Asian Chicken is sticky, sweet and savoury – everything you know and love about Asian food! An Asian Chicken Marinade infuses the chicken with flavour, and can be cooked on the grill, stove OR oven.
You can never have too many Asian chicken recipes – and this one is a great all rounder!
Asian Chicken recipe
This is a classic Food Memory dish. You know what I mean, don’t you?? It’s when the sight, smell or taste of a specific food brings back a flood of memories of a specific moment in your life.
And I will always remember this particular Asian chicken recipe as the one that rendered my girlfriends silent.
A very rare, noteworthy moment. Because when I get together with my girlfriends, the noise never stops. Chattering, laughing, screeching. You know what it’s like when a bunch of girls get together!!!
But when I put a platter of this Asian Chicken on the table and my friends starting tucking in, silence descended over the table.
The Asian Chicken Marinade tenderises and infuses the chicken with great Asian flavours!
Of course, it was fleeting. Because I distinctly remember one of the girls breaking the silence with a wisecrack about….well, that we were silent because we were so busy tucking into the food!!!
This is one of my classic “back pocket” recipes that I vary from day to day, depending on what I have in the fridge. It’s not so much about having the exact ingredients, it’s more about using the same proportions of something sweet, salty, savoury and sour.
So while the end result might not taste exactly the same as my base recipe, it’s still going to be really tasty. Really, really tasty. 🙂
Which is why I’ve provided plenty of substitutions in the notes. Plus you can eyeball the measurements too. No need to pull out measuring spoons. (Unless you really don’t trust yourself to get the measures approximately right!!)
Great Asian recipe for the grill
The other lovely thing about this recipe is that you can throw it on the BBQ (it’s my “go to” Asian BBQ recipe), cook it on the stove (which is what I did for these photos), under the broiler/grill or bake it in the oven.
So what’s on your meal plan for this week? If you’re preparing ahead, this is perfect to add to the menu! Just throw the chicken and marinade into a ziplock bag and pop it straight into the freezer. It will marinade in the time it takes for it to freeze and defrost which is handy.
Serve it with rice on the side (psst! Did you know you can freeze cooked rice rice? All my relatives in Japan do it! 🙂 ) and some juicy wedges of cucumber (no dressing required, the freshness is a great match with the strong flavours of the chicken).
It’s dinner in a snap! And a pretty darn sensational one at that, in my humble opinion. And if the reaction from my friends was anything to go by! – Nagi x
My favourite Asian Chicken recipes
All these are ideal for grilling but can also be cooked on the stove
Yakitori Chicken – Japanese chicken skewers on my mother’s Japanese recipe website, RecipeTin Japan
Thai Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang) – marinated in a fragrant Thai marinade
Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken – infused with beautiful Vietnamese lemongrass flavours
Thai Coconut Chicken – added richness and flavour from a coconut marinade
My favourite back-pocket marinades
These are the ones I use over and over again, made with pantry staples with lots of sub options!
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Asian Chicken (Asian marinade)
Ingredients
- 1 – 1.5 lb / 500 – 750g chicken thigh fillets , skinless boneless
Asian Marinade (see notes for subs)
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tsp ginger , freshly grated
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine OR Mirin (Note 1)
- 1 – 3 tbsp Sriracha (adjust spiciness to taste)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Cooking / Garnishes (optional)
- 2 tsp oil
- Sesame seeds
- Finely sliced shallots / green onions
- Finely sliced red chilies
Instructions
- Mix Marinade ingredients together. Add chicken and mix to coat. Marinade in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour or up to overnight.
- Heat oil in a large non stick skillet or BBQ over medium high heat. (See notes for other cooking methods) Add chicken and cook until each side is dark golden brown and chicken is cooked through (about 3 minutes each side). Transfer to plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 3 minutes.
- Garnish with chillies, shallots and sesame seeds if desired. Serve with white rice and slices of cucumber.
Recipe Notes:
* Chicken – tenderloins is great, breast also works but won’t come out as sticky.
