Marinate Grilled Chicken With This Unexpected Sauce (Just Trust Us)

Making chicken flavorful can be done in many different ways, and using a marinade is easily among the most beneficial. This is especially the case because of how many liquids and sauces can be used for the job. While some will opt to use a vinaigrette-style Italian dressing as a grilled chicken marinade, we spoke to Jeff Patten, co-founder of Flatiron Wines & Spirits and partner at the New York City and San Francisco locations, who said one of his favorite chicken marinades is a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern condiment: tahini.

Made up mainly of sesame seed paste, oil, and salt, tahini is uniquely qualified to be a chicken marinade due to one key quality, he said. "Tahini is made up of about 50% fat, and it's this fat content that's responsible for what tahini does to chicken," Patten said. "It coats the surface of the meat in such a way that it traps moisture inside during cooking, so rather than the chicken drying out over direct heat, it remains tender throughout the entire cooking process." 

The versatile sauce also produces its own great flavor and a golden crust without completely overshadowing the chicken — a vital quality in any marinade base. "Beyond the texture, the flavor that tahini brings is hard to get any other way," Patten said. "It adds a richness and a subtle bitterness from the sesame that layers well with acid and spice."

Now, there's more to marinating chicken than just coating it in some tahini and calling it a day; after you've either made a simple tahini at home or bought some from the store, there are a few other ingredients to add to the marinade to really give your chicken a shot at greatness. For Jeff Patten, the most important additional inclusion is none other than fresh lemon juice. "It thins the tahini out so it actually spreads across the chicken evenly and the acid gets to work on the meat right away, loosening the muscle fibers before the grill gets involved," he explained. Patten also noted that adding garlic and some extra olive oil can balance the flavor of tahini and give your chicken an even more desirable texture in the long run.

Beyond that, as is the case with practically everything you do in the kitchen, timing is key –overmarinating your meat can be a massive mistake. Patten recommends marinating chicken for two to four hours. "This will allow the flavors of the marinade to penetrate into the surface of the chicken, and will prevent the acid in the lemon juice from breaking down the structure of the chicken too much before placing it on the grill," he said. "Even 30 minutes makes a noticeable difference with tahini because that fat absorbs fast."