The Timing Mistake That Can Ruin Marinated Chicken

If you're marinating chicken, a common piece of advice is to make sure you give it enough time for the flavors to soak in: At least a couple of hours, and maybe overnight. So, you'd think that if you want to pack a lot of flavor into your chicken, you should just leave it to marinate for as long as possible, right?

Not quite: It's actually possible to let chicken marinate for too long. If you do this, it's usually the texture of the chicken that will suffer. The acid in a marinade — often vinegar or lemon juice — works to tenderize the meat. But if you let it soak too long, the chemical process will go too far and you'll end up with mushy chicken that's not going to be so pleasant to eat. (It does depend somewhat on what type of acid you use: Lactic acid, found in yogurt, will not cause problems so fast, as compared to harsher citric acid from fruits like lemon.)

However, there's no concrete measure for how long is too long (in part because it may depend on the ingredients, including those acids). The USDA recommends marinating for up to 24 hours and warns that this mushy breakdown can happen after the two-day mark. But other sources suggest even capping the timeframe at 12 hours — bearing in mind that there may be food safety risks from the mix of meat and marinade ingredients if they're left to sit too long.

To better understand the correct timing for marinades, you need to know how they work in general. A common misconception is that the goal of a marinade is to get the marinade flavors (be they garlic and soy, or maybe a simple salmoriglio with olive oil, garlic, and lemon) to soak right to the center of your meat. In reality, marinades simply don't really soak that far into meat — instead, they flavor the outside layer of your chicken. When this layer (including the residual marinade) hits the pan or the grill, both the meat and the marinade ingredients cook, creating a nuanced mix of tastes — and that's really the goal.

So, leaving the meat in the marinade for days won't actually help the flavor penetrate your chicken. This is why some sources suggest that as little as 30 minutes of marinating can be sufficient for poultry (although realistically, more recipes seem to suggest something like two to six hours). Not only do you risk your chicken turning mushy if you marinate it too long, but a lengthy marinade with lots of salt in it can also dry out your chicken (this would include marinades with ingredients like soy sauce). While there's no single, perfect length of time for marinating chicken, consider capping it at overnight or even just a few hours, and especially so if there's a lot of salt or acid in the mix (especially citrus or vinegary acids) to avoid an unpalatable meal.