How long can this chicken marinate...

[Emily_R]

I put some chicken in a Korean marinade late Thursday night... I'm wondering -- how long would you guys feel comfortable leaving it marinating in the fridge for... Do you think I can leave it for three days (until tomorrow night?) Or is that pushing my food safety luck?

Emily

[Dana]

I'd be more concerned about the texture of the meat after that long in the marinade. As far as safety, I think it would be fine.

[docdix]

I agree with the above. Chicken marinates easily and 12-18 hours for chicken is long. You may end up with a dried out and overly marinated chicken. Does the recipe

really call for that long marinating time?

[Shalmanese]

What are the ingredients in the marinade? I'm of the opinion that it should be fine. It's hard to really damage a meat with marinade unless there's something super aggressive in there (yogurt, lime juice, vinegar etc.)

[Soundman]

As others have said, safety is the least of your worries, I'd be concerned about the taste and texture of the chicken.

[Emily_R]

Thanks all, its a relief to know that food safety doesn't seem to be a huge issue -- I froze half of the chicken yesterday, and will make the other half tonight and report back. The marinade includes pureed onions, Korean gojujang, ginger, garlic, soy, mirin, and sugar. Recipe calls for it to be marinated for 24 hours... I'll see how it turns out and will report back...

Emily

[chezcherie]

one question i didn't see addressed above: how long after purchase did you marinate the chicken? if you'd already had it in the fridge a few days prior to marinating, i'd be leary of it after 1-2 days in the marinade. if it was fresh, i wouldn't worry about the food safety, but as previous posters mentioned, texture might be an issue.

[Emily_R]

So the chicken was quite fresh when I put it in the marinade, and after 3 days the texture was fine... Maybe a little tough, but not spongy at all like I had feared it might be... Thanks for the advice everyone!