Can You Marinate Chicken & Beef Together?
Can you marinate chicken and beef together? Yes! You sure can. Learn how to properly marinate chicken and beef together in this easy-to-follow guide.
Marinating chicken and beef together for a big party is the easiest way to pack a punch of flavor into your proteins while being efficient in your fridge!
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A delicious marinade is just the thing for grilling chicken in the summertime!
When you’re getting your menu ready for the big backyard BBQ, you’re probably wondering if you can marinate everything together or not?
The short answer: Yes! You can!
There are different ways of marinating meat, and for the best results, you’ll want to use an all purpose marinade. One that can go for different types of meat.
The best marinades are simple yet yield a flavorful result.
Let’s chat about the essential components of marinating.
Basic Marinade Ingredients:
Worcestershire Sauce — this delightfully salty liquid has a great flavor for any protein! It works well with chicken and beef, as well as pork chops, like in this 2-Ingredient Marinade for Pork Chops!
Soy Sauce — the umami flavor that hearty soy sauce packs are perfect for any marinade recipe. It’s the best way to pack a punch of flavors quickly into your proteins.
Seasonings — Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Paprika, and other common household spices are a great addition to any marinade recipe. Paired with soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, the combo can’t be beaten!
If you’re in your grocery store’s spice aisle, pick up a few spice blends that call your name. This is an economical way of purchasing a bunch of spices, curated together.
My favorites store-bought spice blends are:
- Montreal Steak Seasoning – while meant for steak, it’s a hearty seasoning blend that pairs well with chicken and pork, too!
- Smokehouse Maple Seasoning – perfect on raw chicken, pork chops, shrimp, or steak too!
- Cajun Seasoning – get one with a little heat, if you’re into that kind of thing.
- Italian Seasoning – Yep! used for marinara sauces, etc but give it a try on your chicken breast.
- House Seasoning — this is my own seasoning blend I create by combining onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, and black pepper together. It’s a time saver when recipes call for all of these ingredients a lot!
The Only Steak Marinade You’ll Ever Need uses soy sauce, red wine vinegar, dry sherry, Worcestershire sauce, fresh herbs, shallots, and seasoning. While the ingredient list may seem hefty, its acidic ingredients help break down muscle fibers and boost new flavors into your meat.
Acidic Marinade Ingredients:
- Lemon Juice
- Lime Juice
- Vinegar of any sort
- Ponzu Sauce
- Hot Sauce
Acidic Marinades are great to use when you don’t have a lot of time.
The marinating time for using citrus juice in your marinade is greatly reduced! LEave chicken too long in an acidic marinade, and it turns gummy and gross. A good rule of thumb is 30 minutes.
Combine lemon juice with olive oil and greek seasoning for an incredible whole chicken marinade! Great on beef steaks, too! Give this Easy Greek Grilled Chicken Marinade a try! It’s got everything from red wine vinegar to mayo to briney capers. Yum!
Lime Juice with brown sugar and taco seasoning creates marinated meat in minutes. This is a good marinade for boneless chicken breasts and skirt steak.
Marinating Chicken & Beef Together
Next time you need to marinate a different type of meat with another, practice food safety! We want to reduce potential food poisoning in any way possible!
A common misconception is cooking times for meat that’s been marinaded together is that you have to cook it for a long time. Personally, I’ve never had any issues with it.
When you cook meat at a high enough temperature foodborne bacteria cook off.
However, a basic rule to remember: if you’re weirded out by it, use separate containers or Ziploc bags!
This means, investing in good air-tight containers like these glass containers or metal containers with a lid. Stainless steel ones are great for mixing and storing, all-in-one. It’s a great way not to use so many dishes!
Place the beef and chicken together in a container and add your marinade.
If you’re marinating in the fridge, before you cook or grill the meat, allow it to come to room temperature, or as close as possible.
Next, you’ll cook your meat in the cooking process you prefer.
Chicken needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degree f. Use a food thermometer to keep track!
Since we’re marinating chicken and beef together, do not repurpose the marinade. To be extra careful of any harmful bacteria, discard the marinade after you’ve started cooking!
In conclusion, you can marinate chicken and beef together! Saving you space in your fridge, and effectively prepping your meat for the BBQ.
here are some marinades that will work with both chicken and beef! Give these a try!
Recipes for Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts and Red Meat Marinades:
