts through the richness of the spices.

Best served with: rice, chips (fries) or roasted potatoes, a simple corn salad or alongside a creamy coleslaw that balances the heat of the marinade. A squeeze of fresh lemon over the cooked chicken just before serving adds an extra hit of brightness. This is also an outstanding marinade for chicken thighs on the barbecue — the char and smokiness the grill adds is completely in keeping with the character of the spice blend.

4. Soy Garlic Honey Chicken

A deeply savoury, sticky, glossy marinade of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, oyster sauce, garlic, honey and white pepper. This is the most umami-forward of the four — the combination of light and dark soy sauce gives it both saltiness and depth of colour; the Shaoxing rice wine adds a subtle warmth and complexity that plain soy sauce cannot replicate; the oyster sauce adds a rich, savoury body; and the honey provides the sweetness that caramelises into a sticky, glossy glaze during cooking. While it shares some DNA with the garlic honey soy meatballs from the More Ways Than One series, this marinade is more complex and more layered — the Shaoxing wine and oyster sauce take it somewhere distinctly different.

Best served with: sticky rice and steamed or stir-fried greens — tenderstem broccoli (broccolini), pak choi (bok choy) or mangetout (snow peas) all work beautifully. Also excellent sliced over noodles with a drizzle of sesame oil and a scatter of sesame seeds and spring onions (scallions). For something more substantial, serve alongside fried rice or in a simple rice bowl with a jammy egg — see the perfect jammy egg post for the foolproof method.

My Top Tips for These Chicken Marinades

• Use chicken thighs for the soy garlic honey and piri piri marinades if you can — the extra richness of the thigh works particularly well with both, and the slightly irregular shape of the thigh gives more surface area for the marinade to caramelise against during cooking.
• For the zingy jalapeño marinade, use both pickled and fresh jalapeño as specified — they contribute different things. The pickled jalapeño brings vinegary sharpness and a slightly mellow heat; the fresh jalapeño brings a greener, more vibrant, more immediate spice. Using only one or the other gives a noticeably different result.
• For the Thai green curry marinade, use a good quality shop-bought paste. The flavour varies enormously between brands — look for one where lemongrass and chilli are high in the ingredients list. Mae Ploy and Maesri are both excellent Thai brands widely available in Asian supermarkets or online.
• For the piri piri marinade, the sugar is important — do not leave it out. It balances the heat of the cayenne and encourages caramelisation and char during cooking, which is central to the character of the finished dish.
• For the soy garlic honey marinade, use both light and dark soy sauce — they are doing different things. Light soy provides the primary saltiness; dark soy adds depth and gives the marinade its characteristic dark, glossy colour. The Shaoxing rice wine adds a subtle complexity — it is worth having a bottle in the cupboard as it keeps for a very long time and is used across a wide range of Asian-inspired recipes.
• Marinate for at least 30 minutes if cooking the same day — overnight gives significantly better results for all four marinades.
• Zip-lock bags are the most practical storage method — they allow the marinade to coat every surface of the chicken evenly, take up minimal space in the fridge or freezer and make labelling and dating straightforward.
• If freezing, remove as much air as possible from the bag before sealing. This keeps the marinade in close contact with the chicken and prevents freezer burn.
• Always defrost in the fridge overnight and cook within 24 hours of fully defrosting. Do not refreeze once thawed.

Storage

Refrigerating

Each marinated bag of chicken keeps in the fridge for up to three days. The flavour develops and deepens over time — overnight marinating gives a noticeably more flavourful result than thirty minutes.

Freezing

Each bag freezes for up to three months. The chicken marinates as it defrosts, giving an excellent result. Defrost in the fridge overnight and cook within 24 hours of fully defrosting. Do not refreeze once thawed.

Dietary Variations

Gluten-Free

Check the labels on the Thai green curry paste, oyster sauce and soy sauces — all can contain gluten depending on the brand. Swap the soy sauces for tamari and use a gluten-free oyster sauce for the soy garlic honey marinade. Check the curry paste label carefully and look for a certified gluten-free version if needed. All other ingredients across all four marinades are naturally gluten-free.

Dairy-Free

All four marinades are naturally dairy-free as written — no adaptations needed.

Vegan

Replace the chicken with firm tofu, pressed and cut into pieces, or with halloumi for a vegetarian alternative. For the soy garlic honey marinade, swap the honey for maple syrup and use a vegan oyster sauce — several brands produce one made from mushrooms that works very well. For the Thai green curry marinade, check that your curry paste is vegan as some brands contain shrimp paste.

Adjusting the Heat

For the zingy jalapeño marinade, reduce to just the pickled jalapeños and leave out the fresh chilli for a milder result. For the piri piri, reduce the cayenne to a pinch for a gentler heat. For the Thai green curry, use a mild curry paste and leave out the chilli flakes. For the soy garlic honey, the white pepper provides a subtle background warmth — leave it out for a completely mild result.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from the first chicken marinades post?

The first instalment covered jerk, cajun, tandoori and lemon herb — four marinades with more familiar, widely used flavour profiles. This second instalment goes in slightly different directions: the zingy jalapeño is fresher and more citrus-forward; the Thai green curry is more aromatic and fragrant; the piri piri is smokier and bolder; and the soy garlic honey is the most umami-forward of all eight marinades across both posts. Together the two posts give you eight completely different weeknight chicken options.

Can I use the lemongrass from a tube for the Thai green curry marinade?

Yes — lemongrass paste from a tube is a perfectly good substitute for fresh and is considerably easier to use. Use around half a teaspoon in place of one stalk of fresh lemongrass. It is worth keeping a tube in the fridge alongside ginger and garlic paste as they last a long time and are a useful shortcut for weeknight cooking.

Is the soy garlic honey marinade similar to the garlic honey soy meatballs?

It shares the same broad flavour territory — soy, garlic and honey are common to both — but the Shaoxing rice wine and oyster sauce in this marinade take it somewhere more complex and layered. The meatball glaze is a simpler, more immediate sticky sauce; this is a more developed, more deeply savoury marinade designed to penetrate the chicken during resting time. They are different enough to both earn their place in the rotation.

Can I make these marinades without a zip-lock bag?

Yes — a sealed container or a bowl covered tightly with cling film (plastic wrap) works well. The advantage of a zip-lock bag is that it allows the marinade to coat every surface of the chicken more evenly without needing to turn it, and it takes up less space in the fridge and freezer. But any airtight vessel will give a good result.

Can I use these marinades on other proteins?

Yes — as with the first instalment, all four work well on other proteins. The zingy jalapeño marinade is outstanding on prawns (shrimp) — marinate for fifteen minutes and cook for two to three minutes per side. The Thai green curry marinade works beautifully on salmon. The piri piri marinade is excellent on pork chops or lamb cutlets. The soy garlic honey marinade is one of the best things you can put on salmon or on firm tofu.