You don’t wait long enough.

Protein needs more than a couple of minutes to absorb all the flavors adequately. There’s no need to wait 24 hours. But one of the biggest meat-marinating mistakes most folks make is not letting things rest for at least half an hour.

You may even let your pork, chicken, or beef marinate in the refrigerator overnight before you cook it. This means you won’t have to do a thing in the kitchen until your guests are on their way. Bonus points!

It’s not more than skin-deep.

It’s a good idea to use marinades on meat, especially difficult cuts like a flank steak, because they add tenderness and flavor. But many people don’t know that this action only happens to the very outer edge of the meat!

In fact, marinades only reach 1-3 millimeters beneath the meat’s exterior. Don’t think about marinating meat as flavoring a pork chop or chicken breast all the way through. Remember that a marinade should be the first thing that cooks when the meat slaps the heat.