My favorite thing to do with a recipe is to pare it down as far as possible while maintaining big flavor. I’ve made a lot of Asian inspired marinades and glazes over the years, but this time I took my marinade down to the bare bones, and guess what? I think it’s my favorite one by far. You just can’t beat simple. So, if you’re new to cooking, this Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken is probably a good recipe to start with because it’s so damn simple and I promise you’ll impress yourself with the flavor. ;)
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Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken pictured here with jasmine rice and a drizzle of sriracha!
Can I Use Chicken Breast?
This super simple marinade can be used on chicken breast or thighs, but I prefer thighs because they’re usually already in small, manageable, and quick-cooking pieces that stay juicy and tender. If you’re using chicken breasts, I suggest cutting them into smaller pieces or pounding them thin to both increase chicken to marinade contact and to make sure they cook quickly.
Cook OR Grill Your Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken
Once marinated you can cook the Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken in a skillet or on a grill (I almost used my George Foreman, but decided a skillet made for better pictures #foodbloggerlife). A grill probably gives you better browned edges and caramelized sugars, but a skillet is just SO easy.
And I like easy.
Pictured with jasmine rice and Cucumber Mango Salad.
Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken
Servings 8 piecesIngredients
MARINADE
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.16)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.26)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
CHICKEN
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1.75 lbs total) ($7.10)
- 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.02)
GARNISHES (optional)
- 2 green onions ($0.17)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds ($0.07)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and grate the ginger using a fine holed cheese grater or box grater. In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, some freshly cracked pepper (about 15 cranks of a pepper mill), and cooking oil. Place the chicken thighs in a shallow dish or a gallon size zip lock bag. Pour the marinade over the chicken and turn to coat. Cover the chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to a day (refrigerated).
- When ready to cook the chicken, heat a large skillet over medium flame. Once hot, add 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add half of the chicken pieces and let cook until well browned on each side and cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken to a clean plate, then repeat with the second batch.
- Once all the chicken has been removed from the skillet, pour the leftover marinade into the skillet and allow it to come up to a boil. Whisk the marinade as it boils to dissolve any browned bits from the skillet. Let it continue to boil until it reduces to a thick glaze*. Turn the heat off, add the cooked chicken back to the skillet, and dredge it in the thick glaze. Garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
How to Make Soy Glazed Chicken – Step by Step Photos
To prepare the awesomely easy ginger soy marinade, mince two cloves of garlic and grate about 1 Tbsp fresh ginger (more information on how to buy and use ginger can be found here). Combine the garlic and ginger with 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp cooking oil, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 15 cranks of a pepper mill).
Place eight boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a shallow container or gallon size zip lock bag and pour the marinade over top. Turn the thighs to coat in the marinade, then cover and marinate (refrigerated) the chicken for at least 30 minutes or up to one day.
When ready to cook, heat a large skillet over a medium flame. Once hot, add 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil and tilt the skillet to swirl the oil over the surface. Add half of the chicken thighs and cook on each side until well browned and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the skillet onto a clean plate, then repeat with the second batch of chicken.
The reason the marinade is not poured in WITH the chicken and the chicken is cooked in two separate batches is because too much moisture in the skillet will prevent those nice browned edges and caramelized sugars. So, work in two batches and cook the marinade separately.
Once the second batch of chicken has been cooked and removed from the skillet, pour in the leftover marinade and let it come to a boil. Whisk the marinade as it boils to dissolve the browned bits from the skillet. Let it continue to boil until it reduces to a thick glaze (this only takes a few minutes because there isn’t much marinade). This cooks the marinade, just like you cooked the chicken, to kill bacteria (it’s no less safe than the actual chicken or the marinade that is on the surface of the chicken when it cooks). FDA foodsafety guidelines for marinades. If this still makes you uncomfortable, you can skip this extra glaze (the chicken will still be nice and sticky), or double the amount of marinade in the beginning and only use half on the chicken. You can cook the second “clean” half in a sauce pan until it thickens to a glaze.
Return the cooked chicken to the skillet and dredge it on both sides in the sticky glaze. Top the chicken with sliced green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
I paired my Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken with jasmine rice and Cucumber Mango Salad. The cold and tangy Cucumber Mango Salad was the PERFECT side to this dish (plus I was lucky enough to get mangoes on sale 3/$1 this week!!).
