This Thai chicken is spectacular and possibly one of the easiest real South East Asian marinades. Hailing from the south of Thailand, it’s ridiculously simple, made with garlic, fish sauce, oyster sauce, cilantro/coriander, turmeric powder and brown sugar. That’s it.
There are two very popular types of Thai chicken. One is Gai Yang which I shared previously which has lemongrass in the marinade so it has an earthy lemon flavour that is so distinctly South East Asian. And this Southern Thai Chicken which is quite different because it has turmeric in it, and no lemongrass.
Lemongrass is a distinctly South East Asian herb which I absolutely love but does not make my standard weekly shop. Whereas this one is made with ingredients that I always have. Aside from cilantro/coriander, everything else is pantry staples. And because I cook so much Asian and Mexican food, coriander always makes it into my weekly basket.
I first tried this Southern Thai chicken at a night market in Bangkok. At the time, I didn’t even know what it was (my Thai is not that great….ie virtually non existent), I just knew it was a finger-licking’ lip smackin’ moment of bliss. I’m lucky I was with friends who were very patient as I became annoyingly persistent, trying to hunt it down again as we continued our exploration of Bangkok.
I never found it again in Bangkok. I was even making jokes about how there was a chicken conspiracy, depriving me of my fix that I needed. I Googled it when I got home, and I still couldn’t figure out what it was (and more importantly, where I could get more). Bearing in mind I knew nothing about what it was except it was a very tasty grilled chicken! I didn’t actually pick there was tumeric in it which would have made my search more successful.
And then, quite by chance, I stumbled across this Tumeric Chicken recipe on a site called Real Thai Recipes. As soon as I read it and saw the photo, my face broke out into a wide grin because I knew straight away that it was what I had. And the reason I never found it again in Bangkok is because it’s not common there, it’s a style of chicken from Southern Thailand.
It all made sense! There’s WASN’T a Thai Chicken conspiracy! No wonder I couldn’t find them on every street corner in Bangkok!
So I’m saving you the Googling and endless hunts through the night markets in the back streets of Bangkok. Here is a ripper of a chicken recipe which is a Southern Thai Chicken that you can grill/BBQ or bake. I really think you will enjoy it. It’s quite sweet, but there are savoury layers from the other ingredients. It’s one of those recipes that tastes like it has way more ingredients in it – my speciality! – Nagi x
Serve these on the side!
-
Steamed Jasmine rice, Thai Fried Rice, Pineapple Fried Rice or Coconut Rice
-
Crunchy Asian Slaw on the side – great all rounder Asian salad that goes with all Asian foods
-
Asian Sesame Dressing for any fresh salad or steamed vegetables
-
Asian Mushroom Ramen Noodles – another great all rounder!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Southern Thai Chicken (Grilled or Baked)
Ingredients
- 5 chicken thigh cutlets , skin on and bone in (around 2.5lb / 1.2kg) (Note 1)
Marinade
- 4 garlic cloves , crushed
- 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp white pepper , ground
- 3 tbsp very finely chopped coriander/cilantro stems (as finely as you can mince with knife)
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- ¼ cup brown sugar (or finely grated palm sugar)
Instructions
- Combine Marinade ingredients in a bowl.
- Add chicken and coat thoroughly in Marinade. Marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. (Note 2)
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. If you remember, take chicken out of the fridge and bring to room temperature.
- (Optional) Line a tray with baking paper/parchment paper (to save cleaning up), then place chicken on the baking tray, skin side up. Scrape all Marinade out of bowl and dab onto chicken.
- Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until deep golden brown and chicken is cooked through. If it is too brown before cooked, cover loosely with foil and return to the oven.
- Allow to rest for 3 minutes before serving with rice and fresh slices of cucumber.
