Indonesian Ginger Chicken - Grateful Prayer | Thankful Heart (2024)

No boring chicken here.Not with this amazing sauce. Did I mentions it is amazing! Like addicting-ly good. Sweet, pungent and lightly spicy all in perfect harmony. Indonesian ginger chicken is an easy recipe that begins with a simple marinade. Then it is baked. The result is moist and flavorful chicken with a lick-your-fingers delicious sticky exterior.

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Dark meat or chicken breasts?

Do you have a preference? It is all the white meat from the chicken breast around here but I know dark meat can be cooked longer without drying out. I made the recipe twice. Once with bone-in chicken thighs and once with boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Indonesian ginger chicken made with chicken thighs

The original recipe calls for 2 wholechickens, quartered, with backs removed. Obviously using a whole chicken will give you both white and dark meat. That might work out perfectly for you.

It also suggests leaving the skin on, another change I made. I cut away almost all of the skin leaving just a piece large enough to cover to top of the thigh.

The marinade

Grate fresh ginger and mince fresh garlic. I was a little surprised about the amount of ginger and garlic the recipe calls for thinking the flavor would be too strong. It does have a kick but totally delicious. Don’t be afraid to add it all

Combine with the honey and soy sauce.

Pour the marinade over the chicken (skin side down), cover with foil and refrigerate over night.

Indonesian ginger chicken made with boneless chicken breast

Prepare the marinade as above and pour over the chicken breasts.

Cover with foil and marinate overnight.

Bake chicken covered then remove the foil and continue baking until cooked through.

As you can see, the chicken came out tender and moist but with less of the ginger sauce clinging to it than the chicken thighs.

Serve the sauce on the side. It is delicious on the rice too!

INDONESIAN GINGER CHICKEN

PRINT RECIPE

4-6 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup honey
• 3/4 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
• 1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
• 1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
• 6-7 pounds bone-in chicken, about 8-9 pieces, legs, thighs, breasts or wings. see my notes below

DIRECTIONS

• Stir together the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan until completely combined. If needed, heat over low heat until the honey is melted but I don’t find this is necessary.
• Arrange the chicken in a layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight or for at least 4-5 hours in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

The differences

• The thighs cooked for a longer time and therefore the sauce thickened a little more and coated the chicken better. The meat was tender and moist and really delicious. Removing the extra skin worked out fine and probably reduced the fat content in the sauce.
• The chicken breasts needed only 15 minutes baking after the removal of the foil. The chicken was very good especially with the pan juices poured on top. I like the way the breast slice and I much prefer the white meat over the thighs.
• Next time I will make this Indonesian ginger chicken using bone-in chicken breasts and perhaps find the perfect balance 🙂

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