Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Jamaican Jerk Chicken Drumsticks with Caribbean Rice with Peas (Beans) Recipe
Large, huge, BIG flavours. Spicy. Punchy. Salty. Candy. ♥ I can’t transport you to the Caribbean. However I can provide you a style of the tropics in your personal dwelling! Joyful days!
Served with Caribbean Rice with Peas (really, it’s beans – however the dish is known as “peas”!)
Jamaican Jerk Chicken Drumsticks
The most effective nights I bear in mind from my vacation to the Bahamas was at a seashore bar the place we drank low-cost beer, danced barefoot on the sand and lined up in lengthy queues for dinner served on paper plates. It was an in depth banquet consisting of peas ‘n rice, corn on the cob, a inexperienced salad and jerk chicken….. 🙂
Nobody was complaining about lack of selection, consider me! That was my first jerk chicken expertise and I’ve by no means regarded again. It hits my candy spot completely – huge, punchy, spicy flavours.
Take a look at the thick sticky marinade on the chicken!
I’ve tried fairly a couple of jerk chicken recipes, together with from superstar cooks. However this Oven Baked Jerk Chicken recipe by Imma from Immaculate Bites is my favorite. As quickly as I noticed her recipe, I knew I’d attempt it and I’ve made it twice already. Recipes for jerk chicken, like many signature dishes of cuisines from around the globe, range wildly although they’ve frequent substances. What I like about Imma’s recipes is that she shares dwelling prepare dinner variations of Caribbean recipes. Actual substances that odd folks can discover and cooking strategies for odd people like me.
I’d love to have the ability to make actual jerk chicken over charcoal with pimento wooden. However that simply ain’t gonna occur in my yard! So I’m sticking with Imma’s oven baked model. 🙂 I made these within the photograph within the oven, however I’ve supplied instructions for the grill/BBQ as nicely.
I served the jerk chicken with Imma’s Caribbean Rice with Crimson Beans. It’s sensational, the form of rice that’s so flavourful you may eat it plain. 🙂
Ingredients
- 8 (about 2.5lb / 1.2kg) chicken drumsticks (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 lime (or 1/2 lemon), juice only (about 2 tbsp)
- 1 onion , coarsely chopped (brown, yellow or white)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger , chopped (or 1 tsp dried ginger powder)
- 1 or more scotch bonnet pepper or substitute with other chili (Note 2)
- 6 garlic cloves , roughly chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tbsp allspice powder
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder (preferably freshly grated)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme or 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- Fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
- 2 tbsp oil (canola, vegetable, peanut, olive oil)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , diced (brown, white, yellow)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme or 1 small fresh thyme sprig
- 1 cup long grain rice (uncooked)
- 14 oz / 400g can red kidney beans , rinsed and drained
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 3/4 cup water (or 1 cup if you like your rice very soft)
- 1 small bay leaf
- 2 tsp cajun spice mix (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and place in a large ziplock bag.
- Place Marinade ingredients in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Try not to touch the Marinade with bare hands to avoid getting chili on your hands.
- Pour the Marinade into the ziplock bag. Close the bag, squeezing out excess air. Massage the bag from the outside to disperse the Marinade throughout the chicken. Marinate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- When ready to cook, remove the chicken from the Marinade but reserve the Marinade.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350 (fan forced).
- Place a wire rack on a baking tray lined with foil. Place the drumsticks on the rack and baste the top with half the Marinade. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Turn the drumsticks and baste the top with the remaining Marinade. Bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes, until the drumsticks are very dark brown.
- Rest for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with coriander/cilantro if using.
- Preheat the grill side of the BBQ on medium (or medium low if your BBQ is strong). Brush the grill with oil, if required.
- Place the chicken on the grill. Brush the top with 1/2 the Marinade. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn.
- Brush the top with the remaining Marinade and cook for a further 5 to 8 minutes.
- Then turn the chicken again (to cook the side that you just brushed Marinade on) and cook for a few minutes. (Total cook time around 20 minutes in total)
- Remove from the BBQ and rest for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with coriander/cilantro if using.
- Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
- Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add onion and thyme, and sauté for 3 minutes until translucent and just starting to turn golden brown.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Put the lid on and bring to boil, then turn the heat down to low.
- Cook for around 20 minutes, until all the water is absorbed (tilt the saucepan – if there is no water, then it is ready).
- Remove from the stove and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. During this time, any residual water will be absorbed and the rice will continue to cook.
- I served this with Jamaican Jerk Chicken Drumsticks.
Notes
1. This recipe works really well with chicken thigh fillets – with or without skin, with or without bone. It works but is not as good with chicken breast – you really need fat for the Marinade to mix with and to caramelise.
If you use boneless chicken thigh fillets, you can also cook this on the stove.
2. The original recipe calls for 1+ scotch bonnet peppers (adjust according to taste). Scotch bonnet peppers are a very hot chili that are commonly used in African and Caribbean cooking. On the chili “heat” scale, it is about 50% spicier than birds eye chili.
The best substitute is habanero peppers which is about the same level of spiciness. Otherwise, birds eye or any other spicy chili is an adequate substitute. Just do a taste test of the marinade to get the spiciness to your taste.
You can get dried habaneros in Australia from Herbies or Fireworks Food. Just soak in a bit of warm water for 15 minutes or so, then put it straight into the food processor without sautéing.
I find 2 habaneros / 3 birds eye chillis give it a nice kick. If I’m cooking for someone who can’t handle spicy food, I reduce it to 1 birds eye chilli.
If you are using scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, be aware that they are very hot! Use gloves if you can, and wash your hands, food processor and anything else that has come into contact with them. DO NOT rub your eyes!! Or any other sensitive part of your body! 😉
3. The original recipe calls for using the Marinade to make a sauce by simmering it on the stove for 7 minutes with the juices from the chicken. I changed it to use all the Marinade on the chicken so the drumsticks are coated with thicker flavour, rather than sauce on the side. The other reason I did this is that drumsticks in Australia don’t drop enough juice and fat to be able to create enough liquid to turn the remaining Marinade into a sauce, and also I like the thicker, stronger flavour on the chicken.
4. Jerk Chicken goes fabulously with Caribbean Rice and Beans (see recipe below).
5. Nutrition for the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Drumsticks based on 4 servings.
Did You Make This Recipe?
How you went with my recipes? Tag me on Instagram at @PenciDesign.