- Stove: To cook on the stove, heat a skillet over medium heat. Place skin side down and cover with a lid. Cook for 5 minutes or until the skin is dark golden. Then turn and cover with a lid again, Cook for 8 to 10 minutes until cooked through. Rest for 3 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes:
- Drumsticks: Bake for 40 minutes
- Skinless boneless thighs: Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or stove/BBQ for 5 minutes each side on medium.
- Breast: Bake for 25 minutes, or stove/BBQ for around 6 minutes on each side on medium. 4. Slightly adapted from this Tumeric Chicken recipe from Real Thai Recipes. 5. Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings. This does not take into account the fat that is rendered out of the thigh cutlets when cooking.
Nutrition Information:
Hey this sounds fantastic , brings back fond memories of the Pattaya area of Thailand , which yes is South of Bangkok but is not Southern Thailand (a region on the Malaysian Pennisular).
I’ve popped it in your handy recipe tin
Looking forward to tasting this soon .
An anticipatory 5 stars
Sounds like you know Thailand well! I’ve never travelled to the south 🙂 But I’m glad to hear validation that it this reminds you of chicken you from from the South of Bangkok!! 🙂 N x
Never tried Thai chicken before but we love turmeric so we should give this a try! 🙂
Oooh! This is a great inaugural Thai chicken to try – so easy and so crazy delicious! 🙂
Gawd… I always love that lacquer-look you get on chicken, on everything! What’s even more impressive, you can get all of that flavor and that incredible glaze with so few ingredients! Just the right combination makes all the difference in a stellar dish!
I know, right? I take no credit for this one, I would not have guessed the ingredients in this myself 🙂
Can I substitute with chicken wings instead? Coz I planned to have them as a finger food.
YES you can!! 🙂 This would be fabulous made with wings, nice and sticky! 🙂
My mistake to come and read this recipe while I’m starving! This one will go on my “to make” list – I put chicken thighs in front of my family and they disappear in seconds. Wondering if you would suggest adding a bit of garlic chili paste since we love anything with a bit of heat…
Can’t go wrong with a dash of chilli in this! 🙂 N x
Sad face here. Can’t have coriander as I sprout hives when I eat it. I really really want to try this – do you think I can sub the coriander with lemongrass? I have a tonne of lemongrass in my freezer!
What? You can’t have coriander? How did I not know that? Oh no! I use so much coriander in my recipes! 🙁 YES lemongrass will be fabulous in this, though in which case I’d suggest using the Gai Yang recipe I posted instead. 🙂
I’ve made the Gai Yang – that was delicious and finger lickin’ good. The marinade is a bit different though – the Gai Yang had a more ingredients, and fresh chili. I’ll give this one a go with lemongrass.
Very sad panda here can’t have coriander. To combat my sensitivity, whenever I see coriander in your recipes, I replace it with lemongrass, which I’ve found to have a similar taste (sort of) and I can safely eat it. I can eat very small amounts of coriander, but even with daily antihistamines, the hives still come out when I eat too much. Boo.
Loooks like another winner, Nagi. Can’t wait to try it and will report back. Plus my grocery store has a great sale on chicken thighs and drumsticks–perfect! I love all your very flavorful Asian chicken recipes, which please even Mr. Fussy, who tends to prefer red meat…he’s become a fan, too. See you in a week; can’t wait! I have even gotten some decent enough photos to write several more blog posts, thanks to you and the FBC FB groups.
Don’t you hate it when you travel and find that dish that blows your mind, and then as you said like a conspiracy, you can’t find it again. You get home google google and then google some more, nope. Well done on finding it. With summer around the corner, I can see this being made for a few BBQs over the next few months. Look so sticky and finger licking, perfect!
I feel like i have got turmeric all over me just reading this dish. Thats because I love it and would dive in head first.!
Tumeric is the best!! I love the fluro yellow juices that drip from this chicken!! 🙂
oh i love the palm sugar option. it’s slighlty sweeter and divine for this dish! gorgeous
I love palm sugar too 🙂 There’s something about freshly grated palm sugar!