* Garlic / ginger – 1 tsp garlic / ginger powder (but please try to use fresh, it’s much better. Asian cooking doesn’t use garlic / ginger powder)
* Soy sauce – I use all purpose soy sauce but light or dark also works. Light and Dark Soy Sauce will be labelled as such on the bottle, all purpose just says “soy sauce”. I use Kikkoman. And fish sauce could also be used in place of the soy sauce, but reduce to 1 1/2 tbsp (because fish sauce is saltier)
* Tomato ketchup – Australian tomato sauce can be used
* Oyster sauce – hoisin sauce (but note it has a mild Chinese 5 Spice Powder flavour which is nice)
* Chinese cooking wine (aka Shaoxing Cooking Wine) – Asian rice wine used commonly in Asian cooking. Mirin is an excellent alternative. This is the secret ingredient in the marinade! Sub with dry sherry (best option), sake (next best) or marsala. To make it non alcoholic, use 2 tbsp chicken stock/broth PLUS 1 tbsp extra oyster sauce.* Sriracha – swap out with any other chili paste or finely chopped fresh chili or powder. Add a tiny bit (1 tsp or so) of vinegar (white, malt, apple cider), lime or lemon juice (because Sriracha is the “sour” component in this marinade)
* Brown sugar – white sugar, honey or maple syrup
* Sesame oil – this can be left out. 2. This can also be baked in a 180C/350F oven for around 20 minutes or grilled / broiled on high. It’s also great made as skewers. 3. To make ahead: Place chicken and marinade in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer straight away. Defrost before cooking. The chicken marinades as it freezes / defrosts. Cook per directions. Cooked chicken doesn’t freeze that well – the chicken itself is fine but the marinade flavour fades.
Nutrition per serving, assuming 500g/1lb thigh fillets for 4 servings. Reduces to 288 calories if chicken breast is used. Sodium can be reduced by using less soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce.
Life of Dozer
Shock horror. Guess where Dozer was camping out while I photographed this. (PS He’s wearing his robe because I took him the beach just before making this and it was cold this morning. How would you like to be walking around with wet fur all over you in the middle of winter?? 😉 )
Hi Nagi
When I saw the picture of that chicken, I couldn’t wait for the weekend. My daughter asked me to cook as it was father’s day yesterday in the UK. We liked it very much, the side dish was runner beans and we had it with rice.My husband took some to work as he works night shift. Thank you very much I am going to keep this one with the other receipes. Next week I will cook tenderloin with creamy masala, I am sure they will like it, looking at the picture I get hungry. On Sunday my daughter said ( hey mom you are into cooking these days, I said yes my tutor is so good I can’t miss her class or her assignments, meaning I have to try the receipe and report back to you Nagi
Thank you again
Awwww Nandi!!! Thank you SO MUCH for your lovely message! I am so touched that you made this for father’s day and that you enjoyed it. You shouldn’t have told your daughter that you use my recipes, just take all the credit for yourself! Te he he! N x
So excited about this recipe. I only had bone in skin on thighs, so I skinned and boned them because I was afraid the wonderful sticky marinade might burn with the longer cooking time. Have you tried it with bone in? They are marinating as I type. I’ll have them for lunch/dinner tomorrow. All I need is a cucumber. I walked up to the farmers market and totally forgot to grab one. Drats!! I have a lovely rack of spare ribs in my freezer. I think I’ll try them with this marinade next week.
Hi Susan! Bone in is totally fine! I do hope you enjoy it! N x
I love this recipe so much. I actually liked using boneless thighs. I was a little surprised. I usually only use them in stir fry dishes. I’m going low carb right now so I had it with kale braised in coconut milk and spears of raw cucumbers. Excellent!!
I’m SO THRILLED you enjoyed this Susan! Thank you so much for trying my recipe!!! PS I really should go low carb too. Sigh. N x
Love love food memory dishes! I can imagine how amazing this chicken must have tasted Nagi – not only for the flavours but for the nostalgia that it brings too! Xx
I know, right??!! So cool! N x
I’m going to make up batches of this one over the weekend and toss the bags of marinated chicken in the freezer – this would be PERFECT for my manic mid-week dinners! I can alternate between this one and the Lime Marinated Grilled Chicken (I have 2 bags of that one left in the freezer). Even J Daddy can get this dish on the table – he just has to cook a little bit of rice in the rice cooker (or just microwave a bag of cooked rice) and stick the chicken under the griller in the oven. Perfect. Just perfect. Can’t wait to try this!!!
Super fantastically tasty and easy meal that left everyone licking our lips!
