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As part of the series I’m doing on freezer recipes this summer, I wanted to share not just freezer meals but components of meals that can be frozen to make dinner easier. You may think freezing food for meals is a waste of time if you’re home all day, but trust me: having things that are mostly ready to go straight in the oven is a lifesaver when a day has been harder than normal or your one-year-old is wanting to be held constantly.
Today I’m going to share four freezer marinades for chicken. You put the chicken in with the marinade, freeze it, and then pull it out to thaw a day or two before you plan to cook it. The chicken marinates while it thaws and is ready to be put on the grill or in the oven for dinner.
Another great thing about the recipes I’m going to share today is that you can make them in batches. I froze 7 bags of chicken in marinade in less than an hour. It would have taken only a little less time to freeze one of them, so doing a bunch at once was totally worth it.
For more on freezer cooking, see how to save money by freezing food.
4 Freezer Marinades for Chicken
These recipe amounts are each for ONE meal. I cook about 3 lb of chicken for a meal, which usually gives us at least one meal of leftovers. I did all of them at once, so that we can have 1-2 of these meals a week for the next 4-6 weeks, but you can make a bunch of batches of one kind if you want. Keep in mind these are OK to be in the freezer for about 3 months, so don’t make so much that it goes to waste!
Also keep in mind that these marinades are not exactly what you’ll find in the recipe that I’ve linked. I’ve adjusted the recipes to make sure there was enough liquid and that it would work. But the recipe will tell you how to cook the chicken once you’re ready to eat!
The first step is to go ahead and label your freezer bags. Do this now so the permanent marker won’t smear.
I printed out what was going to go in each bag—I did two of each.
I lined up all the bags and then just poured in the right amount of each ingredient.
Add the chicken last, after all the marinade ingredients have been added to each bag. Then close up the bag and, for lack of a better word, “smoosh” it around so that the marinade is touching all the chicken.
Then I laid the bags flat in the freezer so they can easily be pulled out. I usually pull out a bag about 2 days before I plan to cook it so that it has time to thaw.
And without further ado, here are the marinade recipes.
Marinade 1: Perfect Grilled Chicken
3 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
Marinade 2: Chicken Shawarma
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Juice of 3 lemons
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp minced garlic
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 large red onion, chopped
Marinade 3: Chicken Fajitas
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
3 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp salt
1 large onion
3 bell peppers
3/4 cup olive oil
Marinade 4: Teriyaki Chicken
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
