Best Tangerine Garlic Grilled Thai Chicken Recipes

THAI GRILLED CHICKEN (GAI YANG)

Steps:

• Place Marinade ingredients in a large ziplock bag. Massage to mix.
• Add the chicken into the ziplock bag and massage to spread the marinade over all the chicken. Marinate for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight (up to 24 hours).
• Remove chicken from the Marinade and discard the Marinade (unless baking in the oven - refer Note 3).
• Heat the outdoor grill on medium high. Or heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a non stick pan over medium high heat on the stove.
• Cook the chicken until golden brown - around 3 minutes each side.
• Rest for a few minutes before serving with lime wedges on the side, and garnished with fresh chilies and cilantro, if using.

THAI-STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN (GAI YANG) RECIPE

Steps:

• Combine garlic, cilantro, sugar, white pepper, coriander, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and lemongrass (if using) in the bowl of a food processor. Process until a rough paste is formed. Set aside.
• Place chicken halves flat on a cutting board. Insert 2 metal skewers into each chicken half, running parallel through legs and breasts. Transfer chicken to a baking dish that just fits them. Rub on all surfaces with marinade. Cover, transfer to refrigerator, and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• When ready to cook, light 1 chimney full of charcoal . When all charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread coals evenly over half of coal grate. Alternatively, set half the burners of a gas grill to high heat. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill, and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil grilling grate.
• Place chicken, skin side up, on cooler side of grill, with legs facing toward hotter side. Cover grill, with vents on lid open and aligned over chicken. Open bottom vents of grill. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 140°F (60°C), about 45 minutes. Carefully flip chicken and place, skin side down, on hotter side of grill, with breasts pointed toward cooler side. Cover and cook until skin is crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 145 to 150°F (63 to 66°C), about 3 minutes longer. (Be careful, as the skin is very prone to burning.) If chicken threatens to burn before temperature is achieved, carefully slide to cooler side of grill, cover, and continue to cook until done. Do not leave lid off for longer than it takes to check temperature, or chicken will burn.
• Transfer chicken to a cutting board and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Carve and serve with chile dipping sauce.

THAI GRILLED CHICKEN (GAI YANG)

Steps:

• Add the lemongrass, cilantro (coriander), shallots, and garlic to a mortar and pestle, and pound until pulverized. You can also use a food processor for this step.
• Add the oil, sugar, salt, black pepper, Thai soy sauces, fish sauce and turmeric (if using). Mix until well-combined.
• You can butterfly or spatchcock your chicken for grilling like it's done on the streets of Thailand. However, I cut the chicken into individual pieces to ensure they'd cook properly. This way, I can pull each piece off the grill once cooked. Rub the chicken with the marinade paste, ensuring every piece is thoroughly coated. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate overnight (or at least 12 hours).
• The next day, take the chicken out 1 to 2 hours before you're ready to grill.
• In a small bowl, mix the sugar and hot water until the sugar is dissolved. Mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients and set aside.
• Place the chicken on the grill, and use any remaining marinade to baste the chicken while grilling. Leave the marinade paste on the chicken, including any chunks of herbs as they will caramelize and add flavor. Turn and baste the chicken often to create a nice flavorful outer crust. Baste the chicken with the leftover marinade in the first half of the grilling process, but do not do this towards the end of cooking. The raw chicken marinade needs enough time to fully cook.
• Serve immediately with some coconut rice, your nam jim jeaw sauce, and lime wedges!

AUTHENTIC THAI GRILLED CHICKEN RECIPE (GAI YANG ไก่ย่าง)

Steps:

