How to Marinate Food Faster Using Vacuum Sealing

With Spring already here and Easter on the way, we enjoy eating outdoors and busting out the grill. With the season appreciating cooking outdoors and of course, cooking for many people, we need certain tips to get cooking food faster. 

We all enjoy our vegetables or proteins (meat, chicken, or seafood) when it’s properly soaked up in the perfect marinade and grilled or cooked to perfection. After cleaning your food, marinating is the next important step to perfecting your meal, hence let’s show you the perfect way to marinate your food faster using Vacuum Sealing 

To marinate using a vacuum bag, Simply place food in a vacuum bag, carefully add your marinade to the bag (the seal area should remain dry), place the bag on the vacuum sealer and run two full cycles, remove the bag and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

Getting the best flavor from your marinade takes time, often leading you to marinate it overnight. If you’re in need of a faster method to marinate and cook your food, the rapid infusion from vacuum sealing is the best way to go, read on to discover how to marinate faster with vacuum sealing and the various types of vacuum sealers. 

What You Need to Know About Marinating Food

Your food comes out better when it’s marinated, whether is a simple BBQ dish or a stir fry dish, your vegetables and proteins need the right marinade sauce to give it the perfect taste. Marinating works best to penetrate the surface of your food, to make it moister and give it a better taste. 

1. Marinating Meat or Your Seafood

Meat takes a long time to marinate, the length of time it takes depends on the type of meat and its cut. Beef and Pork are enjoyable for your BBQ and steaks but they take a long time to marinate. It is also advised not to marinate parts like ribeye or porterhouse for it spoils the texture and flavor rather than enhances it.

Thus, vacuum sealing helps the meat marinate faster (about 30-60 minutes) and makes your cooking happen quicker. 

Can You Marinate Chicken For 2 Days?
Image: Envato Elements

Seafood marinating does not take time, it takes about 30-40 minutes for the flavor to soak up quickly, just ensure the marinating sauce is not highly acidic, so your fish doesn’t turn soggy. While Chicken marinating also depends on the cut size, it could take two hours for a small cut, while a full chicken takes about two days.

Always check the recipe that’s best for the protein you are marinating, and use that.  

2. Marinating Your Vegetables

Vegetables are very quick to marinate, as it takes about 10 minutes, even with vacuum sealing. If left for too long, they become too soggy and the increased acidity in marinades makes them soak up faster. You can marinade firm vegetables (potatoes, carrots, or squash) for longer, about 30 minutes.

Easy and Healthy Homemade Marinade Recipes

Making your homemade style of marinade, is an easy and unique way of imparting flavor to your dish, according to your taste. There are so many recipes to making our marinade that you can try out or many at times, people opt for buying a nice marinade bottle at the local supermarket. 

Here are some easy, homemade marinade recipes to try out: The Classic Marinade, BBQ Marinade, or The Fresh Herb Marinade. It is good to freeze your marinade overnight before applying it to your food, as the flavor penetrates better and is more effective during vacuum sealing. 

Marinade Sauce How To Make It
The Classic MarinadeAdd in a tbsp of garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, paprika, and sea salt. 2 tbsp of avocado or olive oil. Then 1/4 cup of Apple cider vinegar or coconut aminos. Stir evenly, and can be used for steaks, chicken, and seafood. 
BBQ Marinade Stir in 2 tbsp of tomato paste and maple syrup, 1 tbsp of garlic powder, chili powder, 1/4 tbsp of ground pepper, and then 1/4 cup of coconut aminos. Use as a marinade for about 1 pound of meat. 
The Fresh Herb MarinadeStir in equal parts of parsley, garlic, white vinegar, olive oil, chives, cilantro, chives, salt, and pepper. This is ideal for meat or vegetables.

How to Marinate Faster Using Vacuum Sealing

Getting the best flavor out of your marinade takes time, the best method to significantly cut down the time is the rapid infusion of using vacuum sealing to marinate your food.

When air is evacuated, it allows the fiber of the food to easily pull apart and make for easy entry into the marinade. 

Follow these steps to easily use a vacuum sealer to marinate your food faster: 

  • Once your marinade is prepared, cut and clean your protein or vegetables.
  • Place food inside the vacuum sealer bag or container and carefully pour in the preferred marinade.
  • The end area of the seal should be dry and the bag should be wrinkle-free.
  • Leave about one inch of space between the marinade and the open end of the bag. 
  • Turn on the vacuum sealer and run two full cycles, remove the bag, and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

There are three types of vacuum sealers; that both home and commercial kitchens use to marinate food. The chamber vacuum sealers are bigger, more expensive, and used more in commercial kitchens, you put the food in a sealed bag and place it in a chamber in the appliance for air evacuation. 

The external or suction vacuum sealer is ideal for homes you simply feed your plastic bag to the open end of the machine and the machine sucks out the air in the bag and the seals. There’s also the Handheld Vacuum Sealer which you need to buy vacuum sealer bags that are compatible with the machine and it uses a special valve in the bag to suction out the air and seal it.

Does vacuum sealing marinate faster? 

Yes, vacuum sealing helps your food marinate faster. Especially when you use the chamber vacuum sealer, it has a special appliance to help rapidly infuse the marinade into your food. 

Can you marinate fish using vacuum sealing? 

Seafood takes about 30 minutes to marinade even with vacuum sealing, yes you can marinate fish with it, but be careful to use a less acidic marinade recipe and do not leave the fish for too long. 

What foods can you marinate using vacuum sealing?

You can marinate all kinds of foods and vegetables using the vacuum sealer such as meat, pork, fish, seafood, chicken, turkey, veggies, and potatoes. 

Wrapping Up

Marinating your food with vacuum sealers helps to save prep time in cooking. You can easily marinate your food and certain ingredients at a quicker pace, which helps food to turn in faster and in more volume. It is healthy to use vacuum sealers to marinate your food and helps to ease up the stress of marinating your meal. 

Always use a healthy marinade recipe to impart in your food, it could be homemade or store-bought. Now with your busy schedule, you can marinate faster which helps for a more organized kitchen and easy cleaning afterward. 

Hopefully, the article has helped answer the quiz on “how to marinate your food faster using vacuum sealing” and you have gotten additional information on marinating meat, chicken, seafood, and veggies.