Don't Knock Chocolate-Marinated Meat Until You Try It

The art of marinating meat is far more varied than many expect it to be. While there are certain things to avoid — like accidentally over-marinating your steak — the actual ingredients you use to enhance your meat's flavor can oftentimes be the most unexpected. Among these unique ingredients is chocolate. While it might sound like a strange ingredient to marinate your meat in, chocolate gives your meat a hint of bitterness and sweetness without actively overwhelming its natural taste. We first discussed this marinating strategy when we went over 12 of the best sweet ingredients to add to marinade, a list in which chocolate was a key standout due to its multifaceted flavor profile.

Adding chocolate to your marinade can come in many ways, from using chocolate-infused balsamic vinegar to cutting or grating pieces of chocolate finely enough to mix with other dry ingredients. While the beloved sweet treat is most commonly found in rib and steak recipes — the latter of which frequently goes viral online due to its perceived weirdness — you can really use chocolate in your marinade for any protein you'd like in order to add a fascinating new twist to your favorite dishes.

Beyond just using chocolate in your marinade, the delicious ingredient can be used at several other stages of the meat-cooking process. The most popular of these uses are undoubtedly the poblano and negro styles of mole, an iconic Mexican sauce that is commonly added to chicken, turkey, pork, and beef as a topping. While chocolate doesn't act alone in either mole poblano or mole negro, it is key to making both versions of the bitter sauce beloved in Mexico and the United States.

Other than mole and the wide array of non-mole finishing sauces that include chocolate, there are countless uniquely delicious ways to use chocolate and cocoa powder. A popular technique that's been used over the years is adding dark chocolate to beef stew, which, instead of creating bitterness or sweetness in the dish, adds a warm and rich flavor that sets it apart from other recipes. Alternatively, some have begun utilizing cocoa rubs for their meats, with this strategy often working best on ribs and steaks. As it pertains to the latter, some recipes use chocolate both as a rub and as a sauce, amplifying the typically subtle chocolate flavor that similar dishes provide as a result.