Chicken thighs are my absolute favorite and I’ve got everything in this but the oyster sauce. Looking forward to this!!
Ooh, hope you do Christine! I promise this is a ripper! 🙂
I too love Thai flavors. Cannot get enough of it. What I love about this recipe is actually finding more Thai recipes to try. Thx for sharing.
Nagi! I love how you and I both live to hunt down recipes in other countries 🙂 We are OCD that way 🙂
Beautiful chicken! I love the color on it 🙂
Mila! I just saw your recipe on BuzzFeed – YOU GO GIRL! 🙂
Hi Nagi! As always, amazing photography and flavor! I am literally drooling! I have to start a Nagi folder – a big one! 🙂
Looks delicious, can’t wait to try it. What can I substitute for the fish sauce?
Hi Linda! Mushroom soy sauce is the best substitute, otherwise light soy sauce will suffice. 🙂 Not quite the same depth of flavour but still yum!
Reading this recipe, I can’t tell if I would like it or not, because I’ve had a bad experience with one of the ingredients (fish sauce). I’d probably try it, though, because it’s Thai, and Thai food, by definition, is wonderful. It’s a weird feeling to read a recipe and not be able to get a sense of the flavor…
Hi Susan! I absolutely swear to you that you cannot taste the fish sauce in this. It’s basically the salt in the marinade. Fish sauce has more complex flavours that soy sauce and so it contributes to the depth of flavour in the marinade. I know what you mean by a weird feeling of not being able to tell what the flavour of a recipe is just by reading it. This is quite an unusual combination of ingredients, not a recipe I would have been able to construct myself to replicate the chicken I tried. But you will find the flavour is quite familiar re: Thai flavours. It is sweet and salty and has depth of flavour and you know the tumeric is there because you know it’s in the recipe, but if you tasted it without knowing the ingredients, you may not know be able to guess what “that flavour” is – does that make sense?? I am probably not making any sense at all!! <3
Turmeric is one of my fav spices, but I’ve never had it combined with fish sauce and oyster sauce – these chicken thighs do look lip smacking, finger licking good! Thanks so much for your persistence in hunting this recipe down and sharing it with us Nagi! 🙂
I know, it’s an unusual combination isn’t it! It is so good, SO SO good! 🙂
Oh wow, Nagi, this looks amazing!! Have to try it. Re lemongrass, I’m lucky in that the grocery store near me sells lemongrass paste in a tube, so it’s always ready to use in my fridge!
I never thought to try lemongrass in a tube! Hmm, I wonder if it’s available here in Australia? Thanks for the tip!
You’re welcome, Nagi! It’s in the produce section at my store. They also have cilantro, basil and ginger pastes as well – handy to have when you’re out of fresh and don’t want or have time to run to the store. I’ve thought about making my own pastes – whizz in the food processor with some oil and then freeze – but don’t know if it would keep its color.
Its in the fresh produce at coles/woolies where you get the semi dried herbs etc.
We eat so much chicken I swear I’m starting to sprout feathers 🙁 I love different flavors and cuisines and this recipe is perfect for what I need. The photos are so vivid I swear I can smell and taste those thighs. YUM!! Can’t wait to try it. Thank you for sharing.
BA HA HA! I literally burst out into laughter!! I eat so much chicken too, I guess it’s just because it’s the protein I have the most experience with 🙂 And it’s such good value even for free range here in Australia. N x
I love Thai Food, however I have never heard of this dish. BUT it totally sounds like my sort of dish. Marinade chicken, bake chicken. Winner, winner chicken dinner!!
We know how much I love oven baked chicken recipes 😉
I agree, I rarely have lemongrass in the fridge. If it is on special offer or reduced I will buy it and put it in the freezer, but those packets from the supermarket never last long!
Pinning 🙂
Knowing your taste in sticky chicken – having made your honey soy sticky chicken a couple of times myself, I can promise you that you WILL love this and I bet the boys will too 🙂 N x