• For this recipe, I'm going to cook 2 full chickens, together weighing in at 3.6 kilos. If you wanted, you could also make this recipe with 3 - 4 kilos of chicken pieces, or really, however much chicken you want.
• For this gai yang (ไก่ย่าง) to be at its finest, it's best to marinate the chicken overnight and grill it the next day, but if you don't have the time, marinate the chicken for at least a few hours.
• Peel about 4 bulbs of garlic, which should be about 30 - 40 cloves in all.
• Thinly slice 2 stalks of lemongrass and cut off the roots of 8 stalks of coriander.
• Now comes the hard part, pounding everything using a mortar and pestle (If you don't have a mortar and pestle you can blend the ingredients in a food processor (but I'd really recommend you invest in a Thai style mortar and pestle).
• Add small amounts of garlic, lemongrass, black peppercorns, and coriander roots to the mortar and pestle and pound them until the oils come out, and you have a coarse paste. Keep pounding until all the marinade ingredients are finished. You'll probably need to load the mortar a few times.
• Put all the pounded marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir them up, and add 4 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 2 tablespoons of palm sugar. Mix everything together while adding about 8 tablespoons of water to the mixture. You should end up with a potent marinade that looks like a chunky garlicky sauce.
• If you're using whole chickens, you'll want to butterfly cut them starting from the breast side down to the butt. Flatten the chickens out. This is going to prepare it for the grill (Watch the video to see how to do it).
• In a big pan or mixing bowl start to rub the marinade on the chicken, making sure the garlic, herbs, and soy sauce go into all parts of the chicken. Rub down both chickens using all the marinade.
• Cover the chickens and allow them to rest overnight. You might stir them a couple of times if you remember.
• The next day, take out your chicken, and the first step is to light your charcoal. You want a low even heat, coals that aren't too hot, but a low and even.
• Put the chicken on the grill and begin cooking!
• Wait about 20 minutes or so (but monitoring them to make sure they don't burn), before making your first flip. You can baste the chicken with the extra marinade.
• Cook the chicken on low heat for about 1.5 hours, until the chicken is cooked through to the bone and the skin is golden dark brown on the outside.
• Take the chicken off the grill, and dismantle the bamboo supports.
• If you have a Chinese cleaver, first cut the chicken in half from the neck to the butt, and from there cut off the drumstick, wing, and chop the rest of the chicken into strips.
• Semi-dried tamarind pulp can usually be bought at the supermarket in a small block. To rehydrate it, get a couple tablespoons of hot water and start to work the tamarind into the hot water. This should turn it into a nice tamarind water sauce.
• In a bowl, mix 1.5 tablespoons of khao kua (toasted sticky rice, recipe here), 1.5 tablespoons of chili flakes, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 8 tablespoons of tamarind juice.
• Mix all of the ingredients together.
• After mixing up the sauce, make sure you taste test. You're looking for the perfect sweet, sour, and salty combination. You might need to add more tamarind juice, more sugar, or more fish sauce to balance it out.
• Top off your gai yang sauce with some chopped up cilantro.
• Happy eating!

TANGERINE-MAPLE GLAZED CHICKEN THIGHS AND DRUMSTICKS

Steps:

• Heat the grill to medium-high.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over high heat, add the onion and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the juice and thyme, bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to approximately 1/2 cup, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Strain the mixture into a bowl and whisk in the syrup, soy sauce and black pepper and let cool to room temperature. Can be made 2 days in advance and brought to room temperature before using.
• Brush chicken on both sides with the remaining oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through. Begin brushing with the glaze during the last 5 minutes of grilling. Remove to a platter and sprinkle with the green onion. Garnish with grilled citrus.

TANGERINE -GARLIC GRILLED THAI CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 f. Heat grill to medium heat. Prepare garlic for roasting by peeling off the dry outer skin to expose individual cloves. Place in an oven-proof dish and roast for 1 hour until the cloves are soft. Squeese cloves from garlic head and mix with olive oil, butter and paprika, set aside. In a large bowl, mix together all marinade ingredients. Rinse chicken and with your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the chicken making a pocket. Place chicken (skin side up)in a roasting pan and spoon the marinade under the skin. Spoon the remaining marinade over the top of the ckicken. Increase oven temperature to 375 f. Bake the chicken for 30 minutes, remove from oven and finish off on the grill (6-7 minutes per side) until chicken has cooked through and the skin is crispy. While chicken is grilling, frequently baste chicken with garlic basting paste. Before serving, cut each chicken half in two pieces. To make the sesame noodles, mix together sesame oil, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, and water. Blend until incorporated and pour over noodles. Mix well and chill for a minimum of one hour, tossing occasionally. Before serving, sprinkle with green onions, peanuts and sesame seeds.

