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sticky coconut chicken on white plate with coconut rice and asparagus

Sticky Coconut Chicken

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, breasts or tenders, about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds

Marinade:

  • 1 cup canned coconut milk, light or regular
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger or ginger paste (see note)
  • ½ teaspoon salt, I use coarse, kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper, I use coarsely ground
  • ¼ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (see note)

Glaze (see note about doubling):

  • ¾ cup rice vinegar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • ¼ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions 

  • Whisk together the marinade ingredients (or blend until smooth).
  • Pour the marinade over the chicken, tossing to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour or up to eight hours (any longer and the texture of the chicken can soften and get a little mushy).
  • Toward the end of marinading time, bring the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes to a boil over medium heat. Simmer vigorously until the mixture is reduced by about half and is slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat. If it doesn't seem to be thickening, just keep an eye on the reduction level, and keep in mind that it may still look a bit thin on the stove but will thicken as it cools.
  • Grill the chicken over medium heat (or bake in the oven at 375 degrees on a greased, foil-lined pan), 4-5 minutes per side. The exact time will depend on type of chicken and thickness of the pieces - chicken thighs will take longer to cook than chicken breasts.
  • The last few minutes of grilling or baking, brush the chicken with the glaze (repeat if you want a thicker coating). Serve with leftover glaze and rice, if desired.

Notes

Coconut Rice: I often use the leftover coconut milk from the can for a modified coconut rice recipe (cook 1 cup of long grain basmati or jasmine rice with 2 cups liquid - a combination of broth or water and the leftover coconut milk + a pinch of salt).
Ginger: ginger paste OR fresh ginger works great in this recipe. Fresh ginger is super easy to work with. I buy a knob, cut it into 1-inch pieces, store in a freezer ziploc in the freezer. When I want to use it, I pull a piece out of the bag and grate it frozen on the small holes of a box grater or on a rasp grater/zester. No need to peel the ginger!
Red Pepper: a full teaspoon of red pepper flakes will give a bit of heat to this recipe. I use between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon for a more family-friendly vibe (but it's delicious with the full teaspoon).
Glaze: I almost always double the glaze or at least 1 1/2 the recipe because we like to drizzle leftover glaze over the rice and chicken. A single batch will be fine just for glazing, but you might consider increasing the amount if you want leftover for drizzling.
Vinegar: the mild flavor of rice vinegar is perfect for this dish; I haven't tried subbing in another type of vinegar, but you could experiment.
Nutrition Facts: the nutrition facts for this recipe calculate using the entire marinade, even though some/most of it may be discarded, so take that into account when reading the nutrition facts.