Bourbon Marinade

You can’t go wrong with this flavor-packed bourbon marinade recipe. A little bit of sweetness, a little bit of tang, and a nice kick from the bourbon bring life to your grilled meats, veggies, and kabobs!

Why this recipe works

We initially developed this bourbon marinade for our steak kabobs recipe but quickly learned how insanely good it is over just about everything from beef, chicken, pork, fish, and grilled vegetables.

Layers of richness from a blend of soy sauce, brown sugar, yellow mustard, horseradish sauce, and whiskey leave your meats and veggies with long-lasting flavor. This brown sugar bourbon marinade couldn’t be easier to prep and is ready in a snap for your summer cookouts. Let’s get started.

Ingredients you will need

Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.

Ingredient Info and Substitution Suggestions

BOURBON – Your favorite brand of affordable bourbon will do the trick here, no need for fancy or expensive bottles when you’re mixing it with other flavorful components.

ADDITIONS – Horseradish sauce and yellow mustard add a little tang to the mix while the soy sauce brings bold umami flavoring. The brown sugar rounds everything out. On top of everything we’ll add a bit of garlic salt, chili powder, and chopped onion.

How to Make Bourbon Marinade

These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. You can Jump to Recipe to get the printable version of this recipe, complete with measurements and instructions at the bottom.

1. Add all ingredients to an immersion blender and process until smooth.
2. Pour marinade over meat in a resealable plastic bag. Marinate for 1 hour or up to 12 hours.
3. Meat can be cooked on the grill or in a cast iron pan on the stovetop.

Frequently Asked Questions & Expert Tips

This brown sugar bourbon marinade pairs really well with a variety of meats and vegetables. We especially love it over cubed steak when making kabobs but it’s also great over chicken, grilled steak, grilled shrimp, grilled salmon, grilled pork chops, or fresh vegetables. You can use this marinade on either grilled or pan-seared meats, it’s up to you.

You can easily prepare your bourbon marinade ahead of time and store it in an air-tight container, mason jar, or sealed Ziploc bag for future use. You can store the marinade in the refrigerator, if properly stored, for up to 5 days. However, it’s important to note that you should never save or reuse marinade that has already soaked in meat. Toss the leftover marinade after using it.

Serving Suggestions

Adding this bourbon marinade to your meats or vegetables is an easy way to infuse tons of flavor. As mentioned above you can use it over steak, chicken, pork chops, kabobs, and vegetables of all sorts.

To keep meat from scorching, remove it from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels before cooking. Enjoy!

More Marinade Recipes

• Steak Marinade
• Fajita Marinade
• Chicken Marinade
• Honey Garlic Chicken Marinade

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