THAI MUSLIM-STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Marinade
• Spatchcock chicken the Thai way by placing it breast side up on a large cutting board. Using a sharp, heavy knife and working just to the side of the center of the breast, cut down through to the breastbone (do not cut all the way through to the backbone). Now that the path has been created, use the same knife-or, easier, a sturdy pair of kitchen scissors-to make a clean cut all the way through the breastbone and anything else that is still connecting the 2 sides of the breast together. Open up chicken and turn skin side up. Press down on chicken to flatten. Pat thoroughly dry.
• Grind peppercorns in a spice mill or a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a food processor or leave in mortar and pestle and add garlic, cilantro roots, brown sugar, fish sauce, turmeric, salt, coriander, cumin, and cardamom and process or pound until smooth. Coat chicken completely in marinade, pressing to adhere and working into nooks and crannies. Place in a large bowl and cover with a plate. Let chill at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Let chicken sit at room temperature 1 hour before grilling or baking.
• Sauce
• Purée pineapple and vinegar in a food processor or blender until smooth. Transfer to a small saucepan and add garlic, jalapeños, granulated sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat so sauce is at a simmer and cook until thick and smooth (consistency should be similar to cocktail sauce), about 5 minutes.
• Chicken and assembly
• Grind saffron to a fine powder in a spice mill or a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a small saucepan and add granulated sugar, salt, and ¼ cup water and cook over medium heat just until heated through and small bubbles appear around the edges of the pan. Whisk in coconut oil and remove from heat.
• If using a grill, prepare a grill for medium-high indirect heat (for a charcoal grill, bank coals on one side of grill; for a gas grill, leave one or two burners off); oil grate. Arrange chicken, skin side up, on cooler part of grill. Close lid and grill, rotating chicken but keeping skin side up every 5-10 minutes, until skin looks dry and golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast and thighs registers 130°-140°, 35-40 minutes. If using charcoal and your coals are dying, start a new chimney of coals 15 minutes before this point so you are ready for the next step.
• Uncover grill and increase heat to high (add more coals for a charcoal grill). Brush one fourth of basting liquid over skin and turn chicken over, positioning over direct heat on the hot side of the grill. Grill, brushing half of remaining basting liquid over bone side of chicken, until skin is browned and lightly charred in spots, about 3 minutes. (Watch carefully as this can happen quickly.) Turn chicken over and return to cooler side of grill. Brush skin with remaining basting liquid. Cover grill and continue to grill chicken until thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 160° and thickest part of thighs registers 165°, 10-15 minutes longer.
• If using an oven, place a rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°. Place chicken, skin side up, on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Brush one third of basting liquid over skin. Bake, rotating baking sheet every 10 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast and thighs registers 130°-140°, 35-40 minutes.
• Increase oven temperature to 450°. Brush remaining basting liquid over skin and continue to bake, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until skin is crisp and charred and thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 160° and thickest part of thighs registers 165°, 10-15 minutes longer.
• Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest at least 15 minutes. Carve up further as desired.
• Top dipping sauce with cilantro. Serve chicken with rice and dipping sauce alongside.
• Cook's Note
• If you cook the chicken in the oven, using the dhungar method to perfume the finished chicken with the scent of smoky ghee is highly recommended.

TANGERINE CHICKEN

Steps:

• Remove colored part of peel from tangerines using a vegetable peeler and very finely chop; juice enough tangerines to yield 3/4 cup juice.
• Combine peel and juice in a bowl with soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger root, sesame oil, cinnamon, and pepper; whisk until honey is dissolved. Pour into a food storage bag.
• Cut off rib portions from chicken breasts. Place breasts halves in marinade and seal bag; turn to coat chicken. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, turning bag several times.
• Remove chicken from marinade and place in a foil-lined shallow roasting pan. Pour marinade from the bag into a saucepan, boil 10 minutes, until mixture is thick and syrupy. Brush chicken with some sauce. Roast chicken at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, basting with remaining sauce, until chicken is just barely pink in thickest parts. Garnish breasts with toasted sesame seeds.