This Baked Marinated Asian Chicken Recipe is marinated in an Asian chili paste called gochujang and sambal oelek. It’s easy to prepare and a healthy chicken dish that you and your loved ones will love.
So what is Korean chili paste, gochujang? This is one of the key ingredients in Korean cooking, a thick, sweet and spicy deep red color paste made from red chili pepper flakes, fermented soybeans, glutinous rice (also known as sticky rice), and salt. It’s traditionally fermented for years in an outside earthenware pot, during which time the glutinous rice’s starches are transformed to sugars, giving the condiment its underlying sweetness. The chili peppers add a touch of lasting heat, while the fermented soybeans provides an “umami” flavor of gochujang. While the sambal oelek chili paste is made from a mixture of different types of chili peppers and from the secondary ingredients of garlic, ginger, tomato pieces, shallots, onions, palm sugar, and lime juice. It is also know as a hot and spicy Indonesian relish and commonly used for barbecue dishes.
So if you combine these two types of chili paste, you can only expect a dish with deep umami flavor. When I came across a recipe using Korean chili paste, at that time I only had sambal chili paste. Since I was very desperate to try the recipe, I used the sambal chili paste instead of the gochujang and I ended up liking it. Then, when I got a chance to get gochujang, I tried the recipe that calls for a Korean paste again and I also ended up liking that recipe. From that, an idea came into my mind about combining the two chili pastes in one recipe so instead of Korean chicken, it would be an Asian chicken and that’s how my Asian Chicken Recipe was born.
This recipe has become one of my favorite freezer meals because it is so easy to prepare. I just need to combine all the ingredients in a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer. When the time comes when I know that I will have no time to cook on a particular day, I just need to open up my freezer and grab this marinated Asian chicken and place it inside the refrigerator the night before that busy day. Once it is thawed, all I need to do is to preheat the oven and arrange the chicken in a casserole baking dish lined with parchment paper for easy clean-up and voila, dinner is ready! By the way, do not try to bake this marinated chicken in a baking dish without parchment paper because you will end up with a baking dish that is so hard to clean. Do not also skip the broiling part, if you want to turns the chicken into a nice dark red color.
Also try my other Asian chicken recipes, Ginger-Vinegar Marinade Chicken Recipe Ala Chicken Inasal and Whole Chicken Soup With Vegetables: Filipino Chicken Tinola, that are easy to prepare and a healthy chicken dish.
Baked Marinated Asian Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 pcs. chicken thighs boneless and skin on
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 tbsp fresh garlic grated
- 2 tbsp Gochu Jang Hot and Sweet Chili Sauce Korean paste
- 1 tbsp Sambal Oelek Chili Paste
- 4 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl or in a one gallon freezer bag, combine and mix together the grated ginger, grated garlic, gochujang, chili paste, honey, soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Then add the chicken thighs and mix it all together until all of the chicken is well coated with sauce. Cover or seal the freezer bag and put it into the fridge for at least 15 minutes or place it in the freezer and pull it out and place the bag of marinated chicken inside the fridge a night before you are ready to cook them.
- After marinating the chicken, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Arrange the chicken thighs in a single layer on a casserole baking dish lined with parchment paper with the skin down. You may use two casserole baking dishes to bake all 6 chicken thighs. Then pour all the marinade onto the chicken.
- Bake the marinated chicken for 25 to 30 minutes or until the chicken's internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken from the oven, turn your oven to a broil on the low setting,
- Then flip the chicken with the skin side up and return the chicken to the oven and broil for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the chicken skin turns into a nice dark red color.
- Sprinkle the chicken with a pinch of salt and serve with steamed rice.