We had friends over for a catch up today, so I made up a double batch of this glorious chicken yesterday and set it to marinade overnight. J Daddy popped the chicken on the BBQ and the pieces were cooked to perfection. I cooked the marinade in a saucepan to make a sauce; not that the chicken needed added flavour. Super impressed with the beautiful flavours with a little zing from the Sriracha. Served with steamed green beans and rice.
WOO HOO!!! SO GLAD you enjoyed it!!! PS I presume you mean you made these on Saturday?? Cause it’s POURING today!!! N x
Yes, we made these yesterday. There was a small break of sunshine yesterday around lunch time and J Daddy fired up the BBQ and cooked these delicious chicken “steaks”. I used chicken breast, which I halved horizontally before marinating. OMG. So gooooooood!
❤️
Oooh yes! It’s 100% perfect for that!!! And te he – PERFECT for a J Daddy dinner night!!
Hey Nagi – How could I have missed this amazing chicken recipe… been busy with work this week getting everything done in our Aussie short work week… not complaining.. as we had a super long weekend ! I am just catching up with all your amazing new recipes today. Wow… I love this chicken recipe and I think it will go well with pork also or other white meat and it’s freezable !!! … so so perfect for cooking ahead of time. I cook in batches for the work week for my family… this is my time saving short cut always on weeknights when I’m super pressed for time. Chicken Thigh Fillet is always on my shopping for the week and having another marinade variation is fantastic. My base marinade for chicken is teriyaki style, I have also added the miso version from your Miso Salmon recipe as another base marinade. In fact I have a batch of chicken thigh in your Miso marinade right now waiting for me to cook when I come home tonight 🙂 Will definitely be trying out this Chicken recipe for the work week ahead……. Lastly… I LOVE LOVE Dozer in his bathrobe – how super adorable!!! Keep doggy fashion photos coming !!!
Oooh! Your family is SO LUCKY to have you Ada!!! I love hearing how you cook for the week, it helps ME come up with recipes to help YOU!!! N x
Hey Nagi – Thank you so much for your kind words ! I LOVE reading your food blog as it is the BEST place for everyday recipes/home cooking that suits my family’s taste-buds and busy lifestyle. You and your blog have given me so many fresh ideas for my family meal plan and best of all with your help, I am able to make delicious freezable meals to suit my time saving batch cooking approach. I freeze everything like there is no tomorrow !! 😉 This delicious Asian marinated chicken recipe is one super fantastic example why I LOVE your blog, it is so amazingly delicious, made with every day simple ingredients, easy to prepare and freezable. I made two batches on the weekend, cooked one batch and the other is marinating in the freezer waiting for me to cook later in the week. I skipped the chilli sauce to make it kids friendly, for the grown-ups, I made a small batch with the chilli sauce added. LOVE that extra chilli kick! This chicken recipe is so delicious and versatile that I have served it with brown rice, in rice noodles stir fry and rice noodle soups as well as in wraps for school lunches. My family loves the taste of this recipe so much that this will be my number one base marinade for chicken thigh/breasts and wings from here on ! Thank you Nagi !!! axx
Love hearing that, thank you Ada! N xx
Hi Nagi, I made you Asian Marinated Chicken tonight. It was delicious. My 93 year old Father, who lives with us, asked when I was going to make it again. This will definitely be served often in my home. Thank you.
Thanks for trying my recipe Helen! I am especially delighted to hear your father enjoyed it!!! N x PS 93?? WOW!!!! Obviously much to do with the WONDERFUL care he is getting from you….. <3
I swear I’m going to fly to Sydney just to kiss Dozer’s nose!
Beyond that, I hope it’s okay, but I have a fresh fillet of salmon in the fridge and I’m going to use this marinade on it. I’ll try chicken next time because this looks AWESOME.
What a lovely group of ladies, too. Rendering that many silent is a sign that this recipe is a knock-out!
Please do come Marissa!!! 🙂 I would be SO HAPPY to see you again soon!! (Before our little Tennessee road trip! 😉 ) N x
Nagi. This recipe is just so tasty AND it was cooked for me!! Hope it is as good when I attempt it. Dozer looks very snug in his bed jacket!
So glad you and Bill enjoyed it Pauline! 🙂 And it WILL be just as tasty when you make it!!! N x
How cute is Dozer!!
Will defiantely be trying out this recipe!
