Get ready….Sriracha marinade, in all its sweet, tangy, and spicy glory, will transform your steaks into something memorable. The famous rooster sauce pairs up with lime, honey, and Dijon mustard (along with other bold ingredients) in this recipe. Use it as a grilling marinade, or try it as a spicy dipping sauce for chicken or steak satay or chicken tenders.
🌶️ Quick recipe snapshot
| Flavor profile | Sweet, sharp and garlicky, with lime up front and a gentle sriracha warmth behind it. |
| Primary heat source | A quarter cup of sriracha. |
| Heat level | Mild. Sriracha runs 1,000 to 2,500 SHU, spread through a little over two cups of marinade. |
| Texture | Thin and pourable, held together by the Dijon. |
| Best uses | Steak, pork and chicken on the grill, or as a dipping sauce set aside before any raw meat touches it. |
| Customization ideas | More sriracha for heat, orange in place of lime to soften it, half the oil for a dip. |
| Before you start | Five minutes to mix and a few hours to marinate. Split off any dipping portion first. |
Flavor notes
Sriracha brings more than heat here. It’s chili, garlic, sugar and vinegar already blended together, so a quarter cup seasons a lot before the lime and honey even arrive. The heat itself stays gentle, because sriracha runs 1,000 to 2,500 SHU and it’s spread through a little over two cups of marinade, so you get warmth instead of burn.
Half a cup of lime juice is a lot of acid, and acid works on the surface of whatever it touches, the same way lime firms up raw fish in a ceviche. Once it’s had a few hours in the fridge, you’ve got most of the flavor you’re going to get. Leave it longer and you’re mostly giving the acid more time on the surface, so an overnight soak buys you a softer, mealier outside on your chicken.
The soy sauce is where the salt comes from, and salt travels further into the meat than anything else in a marinade. The lime, the garlic and the cumin mostly stay on the outside. So there’s no extra salt in the ingredients, and you should hold off salting the meat again before it goes on the grill.
And three tablespoons of Dijon hold the oil and lime juice together the way mustard does in a vinaigrette. That keeps the marinade coating the meat evenly, instead of separating into a slick of oil on top.
Adaptation ideas
Heat, acid and the protein you use are all easy to move.
- Want more heat? Double the sriracha, or add a minced fresh red chili. Huy Fong’s sriracha is made from red jalapeños, so a fresh red jalapeño keeps the flavor in the same family.
- Marinating seafood? Shrimp and firm white fish take the lime fast, so give them half an hour at most before they start turning opaque on the outside.
- Swap the citrus. Lemon works in the same quantity, while orange juice makes it sweeter and noticeably less sharp.
- Making it purely as a dip? Halve the olive oil, since it’s there to carry flavor onto meat, and in a bowl on the table it mostly floats on top.
- Ease off the cumin. A full tablespoon pushes it toward a taco marinade, so halve it if you want the sriracha and the lime out front.
Serving ideas
Steak, satay and chicken tenders are where it started, and it goes a good deal further.
- Brushed over grilled vegetables. Zucchini, peppers, corn and thick onion slices, before and during their time on the grill.
- On extra-firm tofu. Pressed, cut into slabs, marinated, then seared hard in a pan.
- Tossed through cold noodles. Rice noodles, extra cilantro and a handful of chopped peanuts make a quick lunch.
- Over a rice bowl. Drizzled on at the end with a fried egg and some quick-pickled cucumber.
- With pork chops. Lean pork takes well to this much sweetness and sharpness.
Storage notes
Split it before the meat goes in. If you want some for dipping, pour that portion into a separate jar first. Whatever has sat with raw meat either gets thrown out or brought to a full boil before it goes anywhere near the table.
Because there’s fresh garlic in oil, keep any unused marinade covered in the fridge and use it within three or four days. When it chills, the olive oil firms up and separates, so give it a few minutes on the counter and a good shake or whisk before you pour.
Like this recipe? You’ll love these too:
- Sriracha Lime Sauce: The same two lead flavors, made as a sauce instead of a marinade.
- Spicy Habanero Marinade: Another citrus marinade, for when you want real heat behind it.
- Honey Sriracha Meatballs: Honey and sriracha again, this time on meatballs.
50 quick, bold sauces and salsas: classic salsas and fun twists, BBQ sauces with a kick, and dippers with bang. Simple to make, big on flavor.
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Sriracha Marinade
Ingredients
- 4 limes approximately 1/2 cup lime juice, juiced
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup Sriracha sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 3 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients and stir to combine.
- Use immediately as a marinade for steaks pork, or chicken, or try it as a dipper.
I actually used this to marinade my tilapia and it turned out great. I removed the siracha as I thought that would overpower the fish, but it may work if you use a teaspoon. The fish soaked for 30/minutes before I pan fried it in butter. Very tasty.