Why Baking Soda Belongs In Your Meat Marinades

I mostly avoided cooking meat throughout my 20s for a number of reasons. Not only was it a bit too pricey for my very limited budget, but more often than not, I was also intimidated to cook it. Especially steak and nice cuts of beef. I knew they would never turn out how I imagined them, so I relied on a lot of vegetarian meals and beans. But as I've gotten a bit older, I actually enjoy experimenting with different types of meat which I may have avoided in my younger years. Especially steak! As it turns out, it's not as intimidating as I once thought. And one ingredient has really been a game changer in that transformation: baking soda. 

You're probably thinking: Isn't baking soda used to take away the odor in your refrigerator or make deliciously chewy cookies? The answer is yes. But it's also a fantastic (and cheap) way to tenderize meat! Baking soda actually changes the physical composition of meat fibers, which essentially keeps the meat from seizing up when it's cooking. That means you'll get a nice, juicy steak every time, as long as you give it time to rest after cooking (and you can tell if a steak is done with a simple touch of the hand). Just make sure you're not using the baking soda that's been sitting in your fridge, soaking up the flavors from your expired kale. We don't want to know what that would taste like! 

There are a few ways to incorporate baking soda into your meat dish of choice. You can even experiment with a few options to figure out which has the best result according to your palate. First, you can incorporate baking soda into a brine for your meat. Wet and dry baking soda brine require leaving the baking soda directly on the protein for a while before preparing it as you normally would. 

However, my preferred way to use baking soda to tenderize meat doesn't require a brine! Instead, I just add a small amount of baking soda into the marinade I typically use for pork, beef, or chicken, and then continue on with my meal prep. Don't be alarmed if it fizzes when you put it into the mixture.That's supposed to happen! 

Oh, and if your recipe calls for ground meat instead of something like a whole steak or chicken, you can also sprinkle some baking soda into the meat before you put it in the frying pan for tacos, on the grill for burgers, or for whatever you're making. All in all, incorporating a little baking soda into any meat prep doesn't take much time, but it will result in a noticeably juicier and more tender final product.