Roasted Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs with Steamed Bok Choy
Chicken so full of flavour, yet so simple, that these need NO marinading. Who has time to marinade anyway? Especially when you come home in a manic rush and starving to the point of raiding anything that looks good in the pantry.
You know how I like to keep things simple, right? And juicy? Well, to get to the point…that’s this chicken.
The glaze on its own is such a beautiful thick sauce, the perfect combination of sweet and sexy — I mean sweet and salty — it’s hard not to dip your chicken into it with every bite.
To prepare the glaze, bring it to a boil and then simmer until it thickens. Once it’s cooled slightly, pour just over half a cup over the chicken and coat it any way you want. I found it easier to use a pastry brush, but you can roll it around the sauce until completely coated.
To reduce weight watchers points or calories, this recipe works with skinless thighs and with breast. But there’s something about the deep flavour of chicken thighs baked with the skin on that’s unbeatable…golden, crispy skin; tender and juicy on the inside. Full of so much flavour — one thigh isn’t enough. Trust me. I usually find someone face planting the pan, burnt fingers and all, just ‘trying’ it before it hits the table. Mmm-hhm.
While the chicken is baking, steam your veggies until perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. When the chicken is done, dip your bok choy (or any green veg really), into the sauce in the pan and serve just like that.
Sprinkle some green onion/shallot slices over your chicken and DINNER IS DONE!
A meal that can be eaten on its own; served over rice or cauli rice for a lower carb/calorie option, or with more vegetables. It’s completely up to you. Just make sure you drizzle the sauce over whatever it is your teaming it up with!
See? Simple.
Simple Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs (bone in and skin on)
- 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 2 tablespoons pure sesame oil
- 4 cloves garlic , crushed
- 1 teaspoon crushed ginger (fresh)
- 2 bunches of baby bok choy (quartered horizontally)
- sliced green onions/shallots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C | 425°F
- Wash chicken thighs and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Whisk the vinegar, soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a rolling boil; reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes while stirring occasionally until sauce thickens. Take off heat and allow to cool slightly. Place chicken thighs into an oven proof pan/skillet or baking dish. Pour 2/3 of the sauce mixture over the chicken, rotating each thigh until evenly covered. Rotate the chicken to be skin side down, and bake for 30 minutes. Turn thighs and continue to bake until beginning to brown on the skin (about another 15 minutes). At this point, start steaming your bok choy (or any other vegetable), to your desired texture (crunchy, soft, etc).
- Change oven settings to grill/broil on medium heat and grill until the skin changes to deep golden in colour (about 5 minutes).
- Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes. Serve with the steamed bok choy, shallots/green onion slices and remaining sauce.
Suzi says
Made this tonight. Delicious! And easy. You could actually taste the “marinade”. This will be a new go to. Thanks so much!
James Gordon says
Made it tonight, and it is yummy! One suggestion is that you break up instruction #3 into a few more numbers. Kinda long…
Peggy Hunt says
This was absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to make it again. Served it with yellow rice and Caribbean beans. Yum
Melissa O says
This is hands down one of the best recipes I have found for chicken thighs and the only way my family will eat bok choy. I wish it didn’t make such a mess of my pan, but the taste is so worth it!
KT says
Great marinade. Do stick with bone-in, skin-on thighs – meat will be dry otherwise, as I found when I made it with boneless breasts. I’ll continue to use this as a marinade for breasts, but would cook them differently, for example – “velvet” them with cornstarch, flour, and oil, and then sauté.
Will Jensen says
This recipe was great, and the clean up was so easy it was almost scary.
Laurie says
I literally googled “Asian style chicken thighs” at 5:30 p.m. a I was thawing chicken thighs to go with leftover sesame noodles. I was delighted to snap up some odds and ends of Bok Choy lounging in the p reduce drawer. Happily, no marinating time or de-boning thighs was required! I used my toaster convection oven and it worked great! I broiled the thighs a few minutes to really set the delicious glaze. Warmed the leftover noodles, stir fried and tossed in the bok choy and rest of the glaze, and….Yum! Thank you. Great meal with NO planning.
Debbie says
Loved this recipe like lots of others on this site! Simple and required everything I had in my pantry. I’ll continue exploring this site for more goodness!
Viv Jordan says
This is our new favorite recipe for chicken thighs! I always add an onion and have been known to double the sauce recipe because YUMMMMMM! Thank you for this delicious recipe!
paula tillman says
These recipes look amazing thank you