We’ve shared a variety of Jamaican jerk recipes, including jerk chicken, jerk pork, jerk salmon, and even a delicious jerk shrimp recipe, but somehow we never made one of the most requested recipes: a sauce or gravy to accompany any jerked food in the smoker or on the grill. Jerk sauce, which is neither a jerk marinade nor a barbecue sauce, also makes a great dipping sauce.
You will need…
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sized onion (diced)
5 thyme
3/4 teaspoon allspice (green pepper)
1 cup pineapple juice
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup tomato ketchup
3/4 to 1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup spicy jerk marinade
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 tablespoon raw honey
1/2 lemon (juice)
Note. Be sure to check out the video below for more details on the recipe, including why I chose a store-bought spicy jerk marinade and why you might not need to add salt to make this Jamaican jerk gravy.
Add the olive oil to a deep saucepan and sauté the onion over medium heat. Stir, reduce heat and sauté for 4 minutes.
Add thyme (It’s okay to add some twigs.)Add allspice and cook over low heat for a further 2 to 3 minutes.
At this point, turn the heat back down to medium and add the pineapple juice and bring to a boil, then add the ketchup, brown sugar, Jamaican jerk marinade and mustard.
It might seem odd, but add chicken stock and bring to a boil (choose a vegetarian stock if you want to make this vegetarian). Stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
It should have reduced by about a third. Remove the thyme stalks and if you have a stick blender, pulse it a few times to break down the onion you added first. Turn off the heat, taste and adjust the salt to your liking. For the sugar, I recommend adding 3/4 cup at the beginning and if you feel it needs a bit more sweet at this point, add the remaining sugar and stir well.
Remove from heat and add chopped chives to finish. (You can also use finely chopped green onions)honey and lemon Or lime juice. Stir and serve. Once completely cooled, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. As mentioned in the video, I used a spicy jerk marinade, but if you don’t like it spicy, you can use any mild marinade of your choice.
