Product Reviews: Paula Deen Grilling Marinades

We use a lot of grilling marinades at our house. Like most people, we enjoy BBQ cooking and grilling, but I also use grilling marinades in my kitchen – not just for grilling. Marinating meat is a great way to add flavor, and it also tenderizes tough cuts of meat prior to BBQ cooking. Some marinades are thick enough to double as a grilling sauce or as a bbq sauce, which I’ve found to be really handy. I often concoct my own recipes, usually from ingredients I have on hand. I’ve had good luck with this, so I’ve rarely had the need to buy commercially packaged grilling marinades, grilling sauces, or bbq sauces. Just recently, however, my youngest daughter gave me a bottle of grilling sauce that I love! It’s Paula Deen Vidalia Onion Peach Marinade.

Leave it to a good ol’ Georgia gal to use two of the state’s most famous products in combination to create such a great grilling sauce. This stuff is awesome! It’s sweet, but not as sweet as a lot of bottled grilling marinades or bbq sauces. And yes, this grilling sauce is thick and rich enough to be used as a grilling sauce and as a barbecue sauce.

What does this great product taste like? The base is made from pureed peaches, sweet Vidalia onions, tomatoes, and red chilies. It has a smoky flavor, with peach undertones. Vinegar adds a tanginess. This grilling marinade really has three distinctive layers. When you first sample it, you taste the sweet. Then the tangy is evident, followed by the heat. Like many grilling marinades, grilling sauces, and bbq sauces, this one has a bite. The heat isn’t too overpowering, however. I’ve found that some hot bbq sauces are so hot that the other flavors are all but destroyed in the heat, but that’s not the case with Paula Deen barbecue sauce. Okay, it’s actually labeled as a marinade, but I like it more as a barbecue sauce.

How can you use this sauce? Dab it on burgers just before they come off the grill. Brush it on fish. Slather it on spareribs or baby back ribs. Dip pork chops in it before baking them in the oven. Use it as a dipping sauce for chicken wings, chicken strips, and chicken nuggets. Pour it on hot dogs and sausage dogs instead of using ketchup. Use it as a steak sauce. You can even use this stuff as a cocktail sauce with steamed or boiled shrimp!

Some cooks prefer thinner grilling marinades for BBQ cooking, as I do sometimes. Thinner grilling marinades tend to permeate the flesh better, so that’s something to consider when marinating tougher cuts. If that’s the case, you can still use Paula Deen Vidalia Onion Peach Marinade as a base. To thin it down some, add vinegar, pineapple juice, apple juice, orange juice, soy sauce, or teriyaki. If you add something with oil, like Italian dressing, it will help meats stay moist throughout the BBQ cooking process. This is especially important for meats with little fat content, like lean fishes, flank steak, venison, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

I’m getting wild and crazy with this barbecue sauce in the next day or two. I have some scallops all ready to cook, and I’m going to pan sear them and somehow incorporate Paula Deen’s sauce. If that sounds like a winner to you, check back in a couple of days, as I’m going to post the recipe on Hubpages. I’ll link that hub to this one, so it will be easy for you to find.

If this product sounds good to you, order some today! Experiment with it like I have, and you’ll soon discover your favorite uses for it. Actually, I’ve never tasted anything from Paula Deen that I didn’t love. We Georgia women know how to cook! Yeah, some of the guys do, too. While you’re experimenting, remember to try adding your own tenderizing liquids to this barbecue sauce to create your own great grilling marinades.