Asian Chicken
This is a weekly go-to for our family. The original recipe came from SkinnyTaste — she uses drumsticks, but I’ve made this with boneless chicken thighs, drumsticks, and even whole chicken legs. The trick is getting the liquid to get nice and syrupy. Since some cuts of chicken take longer to cook, that’s where you need to adjust your liquid. For example, when cooking chicken thighs — since they cook relatively quickly, I will use part balsamic glaze part balsamic vinegar so the sauce gets thick quicker. I also ALWAYS leave out the water that the original recipe calls because I found it prevented getting that nice syrupy sauce.
Ingredients:
6 drumsticks or 1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
Olive Oil spray
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2-1 tbsp honey — if using part balsamic glaze per above, use less honey
3 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
Optional: siracha or chili garlic sauce (I like it spicy so add about a tablespoon)
optional for presentation: chopped chives and sesame seeds
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, stir together the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, and optional hot sauce.
Heat up a large skillet or deep pan - make sure this skillet has a fitted lid - and spray with olive oil.
Brown chicken on both sides 2-4 minutes per side depending on the size of the chicken.
Add liquid mixture and bring to a boil. Move chicken around a bit to make sure it’s not stuck to the bottom.
Lower heat to low/medium low, cover pan and cook chicken, flipping halfway through. Drumsticks: cook for about 7 minutes each side. Boneless thighs: Cook for about 6 minutes each side (covered).
Remove lid and bring liquid back to a boil — this is where the sauce gets nice and syrupy. Cook the chicken uncovered for another few minutes, check chicken temperature. If it’s 165 degrees but the sauce is still thin, remove chicken from pan and continue boiling the sauce until it cooks down (just be careful it doesn’t burn!).
Once sauce is thick, put chicken back in the pan and coat it with the thick sauce. Enjoy!
