Saturday, July 14, 2012

4 freezer marinades for Lazy People



I LOVE this site.. so expect to see goodies from it often. Here are some ideas!!


If you’re a lazy cook like me, you are going to love this idea!
I grill a lot of chicken. Usually, I just throw the boneless breasts or tenders on the grill frozen. Sometimes, I go all out and sprinkle them with salt and pepper or homemade seasoned salt. That works fine. But I really prefer the taste of marinated chicken.
However, I’m too lazy and usually in too much of a hurry to remember to thaw the chicken and get it in the marinade with time for it to sit before cooking.
But I’ve got a true short cut for you! It turns out, you can put the marinade over frozen chicken. Pop it back in the freezer and then when you’re ready pop it on the grill. Super simple and it tastes great and makes the chicken tender too.
This idea came to me when GLAD sent me some of their new Freezerware containers.

I used the large size. They are big enough for 1/2 a bag of chicken tenders to fit with room to spare for shaking to coat the meat with marinade.
I used 4 GLAD Freezerware containers and 2 bags of chicken tenders. It only took a couple of minutes to mix up each marinade. I poured marinade over the meat and snapped the lid on tightly. Then I turned the containers upside down and shook them gently to distribute the marinade. Back into the freezer they went.
For testing purposes, I took 1 tender out of the two new marinades. (I’d already tried the Italian Dressing and Soy Sauce as well as the Lemon Juice and Garlic Marinades. The Hoisin and Raspberry Vinaigrette were new though.)
I put the frozen tenders on the grill and they turned out fantastic! Full of flavor and moist too.
Since I only grilled 1 tender out of each container, I was able to pull them out frozen. However, if you’re making the whole container you might have to thaw in the microwave a bit in order to get them out of the marinade. No worries though, the containers are microwave safe. You can also put them in the dishwasher so you can use them again for your next batch.
I labeled the containers with freezer tape and a sharpie marker.
Here are the 4 marinades I used. Let these be a jumping off point for you. There are all kinds of variations to try!

Italian Dressing and Soy Sauce Marinade

This may sound strange, but it tastes great. Mix equal parts Italian dressing, soy sauce and sugar together. I used 1/4 cup of each.

Lemon Juice and Garlic

Mix 1/2 cup lemon juice with 1-2 crushed garlic cloves. Season with salt and pepper.

Raspberry Vinaigrette

It doesn’t get easier than this. Pour bottled raspberry vinaigrette over the frozen chicken. I used fat-free. The grilled chicken had a barely sweet flavor and tender texture.

Hoisin Sauce

Stir together 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce with 1/8 cup rice wine vinegar. This would be really good as part of an Asian inspired meal, but don’t let that keep you from trying it at other times too. It’s got a great taste that will go well with all kinds of side dishes.

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