Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, stir-fried Chinese greens or a fresh crispy salad, such as an Asian slaw. The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan on the stove-top.
This soy ginger chicken recipe is one of my favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal that looks a bit fancy. I can often be found in our Siem Reap kitchen sliding a container of marinated chicken into the fridge and turning the sizzling thighs in the pan, the aromas wafting through the apartment. It’s a light meal, too, that’s perfectly satisfying served simply with a salad or steamed rice.
It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe. You can cook these thighs on a barbecue or in a pan on the stovetop and the chicken can marinate for up to 24 hours before cooking. It’s also a great dish to cook at a barbecue for guests who refrain from eating red meat as it’s easily as delicious as a juicy steak.
But before I tell you more about this soy ginger chicken recipe, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes or other content on the site, please consider supporting Grantourismo by buying something on Amazon, such as these classic cookbooks for serious cooks, cookbooks for culinary travellers or gifts for Asian food lovers. Now let’s tell you all about this soy ginger chicken recipe.
Soy Ginger Chicken Recipe for Sticky, Flavourful and Succulent Chicken Thighs
We’ve been cooking a lot of chicken recently as the prices of pork and beef have gone through the roof here in Cambodia. While we love juicy poached chicken breasts, we really love grilling chicken thighs as they stay so moist all the way through cooking, even when you end up with a smoky-flavoured char on the chicken skin and meat.
With this soy ginger chicken recipe, I like to debone the chicken but leave the skin on, as it ends up very tasty when grilled. I have found that wings are a little too fiddly and messy with this marinade, and drumsticks tend to take too long to cook through without burning the skin.
The finished thighs are super tasty and if you make a big batch they’re great to have as a snack or leftovers as they keep for 3-4 days once cooked.
There are a lot of similar recipes out there for honey soy chicken. This is not one of those. A lot of those recipes make sickly sweet chicken thighs that are then covered in an even more sickly-sweet sauce. Once again, this isn’t that recipe.
This soy ginger chicken recipe makes chicken thighs with a far more adult, subtle flavour, where you can taste the fresh ginger and a hint of garlic, yet they still have a slightly sticky surface that makes you want to eat them with your hands.
Tips to Making this Soy Ginger Chicken Recipe
Just a few tips to making this soy ginger chicken recipe, starting with the chicken.
Skin-On Bone-In Chicken Thighs
Choose good, plump chicken thighs for this soy ginger chicken recipe. I know many supermarkets now stock boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but you’re really missing out if your chicken thighs don’t have their skin and bones.
The skin is great with this dish and the bones are perfect for making a great homemade chicken stock. Once you have your technique down, deboning chicken thighs takes virtually no time.
Note that the thighs can have little bony pieces on the edges and near the thigh bone, so make sure to run your hands over the thighs before marinating – and, of course, wash your hands and chopping board thoroughly before and after doing this.
The Marinade
And speaking of food safety, do not use the marinade once you have started grilling the chicken. Don’t use it to make a sauce or reduction. Not that this dish needs it.
For the marinade, while we generally use this Thai Soy sauce when we need a light soy sauce, for this soy ginger sauce we want something a little heavier to impart more flavour into the chicken.
My preference here is the ubiquitous Japanese Kikkoman Soy Sauce, which is darker and saltier than our normal soy sauce.
Cooking the Chicken
As I said, the chicken thighs can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan on the stove-top. Make sure to use a good digital kitchen thermometer to check that your chicken is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F).
Serving the Chicken
While these soy ginger chicken thighs are fantastic just with steamed rice or a simple salad, I think they’re perfect with the Asian slaw pictured (I’ll share a recipe soon) and fresh coriander, which we pluck straight from our balcony herb garden. We also love to squeeze on a little lime juice.
Soy Ginger Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg boneless chicken thighs - skin on or off
- ⅓ cup Japanese soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar - or more to taste
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tbsp ginger - freshly grated
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 cloves garlic - minced, more to taste
- Salt and pepper - to taste
Garnish
- 2 pieces spring onions
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves
Instructions
- Marinade the chicken in a non-reactive bowl by adding the soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, ginger, lime juice, and garlic. Whisk well to combine. Add the chicken. Marinate for at least an hour or covered overnight in the refrigerator (up to 24hrs).
- Preheat the BBQ or grill pan to high. Brush the BBQ grates with oil. If using a pan on the stove, add a little oil and swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan.
- Add the chicken pieces skin-side down. When they have taken on a golden brown colour (around 5 minutes), turn the pieces over and continue cooking until the pieces have an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F).
- Remove and rest in a warm place before serving.
- Garnish and serve with a light salad or rice.
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make this soy ginger chicken recipe as we’d love to hear how it turned out for you.
Hi, made this with my charcoal BBQ on the balcony and it was just delicious! Had it with the the carrot and cabbage salad like in your photos. A keeper!
Hi Paul, fantastic! That’s what we love to hear. Thanks for dropping by to let us know :)