All Purpose Marinade
This all-purpose marinade recipe is so easy to make using just 5 ingredients and is ready in under 5 minutes. It tastes absolutely scrumptious on basically everything, from grilled chicken to burgers to veggies.
With summer here, many of us are marinating meat and grilling out on a regular basis. Burgers, chicken, chops, steaks, fish, veggies, you name it, a good marinade can make the meal. There are two marinades often used in my neck of the woods that aren’t readily available everywhere else. These are Dale’s Sauce and Moore’s Marinade, which are both made in Alabama. They are the key ingredient in many of the meats I cook as well as my steak sandwiches.
Here is my homemade all-purpose marinade recipe that can be whipped up in the time it takes for you to gather the ingredients from your pantry. It isn’t spot on the same as what you get in the store, but you’ll find it similar enough and equally delicious on EVERYTHING.
A general marinade is generally good on all things. This can also be made right when you need it or ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. I sure do hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Recipe Ingredients
- Apple cider vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Liquid smoke
- Ground ginger
- Garlic powder
How to Make All Purpose Marinade
Place your soy sauce in a bowl or large jar.
I like to use this jar because it has measurements on the side and you can just put the lid on and shake it away when you get all of your ingredients in. You can also easily store it in the fridge in this.
Add your water…
Then the garlic powder…
Ground ginger…
And apple cider vinegar.
If you have it, add a wee bit of liquid smoke too.
There ya go! Now put your lid on…
And give it a good shake.
Wasn’t this easy?
Cooking with All Purpose Marinade
Now put some type of meat in a baking dish. Today I’m going to use skinless boneless chicken breast.
Pour the marinade all over the chicken. Let the chicken breasts marinate for at least 30 minutes.
After your meat is done marinating, cook or grill it however you normally would.
In this instance, I covered my baking dish in foil and baked it at 350 for 30 minutes (or until the chicken was done in the center).
Today I’m serving my marinated chicken with mashed potato, fresh green beans, and homemade biscuits.
Storage
Store the all purpose marinade in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
- If you can’t find liquid smoke, feel free to leave that out. I don’t want you to go fretting all over because it will be just fine without it. Liquid smoke is an all-natural way to give your meat a wee bit of smoky grilled flavor.
- You can totally substitute the garlic powder for 1 minced garlic clove if you like.
- For , add 1/4 of cayenne pepper.
- Here are some suggested marinating times:
- Most meat (chicken, beef, lamb, and pork) can marinate from 30 minutes up to 2 days.
- Vegetables can marinate from 30 minutes up to 5 days.
- Seafood should marinate for no longer than an hour.
Recipe FAQs
Can I marinate frozen chicken?
Yes you can. Either marinate the chicken as it thaws in the fridge overnight. Alternatively, place the fresh chicken in a freezer bag with the marinade and place it in the freezer. Then the marinade will do its thing while the meat is defrosting in the fridge.
What do I marinate in all purpose marinade?
You can marinate basically any meat or vegetable in this all purpose marinade recipe. Here are some suggestions to start:
- Steak kabobs or chicken kabobs, both baked in the oven.
- Steak or steak sandwiches.
- Grilled like salmon.
- Grilled chicken tenders (no grill needed). Basically, any type of poultry will work, like chicken drumsticks, chicken wings, and chicken thighs.
- Your favorite veggies, like potato, cauliflower, onion, and sweet potato.
- Grilled pork chops or pork tenderloin.
Ingredients
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp liquid smoke, optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake to mix well.½ tsp garlic powder, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp ground ginger, 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup water, ½ tsp liquid smoke, optional
- Marinate beef in the mixture for 30 minutes or more. After marinating, discard the used marinade. Store unused marinade in the refrigerator.
- For beef kabobs, after threading the marinated steak onto wooden skewers alongside the vegetables, I place them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. Turn them every 10 minutes until vegetables are lightly brown around the edges.
Nutrition
A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining,
the breeze is blowing,
the birds are singing,
and the lawn mower is broken.
– James Dent
random far out question – just a shot. my kids can’t have soy – is there anything else i could use? a whole cup of coconut aminos? any suggestions to try? if not that’s ok – thanks!
Bragg’s Aminos is very close in taste to soy sauce if you can find that.
Made this tonight for grilled pork chops. Great marinade – we loved it!
Thank you Donna, I am so glad your family liked it!!!
Good Morning Sunshine!
Hope your day is wonderful.
I’m going to try your marinade today for some Chicken I have been pondering a different way of cooking. We have been in a bit of a rut.
I don’t have liquid smoke but I do have a “powdered hickory smoke” that I purchased at the Amish bulk store. Do you think it will work for this marinade? I’ve used like a forth or a eighth of a tsp. For my green beans, baked beans and also my burgoo.
Anyway thanks for the recipes and your sunny words. You always brighten my day.
I like to freeze some of my meats with the marinade. Would this work with this one do you think?
Yes, it would absolutely work!!
When i met my husband (who had JUST moved from Kentucky to South Texas) he would go on & on about DALES SEASONING! Finally ordered him a case (thru Amazon) & he blew through it….the stuff isn’t cheap….. i whipped him up some of this for his jerky tonight (he was moping cause he was out of DALE’S SEASONING…..AGAIN!!!!) …..i’ll let ya know how it goes…LOL !
LOL, I hope he likes it, and it saves you a small fortune!!
Christy, why should the marinade be refrigerated? none of the ingredients will spoil. I find that people refrigerate products that do not require refrigeration. Ex. Yellow mustard, ketchup some sauces etc. Having lived in a time of ice boxes, only necessary items were put on ice. Just asking!
When you purchase those items they are sealed in jars that have been processed (in various ways) to ensure there is no bacteria and they won’t spoil for a considerable time. Once you open them and mix them together, you are mixing in whatever is in your air, if anyone sneezes, particles on your hands, and any small particles that may be in the jar you mix it in, etc. While it may be just fine (absolutely) to leave it on the counter, storing it in the fridge is a great safeguard (especially if you are going to use it over a length of time) since those products are no longer living in a bacteria free environment and have been exposed to lots of little microscopic critters who may want to start their own families 🙂 .
I agree with you about refrigeration. I’ve finally made my husband understand that if I leave the eggs out for a day or two or the ketchup is on the counter in the morning, it does not have to be thrown out!! Lol. This has taken me years (years years years) to get him to understand that.
What about smoking steak with this marinade sauce?