After using a marinade to soak raw meat or poultry, the same marinade is often used as a basting liquid as the meat or poultry cooks. It is brushed or drizzled over the food as it cooks to add flavor and moisture. It is generally advised that you should boil marinade that has come into contact with raw meat before using it as a basting liquid, to kill any bacteria and prevent foodborne illness. Is this step truly necessary?
I’m going to give you the technical truth an then tell you what I think you should do. My first bit of advice is that if you are unsure, then by all means boil your marinade before using it as a basting liquid. All you have to do is put it in a pot, bring it to a roiling boil, and keep it there for one minute while stirring (the stirring ensures that every bit of it gets hot enough to kill all bacteria). You can then go ahead and use it as a basting liquid while it’s still hot.
An even safer way is to set aside some of the marinade before marinating the meat or poultry and using this uncontaminated reserved marinade as a basting liquid.
However, boiling a marinade that is going to be used as a basting liquid on meat as it is cooking is done under an abundance of caution. If you are going to be cooking the marinade to the same temperature as the meat, and you can ensure that the marinade is going to completely heat through and cook for a sufficient time, then it is not technically necessary to boil it. However, you should never drizzle a marinade on meat or poultry after it is already cooked unless it has been boiled first.
Some Surprising Facts About Marinades
So, to be clear, as long as you are cooking the basting marinade along with the meat or poultry for a sufficient length of time, you don’t have to worry too much. You just need to make sure you do not drizzle or brush on some marinade at the last minute before removing the food from the heat source, usually the oven or a grill. And this is why we are advised to boil our basting marinade first, to make sure we do not inadvertently misuse it in a way that contaminates our food.
Also, when you are using an unboiled marinade as a basting liquid, you risk cross-contaminating other surfaces in the kitchen or even contaminating your cooked food after it is done.
Let’s Stick With Boiling
While technically, you do not need to boil marinade as long as it is going to be thoroughly heated, it is still much safer to do so! So, my advice is that if a marinade has come into contact with raw meat or poultry, always boil it before using it as a basting liquid, and make sure no unheated marinade contaminates any surfaces in your kitchen that may be coming into contact with food.
