Spicy Cajun Marinade & Baste

Simply Sue's Note:

This is a great spicy marinade for Chicken, Pork, Beef or Shrimp. For Chicken or Pork, marinate for 1-2 hours, Beef for 2-4 hours and Shrimp 1/2 hour. May also be used as a baste for grilling or oven roasting. This was originally a patchwork from many other marinade recipes and has been 'messed' with to suite our tastes over the years. Note: If you want to add lime or lemon juice, do so ONLY during the last hour of marinating, to avoid a mushy meat texture.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 0.75 cup

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano, hand crushed
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon horseradish
• 1/4-1/2 cup lime juice (optional last hour) or 1/4-1/2 cup lemon juice (optional last hour)

Directions:

1. Put everything except the juice in a blender or jar with tight fitting lid and mix until completely blended.
2. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag, add the items to be marinated and place bag in refrigerator.
3. Turn bag several times while marinating.
4. Marinating Times:.
5. 2-4 hours Beef.
6. 1-2 hours Chicken or Pork.
7. ½ hour Shrimp.
8. As a basting sauce, mop onto meat or kabobs during grilling or roasting.
9. Also may be added, in limited amounts, to Cajun or Creole dishes for some added heat if you adjust the salt amount for the combined dish.

Reviews

[kylepianoman]

Tasted great! New to cooking but it was a very easy recipe to make and tasted fantastic. The only thing I would change is using a bit less horseradish. I like horseradish flavour but it has just a bit too much of a pickle-like flavour from it. Will definitely use again though!

[mama smurf]

Wonderful! Just the right enough heat to satisfy but not overdoing it. I marinated some thin chicken breasts then grilled them on the Forman grill and made sandwiches with them...yummmm. I did use a meyer lemon because we have some in the yard instead of limes. I love horseradish and oregano so this was right up my alley. Definately one I will use again. Thank you. Made for Spring Pick a Chef 2011.

[MissYogini]

I used this marinade on chicken kabobs that I made for the Pass Christian Mardi Gras parade this year. They were a big hit! Everyone loved them and I got requests for this recipe. It is spicy HOT in a good way. The heat is what we really liked about it.