Mediterranean Herb Marinade
This marinade can be used on Pork, Beef, Chicken, or Salmon. I have used it on a beef London Broil or Flank Steak, pork tenderloins, and chicken breasts. Method of cooking – grill, roast, broil. You can also change the herbs to suit your taste or mood. I always keep the basil and rosemary in the marinade but change up the other herbs and spices. The marinade, made in any way, has yet to fail in taste!
Hands down, this beats the store bought marinades with all the sodium and other not-so-good-for-you ingredients or the mixes that have you pouring so much oil in there that you feel like you are seeping oil out your pores. You know what I mean! Nothing beats fresh and homemade!
I also make a few batches when the herbs are on sale and freeze the marinade in a freezer Ziploc bag. Just break off what you need, let it thaw (takes minutes) and then spread it on your choice of meat and refrigerate for several hours. We have a college age daughter who loves this marinade on steak and chicken so I whip up batch and spread it on the meats and freeze it in individual portions. She just has to thaw and grill on her George Foreman. Easy!
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| Love the Perfect Portion bags from Ziploc! |
Ingredients
- 1/2 - 1 cup fresh basil depends on your tastes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
- 3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 3 tbsp fresh oregano
- 2 tbsp finely shredded lemon peel optional
- 10 cloves garlic minced (yes this is a lot, cut back if you aren't a fan)
- 1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper again depends on your taste
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- If you don't have the fresh herbs, you can use dried just use less of each. I don't often have the fresh thyme or oregano so I just use dried.
- Also, the lemon peel, if you don't have lemons you can buy grated lemon peel in the spice section of your grocery store. It's a bit pricey but I use it for a few other recipes and it lasts a long time. Tastes just as wonderful with the dried herbs and with or without the lemon peel.
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process till a thick paste, scraping side of bowl as needed.
- To use as a marinade, spread over 2 pounds your choice of meat or salmon steaks.
- Cover and chill 4 to 24 hours.
- Grill, roast, or broil.
Nutritional Disclaimer
“Blogghetti” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Enjoy!
What an awesome idea to freeze the marinade. I never thought about just breaking off a piece to thaw. Thank you for being so clever.
Thanks Heidi for stopping by! Another tip I failed to mention is that when you freeze the individual marinaded pieces of chicken, it takes less time to thaw out than when they aren’t all stuck together. Makes my life easier!