Soy-Ginger Glazed Chicken Thighs

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A foolproof, hands-off recipe for tasty, juicy baked glazed chicken thighs, in an Asian-inspired sweet and salty ginger-soy sauce that has a touch of honey and butter.

This dish delivers on so many levels. It’s a one-pan, slide-it-in-the-oven and walk-away kind of chicken thigh recipe (who doesn’t love that!)

And the combination of fresh ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice, honey and a little bit of butter make an intensely savory marinade and chicken thigh glaze that you’re going to l-o-v-e.

• Ingredients for the recipe
• Prepping chicken thighs for the oven
• How long to bake chicken thighs
• What to serve with glazed chicken thighs

This dish has very quickly become one of my family’s absolute favorite baked chicken dinner recipes — my son requested it 3 times last week!. It’s right up there with my Baked Boneless Chicken Thighs.

Bake up some chicken thighs — there are so many ways to flavor them up!

It used to be that chicken breasts were the choice for everyday meals. But I’ve seen a big increase in requests for recipes that use bone-in chicken thighs and legs.

We all enjoy the convenience of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I feel they are the best part of the chicken.

That said, cooking chicken with the bone in AND skin on takes the experience of chicken up a few levels — giving you taste, juiciness and tenderness beyond compare!

I found the idea for this recipe in a beautiful cookbook, Vietnamese: Simple Vietnamese Food to Cook at Home, which is full of creative simple dishes that have a fresh Asian flair.

It’s always a bonus when you find a recipe that makes you hungry, and you have all the ingredients on hand to make it.

Ingredients you need to make this recipe:

• Chicken thighs: Skin-on, bone-in thighs, please!
• Fresh ginger root: To easily grate ginger without peeling, scrape off the brown skin with the edge of a teaspoon (it works great!) before grating on a rasp grater.
• Fresh lemon juice: From about one-half of a whole lemon.
• Garlic clove
• Cayenne pepper
• Soy sauce: Asian shoyu or tamari sauce are both made fermented soybeans — either type works.
• Shallots or red onion
• Honey: Any variety of honey, whether liquid or creamy.
• Butter or ghee: The butter adds that special something to this sauce, cutting through the salty flavors. It’s just a small amount, but you can omit it. There’s plenty of tasty fat from the chicken!

Recipe steps

This recipe is very easy to prep. These are the basic steps:

• First, grate your ginger and whisk up the sauce in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, cayenne and soy sauce and whisk together:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Choose a rimmed sheet pan or shallow baking dish that’s big enough to hold the chicken thighs in one layer and arrange the chicken thighs on it.
• Tuck the shallots in between them, here and there. Pour the sauce over the chicken and turn with a pair of tongs so that both sides are coated.
• The chicken can marinate in the sauce 1-2 days ahead. Add the thighs and the soy sauce mixture to a freezer bag and place in a large bowl to avoid spillage.

• After baking 30 minutes, remove the sheet pan from the oven and carefully pour the pan juices into a saucepan. Add the honey and butter (if using) and bring to a simmer. Cook five minutes to reduce it by about one-third.
• Pour the glaze over the chicken thighs and put the pan back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp and caramelize the skin.
• Sprinkle with sliced green onions tops and serve.

Cooking time for glazed chicken thighs

The cooking time for baked bone-in chicken thighs is a little bit longer than boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

The reason it’s different is because bones slow the transfer of heat within the meat, keeping it moist and at the same time creating that sensation called “tender to the bone.”

This is the cooking time I came up with while testing this recipe (keep in mind that larger or smaller chicken pieces and/or the way your oven heats might vary the time somewhat):

• Chicken pieces that are approximately 8 ounces each, including the the bone and skin, will be juicy and crisp-skinned after 30-35 minutes at 425 degrees.
• Pouring the honey and butter sauce over the chicken for the last 5 minutes creates a quick glaze — the sugar and fat caramelize the skin so deliciously! If it was added sooner it would burn before the chicken is cooked through.

What to serve with the dish

• Plain steamed jasmine rice or Perfect Coconut Rice
• Spicy Indian Cucumber Salad
• Quick and Easy Broccolini
• Frozen Stir-Fry Vegetables
• Stir-Fried Asparagus with Peanut Sauce