Want to know the best chicken dry rubs for your next grilling session? Need a new roast chicken seasoning? Or maybe you just want to create the best spicy chicken dishes possible. Well, whether you’re grilling, frying, or roasting, Zest & Zing has some ideas on what to season chicken with - and we’re talking about bright, bold flavours instead of just the usual salt, pepper, and a few bland dried herbs.
Here are our picks for the best spices and blends for chicken rubs, seasonings, and marinades:
Most of the ideas on this list are a bit out of the box, but not this one!Cajun Seasoning is a staple blend in cabinets across the southern United States.Our savoury blend of onion, paprika, garlic, pepper, thyme, chili, and oregano will give chicken just a bit of heat but a big punch of flavour! This combination of herbs and spices is addictive, and once you try it on chicken, you’ll want to put it on everything.
Add this Louisiana-style blend before grilling, frying, roasting, or sauteing chicken. It’s perfect to use as a simple seasoning for chicken breasts when you want something healthy to serve with a salad. Or make thesebaked cajun chicken breasts for a quick dinner alongside corn on the cob (or use them to slice up later for a sandwich). Try our blend to make this easygrilled chicken or these decadentchicken wings.
For something heartier, fry up some crispy cajun chicken strips. Or go back to the roots of this seasoning with aone-pot spicy cajun chicken and rice dish. And it’s great with pasta too! Just saute the chicken in our blend to create thiscajun chicken pasta with garlic, tomatoes, and onions.
Here’s one seasoning you may not have thought to use as a chicken rub.Ras el Hanout is a classic North African blend which contains a long list of aromatic spices like coriander, ginger, paprika, cloves, nutmeg, and even rosebuds.Our Ras el Hanout pairs perfectly with chicken to make uniquechicken wings, simplekebabs, and eventraditional tagines.
Try it on your everyday grilled chicken and serve it withflatbreads and yogurt sauce like a wrap. Or create something healthy yet flavourful like thisRas el Hanout baked chicken with vegetables. It’s even great for roasting chicken to make a dish that’s anything but boring, like these juicychicken thighs with baked feta and salad. Mixed it with lime (or lemon) and yogurt and Ras el Hanout becomes a greatchicken marinade for all sorts of meals.
See more Ras El Hanout recipes in our Z&Z blog posthere!
Everyone loves the fresh, delicious, almost-sinful taste of a warm shawarma fresh from the kebab shop. That’s why we’ve curatedthe perfect blend of savoury herbs and spices straight from Northern Turkey - like roasted garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and allspice - and named it after the popular Arabic street food.
With our Shawarma seasoning, you’ll be making fresh chicken shawarmas in your kitchen in no time. You can easily whip these up byroasting the chicken in the oven with our blend and serving it up with pitas. Or you couldgrill or saute chicken and wrap it in soft flatbreads - your choice! Our seasoning is great when mixed with lemon and yogurt as a chicken marinade that’ll keep the meat moist and tender. You could also blend it with olive oil and coat the chicken before grilling.
You could even change things up by cooking the chicken in a slow cooker or Instant Pot before serving it with a freshtabbouleh salad, hummus, or Greek salad. Or get a little more elaborate with your chicken flatbreads by topping them with a homemademint yogurt sauce and pomegranate seeds.
Our Tandoori Spice blend brings those mouthwatering Indian flavours to your kitchen with all the spices you’ll need to recreate your favourite aromatic dishes. It’s spicy, fruity, smoky, and aromatic with ingredients like ground chilies, cumin, coriander, cardamom, garlic, and fenugreek. Makingroasted tandoori chicken at home is simple because we’ve assembled most of the difficult ingredients for you!
Blend ourTandoori Spice with yogurt to create a rich marinade for chicken dishes of all sorts. Leaving it to infuse the meat overnight will give the chicken that slight red colouring and decadent, moist taste.
You can easily use this blend to create aquick and healthy weeknight meal bygrilling up tandoori-marinated chicken. Serve it accompanied by rice or toss it in afresh herb salad with coriander and mint leaves. Use Tandoori Spice with white meat or dark, grilled or roasted. You could even create thesefamily-friendly tandoori chicken bites.
Japanese Curry was invented when the British brought one of their favorite dishes from India over to Japan. It became extremely popular and now it’s most commonly served with panko-fried chicken or pork cutlets alongside rice. The rich, savoury sauce is irresistible, and we’re giving you the tools to make it yourself.Our blend contains an interesting mix of turmeric, black pepper, chili, star anise, fennel seed, fenugreek, and other spices.
Now you’ll be able to recreate this classic dish at home, whether you choose asimple orcomplex version. Feel free to include things like onions and carrots in your sauce to boost your vegetable intake. Fry up the chicken with traditional bread crumbs or simply saute it. Once you’ve mastered the Katsu Curry, try serving it withnoodles instead of rice. Or use our blend somewhere different, like thisKatsu curry noodle soup or in thesecurry udon noodles.
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