I've got a fantastic recipe to share if you're looking for something with an Asian flair. These char siu chicken thighs are bursting with flavor and you will not be able to stop eating them. Even better, cooking the chicken in my vertical skewer pan (my latest obsession) makes this such an easy one pan dinner.
What is Char Siu?
You're probably most familiar with char siu pork from seeing it at Chinese restaurants. It's a Cantonese-style barbecued pork with sweet and savory notes and a signature bright reddish color to it. The color comes from either red yeast rice or red fermented bean curd. One of the most common spices used for the marinade is Chinese Five Spice which typically contains cloves, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds and sichuan pepper. Awesome flavor!
I live in an area with so many incredible Asian markets, but I couldn't find the red fermented bean curd or the red yeast rice. This made me re-think using it for this recipe. I contemplated ordering a reasonably priced bag of the red yeast rice on Amazon, but in the end decided to proceed without it.
These char siu chicken thighs are a flavor bomb and it doesn't really matter if they are red or not. Right?
Cooking chicken with a vertical skewer pan
A vertical skewer pan came up in my recommendations on Amazon and I was like, Whhaaaat? Of course, there was a stack of perfectly cooked meat of some kind (photoshopped no doubt) and I thought it was a scam. But as I starting looking, this was a real product and I got curious enough that I bought one.
Turns out, it's perfect for marinating chicken, stacking it on the skewer, and roasting it in the oven. There are so many options. So far, I've filmed my outrageous chicken shawarma using that pan (it's awesome!), a chicken and pineapple which I haven't posted yet (coming soon!), and these incredible char siu chicken thighs.
If you're interested just look up "vertical skewer pan" on Amazon. This is not a sponsored post. I just genuinely love this pan and it's a great way to make a bunch of chicken to have around for dinners.
Char Siu chicken with rice and cilantro
One of my all-time favorite combinations of food is chicken and rice. I might not have come to this if I hadn't traveled and even lived in Asia on a couple of occasions. At some point, I simply fell in love with white rice. Perhaps it was because I was never particularly good at cooking white rice years ago which seems crazy to me now.
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When I was in Asia, the rice seemed like it was always cooked to absolute perfection. It was as important a part of the meal as the protein it was served with. I took note of that. It's a little funny for me because for so many years I was a disaster at actually cooking rice. Then I got really good at it and I care deeply about the flavor, texture and consistency of white rice. Every.time. I. make. it.
flavor, flavor, flavor: That marinade!
The marinade for char siu chicken is to.die.for. Char siu pork is the more common protein you'll see at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. with it's unmistakable red hue. But I am such a chicken hound - it's my favorite protein and something I eat almost every day. So I opted for chicken thighs since the dark meat has so much more flavor. Don't forget to trim the fat from the chicken thighs before marinating the chicken. You can follow along with my easy tutorial on how to do this step-by-step.
I usually marinate my chicken overnight and let those flavors really get into the chicken. There's a lot going on: ginger, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, honey , brown sugar, Chinese Five Spice! I love this combination of savory and sweet and I hope you do too. 🙂
Marinade Ingredients you may or may not be familiar with:
- Hoisin sauce: fermented soy bean paste. You can probably find at your local supermarket.
- Oyster sauce: made from oyster extracts, soy sauce. You can definitely find at your local market.
- Chinese cooking wine: also known as Shaoxing wine. This one you will have to go to an Asian market to find.
- Chinese five spice: Typically contains cloves, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds and sichuan pepper. You can probably find at your local market.
easy steps for making char siu chicken thighs
Char Siu Chicken Thighs
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 portions 1x
Description
The possibilities are endless with a vertical skewer pan, and these char siu chicken thighs are simply incredible.
Ingredients
- 10-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (3-3 ¼ pounds)
- 1 chunk of ginger (thumb-sized), sliced in rounds, ¼”
- 5-6 medium cloves garlic, smashed
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (I use low sodium)
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (light or dark, I had dark on hand so used that)
- 2 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine
- 1 ½ teaspoons Chinese five spice
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, optional
Optional side:
- Basmati rice, follow package instructions
- Cilantro leaves
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Instructions
- Peel ginger and slice into ¼” rounds.
- Peel and smash five cloves of garlic. You can use the back of your knife to smash or a kitchen mallet.
- Put garlic and ginger into a medium bowl and add: soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, honey, brown sugar, Chinese cooking wine, Chinese five spice and sesame oil (if using, the sesame oil is an optional ingredient). Mix together with a whisk and set aside.
- Using a pair of kitchen shears, trim the fat from the chicken thighs. Start with the obvious chunks of fat around the edges and make sure to get the fat underneath as well. If you need help, I have a how to trim the fat from chicken thighs tutorial which might help.
- Lay the chicken thighs on a plate or sheet pan and salt (about one teaspoon) and pepper (¼ teaspoon) one side of the chicken. After I season chicken, I usually wait a few minutes before combing with a marinade.
- Transfer chicken thighs to a large bowl. Give the marinade a final quick whisking and pour all the marinade over the chicken. I wore gloves to mix the chicken by hand. You’ll want to make sure the chicken is thoroughly covered in the marinade. Rub and massage the chicken until all pieces are covered. Cover in plastic wrap and let marinate over night in refrigerator.
- Once the chicken is marinated, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and cook the chicken for 1 hour or until internal temperature of chicken is 165 degrees. TIP: before preheating your oven make sure all your racks are low enough that the skewer pan fits in your oven.
- Once removed from oven let it rest a few minute, then start slicing the chicken from the skewer. Once all the chicken in cut, toss the pieces in the juices at the bottom. Serve immediately with basmati rice and cilantro. Sliced cucumber and tomato would go well with this too.
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