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!!).
I liked this better than teriyaki recipes I’ve tried in the past. My mango wasn’t ripe , so I’ll have to ace this again later this week. I really appreciate your blog. I’m pinching pennies right now, and having cheap recipes that are also fun and healthy is a big help
Thought this was fantastic! I cut my thighs into bite size pieces and used dry instead of fresh ginger but otherwise followed the recipe. Served with rice. Will be added to our dinner rotation for sure!
WOW! Stumbled onto this recipe via Google. Had all the ingredients except chicken. So marinated scallops. Per comments, I seared on low-med heat which worked out great. Removed from pan and cooked large cut mushrooms in same pan with some more of the marinade to keep things from burning. Removed shrooms, and added rest of marinade to pan as directed. Drizzled the sauce over everything on each plate. Hubby went nuts & said this is a keeper!
Using a meat thermometer helped lot getting this done just right. The chicken was delicious. Cooke it slow which I believe help to prevent the sugar from burning. I didn’t think there would be enough liquid for the glaze but it was just right. We didn’t have fresh ginger but used frozen cubes of ginger prepackaged, and you couldn’t tell from the fragrance of the finer that it was not fresh.
We also made garlic ginger rice and stir fry veggies for the side, it was perfect . So glad my daughter found this recipe.
Made this for dinner tonight and it burned while browning the chicken over medium heat, and then burned the marinade when I dumped it in to try to salvage it. There’s no way this could have boiled for long enough to be safe for consumption. I’m also confused as to how little liquid there is as there was barely enough marinade to cover 4 thighs. The flavor was there (after I added some chicken broth to try to salvage the burnt sauce), but idk where I went wrong.
Your heat may have been higher than medium. I have made this recipe many times. My biggest variation is I cut up the chicken into small pieces then marinate and cook them. They cook quicker and in my opinion more evenly that way.
Velvet small chicken pieces and deep fry. Add the marinade and toss on high heat to cook and coat chicken. That’s how I’m planning on doing this recipe. The brown sugar is easy to burn especially if cooked with chicken thighs that take longer to cook. Or you could grill or pan fry the thighs with a little pepper and soy sauce and pour the marinade over to cook through in the last 5 minutes.
Couldn’t you just cook the sauce with the chicken why do you have to cook it separately after the chicken has cooked?
Cooking the sauce separately lets the sauce thicken up and really be perfect!
This was delicious and easy to make. Loved it!! It turned out exactly like the picture:)
Do you think this could work with tofu?
Yes it would be delicious or you can try this recipe https://www.budgetbytes.com/soy-marinated-tofu-bowls-spicy-peanut-sauce/
I’ve made it with tofu and it was really good but I would say since tofu not fatty/savory like chicken thighs you may want to use like a teaspoon or two less sugar.
Made this tonight. So good! So easy. My SO said “yep, this’ll work.” High praise from him.
Thank you!
We’ll take it! Thanks for sharing Lory!
hat is the best kind of cooking oil to use for this recipie?
Sesame or olive would work best.
I always double this sauce and pour it over noodles. This is one of my kids favorite dinner. :)
Yay for kid win!
Made this tonight on my grill and they were awesome. I did add a little rice wine vinegar to the marinade for a little acidity. Made jasmine rice in my rice cooker and seared some asparagus for my sides. Will definitely make again!!
Oh yum! Never thought to try it on the grill!
Made this twice, delicious and yes..sticky. I like to double up on the marinade to pour over rice (and because I’m a saucey girl).
Can’t go wrong there!
3 tablespoons of soy sauce? What??
Incredible. Doubled the sauce recipe and turned out DELICIOUS.
Never a bad idea to double the sauce!