I’ve noticed you marinate poultry for as little as one hour, while red meat might be marinated overnight. Why is this?

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Published 1998

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Chicken breasts are smaller and more delicate than large hunks of red meat, so they marinate more quickly. Also, when many people grill chicken breasts (as opposed to whole chickens or chicken pieces with the skin on), they’re in a hurry, so I’ve tried to keep the marinating times brief.

A Rough Guide to Marinating Times

Food	Marinating Time
Very large pieces of meat, such as whole brisket and prime rib, pork shoulder, leg of lamb; turkeys, and capons	24 hours
Large pieces of meat, such as beef and pork tenderloins, pork loin, butterflied leg of lamb and rack of lamb; whole chickens; large whole fish	10 to 16 hours
Medium-size pieces of meat, such as porterhouse steaks, double cut pork chops; chicken halves or quarters; small whole fish	6 to 8 hours
Medium-small pieces of meat, such as steaks, pork and lamb chops; bone-in and large chicken breasts or legs; fish steaks; tofu; portobello mushrooms and other vegetables	2 to 4 hours
Small pieces of meat, such as satés; shrimp; chicken paillards (pounded chicken breasts) and the like	30 minutes to 1½ hours

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