Sooooo delicious! I could eat this every day. Thank you!!
I stumbled across your website when trying to get back into cooking for myself. This recipe was amazing! I cut the chicken thighs into 1 inch pieces before marinating in order to maximize the surface area for the marinade to soak into. It cooked up quick and easy, and it was delicious paired with your sesame kale recipe and some rice cooked in chicken broth. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
A great, simple recipe!
I just made this tonight……..!!
SUPER YUMMYUMMY”😉
I made this for dinner this evening and it’s absolutely delicious. Thanks, Beth!
Just finished having this for dinner. My picky SO said it was just OK, but did clean his plate. I thought it was incredible. So flavorful and super easy to make with so few ingredients. I marinated for about six hours and served with steamed broccoli and rice. Recipe is perfect as is, but next time I may throw in some cashews or peanuts for crunch.
I just made this for my family dinner and it turned out soo good it’s the best recipe for ginger chicken I have across. Thank so much for sharing your recipe this is definately gonna go down in my cook book for future dinners. Yum yum yum and the sauce turned out beautiful. I doubled my sauce and used chicken breast and it’s amazingly delicious
Holy smokes Batman!! Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken was absolutely delicious!! Unfortunately, I had seven pieces of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and had to make do utilizing the ingredients in my kitchen. Since I didn’t want to waste the tasty marinade, I finished it off after cooking the chicken thighs. I served it with steamed broccoli and Garlic Noodles. I’m looking forward to left overs for a few days. Thank you, Beth!!! :-)
Hi! I’ve made this dish twice now and can’t get the sauce to glaze like your pictures do! Do you by chance know what I am doing wrong! GREAT RECIPE!
Sorry, I had this recipe confused with another recipe. I would suggest turning up the heat so the sauce boils more rapidly and you get more evaporation. Once the small amount of liquid in the sauce evaporates you’ll be left with a sticky glaze.
I’m a little confused–I don’t see cornstarch in the recipe?
My mistake! You actually don’t need cornstarch for this one (got it confused with another recipe). If it’s not boiling down to a glaze consistency, you need to turn up the heat to increase the evaporation. Once the liquid reduces/evaporates, it will thicken to a glaze.
Has anyone tried this recipe with wings instead of thighs/breasts?
I found this recipes a few months ago, I was looking for something different to take to the women & children’s homeless shelter that I prepare a meal for once a month. They love this, it’s so different than anything they get, so I am about to fix this for the third time in four months. Since I have to cook so much at a time and to also save some money, I get bone in skin on chicken thighs. Remove the skin and cook it in my crockpot. the bones come out very easily then and I shred it with a fork. the sauce is great too!! Thanks for helping me share some love with people that desperately need it.
So delicious! The sauce drizzled over some rice makes the dish even better!
i just got a 10lb bag of chicken quarters for suuuuper cheap, and i’m looking for things to do with them, could i try making this? would it be possible to just debone and skin the thighs myself? it was literally $5 for the bag so i couldn’t pass it up but i’m struggling to find recipes for chicken quarters outside of the grill/slow roasting and this looks so good
Yes you can definitely debone and skin the thighs yourself and then they’d be perfect for this. :) I’m sure there are step by step tutorials for the deboning out there on the web somewhere too, if you need it.
Can this be cooked in the oven?
Yes, but you might not get as much reduction in the sauce and browning as you do on the stove top. Make sure the chicken isn’t packed too tightly into whatever dish you use because that will trap the juices from the chicken and make it a bit soupy.
Loved this- super easy to make on a week night too! I used chicken breast instead of thighs because that’s what I had in the freezer. I cut them in half through the middle so they were thinner but they were still too thick and took a long time to cook all the way and the sauce burned a bit. Next time I would cut the chicken into small pieces that would cook quickly to avoid the sauce issue.
After the sauce boiled and thickened I added frozen broccoli that I had cooked in the microwave. Great one pot meal! I’ll definitely make again.
also forgot to mention- one of the commenters mentioned that marinating is a waste of time which I had never heard. I looked it up (https://www.splendidtable.org/story/food-myths-busted-by-americas-test-kitchen-marinating-basting-and-boiling) and believed it so I didn’t marinate at all just dunked the chicken in the sauce. Saved me a ton of time! tasted the same as when I marinate.