Grilled · Smoky & Spicy
Jerk Chicken
Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use
Authentic jerk pits are often built from split oil drums, and cooks insist that pimento (allspice) wood smoke is half the flavor — not just the marinade.
Chicken is marinated in a fiery blend of Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice, thyme, and other spices, then slow-cooked over pimento wood on roadside drum grills. Vendors chop it up and sell it by the pound.
Why it's made this way: The technique traces back to Jamaican Maroons — Africans who escaped slavery and fled into the mountains — who used smoking and heavy spicing to both preserve meat and mask cooking smells while evading capture.
Roughly what's in it
415kcal
38gprotein
6gcarbs
26gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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