Sticky Asian Chicken Thigh Recipe

Sticky Asian Chicken Thighs

So my most-watched video on YouTube is my roast chicken thigh recipe. Of course I’d like to replicate that success in another video, so I’m once again focusing on chicken thighs. This time, I’m making sticky Asian chicken thighs, which are perfect to serve over rice next to stir-fried vegetables.

For this recipe, I want to remind you of two things: thighs may have some leftover pin feathers that couldn’t be removed during mass processing by the machines. Pluck those out with needle-nose pliers. Also, bone-in thighs include the skin on one side that gets nice and crispy and delicious (mmmm….), and skin on the other side that will always be flabby and pale and has tons of fat that never fully renders out and just stays chewy and gross. Cut away the flabby skin, but leave the good stuff that gets crispy. If you’ve never worked with thighs before, I recommend you watch the video and see how it’s done.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/3 c. gluten-free soy sauce
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sesame oil, regular or toasted
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Chinese five spice powder
2 cloves (1 tsp.) garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili paste or sriracha sauce
~3lb. chicken thighs, bone-in, flabby extra skin trimmed off

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Combine all ingredients except chicken thighs in small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat (3.5/10) ~10 minutes, or until sauce thickens. If sauce doesn’t thicken enough, whisk in a dash of corn starch.
Preheat large stove-to-oven-safe skillet over stovetop on medium-high heat (6.5/10). Place thighs skin-side down to sear 3-4 minutes once pan is hot.
Remove seared thighs to plate or cutting board raw side down. Coat thoroughly in sticky Asian glaze. Wash hands after handling raw chicken.
Arrange thighs back in pan skin-side up. Cook chicken in the oven on the middle rack at 400° ~30-35 minutes (use a leave-in probe thermometer set to 170° to ensure doneness, or a regular meat thermometer after removing from the oven).
Re-glaze chicken. Set the broiler to low, dump liquid out of pan so chicken doesn’t steam, and broil ~5 minutes to give skin extra crispiness.
Rest thighs 5 minutes before serving. Garnish plate with scallions cut on the bias and sesame seeds.

So chicken only needs to be cooked to 165° internally, but I bumped it up for a few reasons. One, you want your thermometer in the largest thigh since the biggest one takes the longest to cook. Sometimes one will look the largest when they’re raw, but will lose more moisture, so the one next to it was the one you should have put the thermometer probe into. This gives the actual largest thigh more time to cook through to a safe temperature. Also, being dark meat, thighs can handle overcooking and won’t dry out. Finally, these are sauced thighs, but we still want crispy skin. More time in the heat means more fat renders out from under the skin and there’s a better chance the skin will get a nice crunch despite being basted a few times in the cooking process.

Use the time the chicken is in the oven to prepare rice and stir-fried vegetables. Most major grocery chains carry at least one brand of frozen stir-fry vegetable mix, but always read labels for in-bag seasonings or sauces that may contain gluten. Also, in my first video for chicken thighs, I cooked the vegetables with the chicken. This time they’re separate, because that much food in the oven means the vegetables are way overdone by the time the chicken reaches the correct internal temperature. Prepare stir-fry vegetables on the stovetop or in a microwave steamer bag to ensure they maintain a good texture.

I like the flavor of brown rice rather than white, despite that white rice is usually what’s served in most Asian dishes. Always rinse rice before cooking. Rinsing removes extra starch from the outside of the rice, which improves texture and helps prevent burning.

I hope you guys enjoy making this recipe for sticky Asian chicken thighs at home yourselves! Please leave your thoughts in a comment below, or get in touch with me directly by filling out the form on the contact page.

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Sticky Asian Chicken Thigh Recipe

Jamie

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