Home-Made Marinades That Will Upgrade Your Meat

Forget house parties and films about spring break, this is what tequila was made for. Mix it up and throw some chicken wings in there. A+, lads.

60ml vegetable oil

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

3 Tbsp. tequila

2 Tbsp. dry sherry

1 large jalapeño chilli (finely chopped and seeded)

1 1/2 tsp lime zest

1 tsp chilli powder

Old faithful, my boo, honey mustard. No prizes for guessing the main ingredients, but a splash of soy sauce and some chopped chilli will knock it up a notch. BAM!

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. clear honey

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Fresh chilli (to taste)

Tangy, sticky, delicious – mix 'er up and bag it. Perfect for chicken (or prawns if you're feeling outré, mon copain) kebabs.

2 limes, juiced

1 lime, zested

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Dry ginger, sliced

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. honey

You'll need a broiler pan, a big ol' bottle of cola, and a nice cut of steak. Slice up the steak, soak it in some cola for a few hours, and ugh – perfection.

1 steak, sliced

1 large bottle cola

A Caribbean favourite, you can jerk pretty much anything. Chicken and pulled-pork are the usual, but there's also lamb, sausages, and beef that could do with a jerkin'. (Also, if you don't fancy wet marinading and you want a dry-rub, simply remove the vegetable oil – simple.)

5 Tbsp. vegetable oil

3 chopped garlic cloves

Dried thyme

1 Tbsp. dry ginger

4 finely chopped Scotch Bonnet chillies

4 scallions spring onions, chopped

115 ml lime juice

Fresh-ground black pepper

Because sometimes you want delicious marinades, but you're short on time.

3 Tbsp. veg oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 finely chopped chillies

1 lime, juiced

1 Tbsp. brown sauce

Tuna and salmon are super meaty fish, and guess what? They've got lots of killer 'nades. This one is so easy, it actually feels like cheating.

1 lime, juiced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Dried dill

Dried coriander

1 tsp pepper

2 limes, sliced

The cool thing about brining is that it's so super easy, and you can make your brine taste like whatever you like... So we chose beer – natch – which works great with chicken. (Tip: Don't leave to brine for more than three hours, however, because it'll start to ruin your meat. Nobody wants ruined meat.)

115 g salt

115 g brown sugar

485 ml water

2 cans beer

Who doesn't love a hoisin wing? (Hint: The answer is nobody.)

Chicken wings

Jar hoisin sauce

Pepper to taste

Giving your meat a smokey flavour, it's the coffee marinade – perfect for some steak. What's more manly than steak and coffee?

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 mug of strong black coffee

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp ground coffee

An American favourite, with the addition of some proper English black treacle. Cover some pork shoulder or ribs in this sticky, delicious mess of smokey bourbon and sweet honey – with a bit of garlic and tomato thrown in too. Whack it in a slow cooker, and cook on low for three to four hours. Save a bit of the sauce for later to put on when serving.

1 small onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

85 ml bourbon

370 g honey

230 g tomato sauce

60 ml vegetable stock

2 Tbsp. cider

1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. black treacle