This flavorful Mango Chicken Marinade combines fresh mango, honey, lime, sriracha, and a touch of garlic for a wonderfully tasty baked or grilled chicken dinner! Just combine the ingredients together in a blender and you have an awesome marinade ready in just minutes!
Mango Chicken Marinade Recipe
If you have mango fans in the house, you're sure to all love this easy marinade! The bold, tropical flavor of ripe mangoes is mixed with some of my favorite marinade ingredients including honey, lime, and olive oil. Top that off with the bold contrasting flavor of sriracha and you have an epic marinade with just the right amount of heat to offset the sweet!!
This versatile mango marinade is super easy to adjust to what you or your family like best for your grilled or baked chicken. I like to cut up my chicken breast so that it REALLY soaks up the marinade, then make some super easy mango chicken rice bowls for lunches! Meal-prep? Done!
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Ingredients That You'll Need
All of these ingredients combine to make a delightfully sweet, but entirely savory marinade that is the absolute perfect marinade for chicken breasts, thighs, quarters, etc. Whatever you've got, get it marinating!
- Mango - one incredibly tasty, ripe mango is what you'll need to make this marinade. You can use half a mango for a smaller batch for 1 pound of chicken ( this marinade makes enough for 1 ½ - 2 pounds of chicken ). Or you can go ahead and make the whole batch, use half to marinate the chicken, and save the other half to baste your cooking chicken later! If using frozen mango, I suggest using an extra half tablespoon of honey. Frozen mango is not typically as sweet as fresh ripe mangoes are.
- Olive Oil - my go-to base oil for most marinades, although coconut oil is a superb second choice! Use your preferred cooking oil, but I would suggest a flavorless oil for substitution.
- Lime - and lots of it! Zest your fresh limes and add the zest for a wonderful punch of lime flavor! Can you use bottled lime? Sure! It's not quite as good, but when used in marinades the difference is hardly noticeable.
- Honey - i love raw honey for all of my cooking and any use in general! The raw, unpasteurized honey brings more depth of flavor to anything you make with it. Do use whichever honey you have on hand. The sweet taste compliments mango and highlights the lime too!
- Sriracha - this tangy, spicy, sweet sauce is a match made in heaven for mango! Dial it back a bit if you have kids that may not like it, or add a bit more if you already know sriracha is family-approved!
- Garlic - minced garlic adds its earthy, unique flavor that dials this marinade back to savory and keeps it from being overly sweet! Fresh garlic cloves that have been minced are great! However, in the case of marinades, if you have jarred minced garlic in the fridge it's going to work just as well!
- Salt - the base seasoning to make everything taste better! Salt highlights all of your tasty marinade ingredients to make them stand out and shine!
How To Make Mango Marinade for Chicken
Grab your blender or food processor and get ready to have this marinade working! Like all of my marinades, this mango chicken marinade comes together quickly for adding fantastic flavors to plain chicken!
- Using your blender or food processor, combine the diced fresh or frozen mango, olive oil, honey, lime ( and zest! ), sriracha, minced garlic, and salt. Blend until the mango is broken down and your marinade is smooth.
- Transfer the marinade and chicken to a plastic zip-top storage bag, then squeeze out all of the excess air while sealing the bag securely.
- Squish the marinade throughout the bag to massage the marinade into the chicken and ensure that all of the chicken is coated.
- Refrigerate to marinate the chicken. You can do this for a short amount of time, but a minimum of 4 hours is best (and preferably overnight 8 -24 hours ). Freeze for up to 3 months.
Tips & Tricks
If you will be grilling whole chicken breasts, it is best to flatten the chicken breasts for quick and even cooking. Place your chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic cling film and pound with a meat mallet or tenderizer ( the flat side ).
Start at the center of the chicken breast and work your way toward the edges. Continue until the entire chicken breast is even in thickness.
Marinating the Chicken
Your chicken needs to marinate for at least 15 - 20 minutes before cooking. The longer you can let the chicken marinate, the more flavorful it will be!
I would usually recommend at least 4 hours, or overnight ( 8 - 24 hours ) for optimal marinating. However, you can marinate the chicken for up to 2 days refrigerated. This is the maximum amount of time that I would marinate the chicken in a sriracha or lime-based marinade.
Some recommendations are that 6 hours is best, as the chicken starts to 'cook' in the marinade. I have never had my chicken end up with a 'mealy' texture, but only superbly tender!
While frozen chicken pieces can usually be stored in the freezer for 6 months or more, I recommend a maximum of three months. Allow the frozen marinated chicken to thaw while refrigerated overnight.
The marinade will slowly seep into your thawing chicken, making it absolutely delicious!
Check out all of my super tasty and oh-so-easy chicken marinades in one place! The marinades are absolutely perfect for grilled, pan-fried, or oven-baked chicken breasts, thighs, wings, skewers, and more!
📖 Recipe Card
Mango Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 mango (peeled, seeded, and diced ripe mango)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- ½ tablespoon garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon salt
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- In your blender or food processor bowl, combine the diced mango, olive oil, lime juice, honey, sriracha, garlic, and salt. Blend until smooth.
- Place your chicken and marinade into a ziploc or zip-top plastic storage bag, then squeeze out excess air while sealing securely.
- Massage the marinade into your chicken by squishing the marinade throughout the bag, until the chicken is well coated.
- Refrigerate and marinate for at least 4 hours. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
If you will be grilling whole chicken breasts, it is best to flatten the chicken breasts for quick and even cooking. Place your chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic cling film and pound with a meat mallet or tenderizer ( the flat side ). Start at the center of the chicken breast and work your way toward the edges.
Kurt says
We loved this marinade! I was looking for a dish that I could use a ripe mango and this recipe nailed it! I trimmed and butterflied the chicken breasts and marinated for a few hours, I was a little pinched for time. But they did pick up a nice flavor. BBQ'd them indirectly with charcoal in a Weber kettle grill. Boiled the marinade so it reduced and thickened, then used it as a sauce for the plated chicken breast and side of coconut rice. Awesome!
I intend to surprise our friends in Brazil (wife and I winter there) by serving this dish. Most of the ingredients are available there, well maybe not the particular brand of Sriracha I use, but I will bring some!
Thank you.