Simple Caribbean Jerk Chicken

This is not Caribbean or Jamaican Jerk. I live in Jamaica, the real home of Jerk. You can't use Italian seasoning, put it on the grill it and call it Caribbean or Jamaican Jerk. Jamaican jerk has its own unique flavour, spices and seasonings that are authentic because of the type of soil in which the spices and seasonings are grown here ( rich bauxite soil) such as thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, escallion, ginger, pimento berries, etc. and it MUST be jerked over pimento wood because that wood gives it a special flavor. Anything else than that is pure fake....not jerk...perhaps BBQ chicken, possibly but definitely not jerk in the true sense.

You could call this receipe Caribbean Inspired Chicken but Jerk Chicken it is not. To make jerk chicken you have to use the correct seasonings to get the right taste and a dry packet of Italian seasoning does not cut the mustard.

It is not much work to get some ground allspice to substitute for the salad dressing. The foundation of jerk is allspice and scotch bonnet peppers of which this recipe has neither. I'm sure the recipe is tasty as per the reviews but it really is inaccurate to call it jerk, sorry, don't mean to be a...jerk.

This is not jerk chicken. There is no allspice or scotch bonnet peppers, 2 essential ingredients in jerk seasoning. It's not even close. It's more like an Italian marinated chicken.

You're so right, this was so simple and so so yummy. I used boneless chicken breast tenders. I loved the hint of the cinnamon flavor. This is a recipe I will make again and again. Thanks so much for sharing it.