Thank you Janelle! Hope you do! PS Just quietly, I think Dozer’s pretty cute too….. 😉
OOh look at that colour on the chicken. Love a good robust grilled chicken especially with a bit of heat and flavour like this one.
There’s something about grill lines and sticky looking chicken, isn’t there?? 🙂 N x
Will definitely be trying this!!!
Hope you do Jane!!! 🙂 N x
Looking at your delicious chicken recipe I am as yet again so happy to live Down Under where variations of such are on the table oh so often! And you have taught so many variations of such that no one should have difficulties accessing ingredients. Yes, may I add a tad of fish oil also or play around with kecap manis 🙂 !! Quite often I use the cheap-as-chips chicken legs for this and bake instead of grilling: yummy cold breakfast actually 🙂 ! [Oh, Dozer: I DO look for him first . . . we have a talk before I read the rest of your post . . . ]
It’s so true Eha! We are really lucky here aren’t we! PS kecap manis would also be fab in this! Suggest cutting back on the sugar if you use it though because it is so sweet compared to soy sauce! N x
Hi Nagi,
Hello again from Toronto. Another great recipe. Great flavor profiles and well balanced taste. I added a little bit of 5 spice powder. We made this with chicken tights skin on and flattened chicken breasts. You have to watch the chicken if you leave the skin because of the sugar in the marinade. We used the 3 TBSP of Sirracha and it’s was fantastic.
Brian! Woah, that was FAST! I am so glad you enjoyed this and I love the addition of 5 spice powder, very Chinese!!! THANK YOU for coming back to share your experience with everyone!! N x
Boy I wish it was Winter… Looking to be 120 here in PHX on Fathers Day. 🙁 Chicken looks Great. Only changes I see to be made, Needs a “splash” of Fish Sauce. And Me eating it Cold in the pool. Hope you and Dozer don’t freeze! Love Your camera skills.
Glad you like the look of this Blaine!!!! Perfect for summer BBQ’ing, hmm?? Thanks for the reminder about fish sauce, it could definitely be used instead of soy sauce! This is a Chinese base recipe which is why I stick to soy instead of fish sauce (which I use for SE Asian recipes!). Thanks for picking that up Blaine, I’ll update the recipe now!
Oh Nagi! You are the greatest!! We eat so much chicken and I’m always on the lookout for tasty and different recipes. Sounds wonderful!! Thank you and I’ll be pinning and sharing. Dozer is so adorable!! I love that sad looks he gives — melts your heart doesn’t it?? xoxoxo
You mean that miserable look when I dress him or the pleading look when there’s FOOD around? 😉
Oh WOW! this sounds absolutely gorgeous, going to give this a try. Thank you for sharing. P.S. Love Dozer
Thank you Karen! I do hope you try it!! PS I love Dozer too… 😉
Hmm, Nagi, we have a lot of chicken in the freezer, so I’m making this some time this week! A yummy way to have Asian without all the chopping and stir frying when time is short.
We tend to not use ketchup (and there’s no room in the fridge with all the other condiments – esp. all the Asian ones!), but tomato paste would be ok instead, right?
Ooh, I do hope you try this Barb! 🙂 Tomato paste has less flavour than tomato ketchup, but a quick way around this is to add about 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce as well! That will get the extra flavour layers in there! N x
Groovy – thanks, Nagi! 😀
Hi Nagi
This looks amazing. Just wondering if the chicken thighs should be with bone and skin left in/on?
Thanks for the question Brian! I use skinless boneless chicken thighs. 🙂 I will update the recipe!
Hi Nagi.
I can’t wait to try this recipe and I love spicy, so I think the oil would be a nice kick.
I am curious about the chili oil pictured. Do you make your own? I searched the site, nothing came right up. So I have to ask, do you have a recipe?
Hi Nicole! Thank you for your message, I’m glad you like the look of this! The chilli paste in the photo is just one out of a jar but I have made this one before – not mine, it’s a fantastic Chinese food blog called Woks of Life. Every recipe is fantastic! http://thewoksoflife.com/2015/08/how-to-make-chili-oil/
Thank you so much! I will give it a try.
You can come visit me in Boston if you’ll bring Dozer. 🙂
The minute Qantas allows dogs in the cabin, I will bring him in a flash!! (Honestly can’t bear the thought of sticking him in a crate in cargo for 20 hours…..)