These Marinading Facts are Essential to Know

As most people know, when you marinate meat, you let it sit in a combination of oil, acid, and flavorings. Letting your meat sit in this concoction won’t mean that it’ll absorb the flavors, but it does mean those flavors will cook first once it hits the heat and you’ll be able to taste them at their most developed.

However, a lot of people make mistakes when it comes to marinades, and if you’re not careful, you won’t like the way your meats come out.

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A lot of people think that the longer you marinate something the better it comes out. In reality, if you marinade meat for too long, it’ll actually get tougher. This is because the acid in the marinade will break down the meat proteins, which is good, but if it’s left on too long, the acid will actually make the meat stringy and mushy, which is not what you want.

The best thing to do is to stick to this general idea of how long to marinate meat: for a whole chicken, no more than 12 hours. For smaller pieces, 1-6 hours. Chicken breasts need about an hour and steak can take up to 12 hours, and nothing should ever be marinated for longer than 24 hours.