This straightforward sticky coconut hen is one in every of our favourite meals ever! Coconut milk marinated hen is brushed with a candy and spicy sticky glaze. It’s wonderful!
You understand a recipe is nice when it stands the take a look at of time for over a decade.
This sticky coconut hen has been a household favourite for over ten years! My youngsters request it for birthday dinners, it’s a go-to meal for firm (or for take-in meals), and it’s excellent for a straightforward weeknight dinner.
The flavors are completely out of this world scrumptious. I can’t see us ever getting uninterested in this glazed hen. Ever.
The flavour for this sticky coconut hen is inbuilt two methods:
- the coconut milk marinade
- the sticky candy and simply very flippantly spicy glaze
For the marinade, we’re utilizing ginger. Contemporary ginger. It’s wonderful on this dish. And I don’t need you to go away it out!
Currently, the provision of ginger paste has turn into far more frequent (I discover it within the produce part of my grocery retailer or at Dealer Joe’s). It’s a terrific various to recent ginger, and I extremely suggest it, particularly in one thing like a marinade.
take care of recent ginger
Contemporary ginger can appear just a little intimidating. It’s an unbelievable ingredient. But it surely’s additionally just a little weird-looking and knobby and “on the market” to some folks.
Right here’s a tip to make recent ginger completely doable.
Purchase a knob of ginger and lower it into 1-inch items (I don’t peel it). Put the chunks of ginger in a resealable bag and toss within the freezer.
When it’s time to make use of recent ginger, take a bit of ginger from the freezer and grate it (frozen) on the small holes of a field grater or on a rasp grater/zester. Once more, no have to peel!
It’s tremendous straightforward to make use of recent ginger this fashion, and it really works nice! I all the time have little nubbins of recent ginger hanging out within the freezer for recipes that decision for it.
Coconut Ginger Marinade
The coconut marinade for this sticky coconut hen is tremendous easy:
- canned coconut milk, gentle or common
- recent ginger
- salt and pepper
- pink pepper flakes (use as much as a teaspoon for a bit of warmth, dial it down a bit for a extra family-friendly vibe, however don’t depart it out!)
You possibly can whisk all of the substances collectively, particularly if the ginger is finely grated, OR you can provide the whole lot a whirl in a blender. If I try this, I depart the ginger in bigger chunks because it all will get blended up anyway.
Marinate the hen for no less than an hour or as much as eight hours. Any longer, and I’ve discovered, particularly with hen breasts and tenders, that the feel of the meat will get just a little bit gentle and mushy.
I’ve talked about earlier than that I don’t have a brilliant nice love for hen thighs.
However they’re wonderful on this recipe, and my desire is to make use of them. Nevertheless, hen breasts or hen tenders additionally work rather well. If the hen breasts are overly thick, I’d counsel slicing them into thinner items to maximise taste.
Towards the tip of cooking time, combine the glaze substances collectively in a saucepan and convey to a simmer. Sidenote: I nearly all the time double or 1 half the glaze so we have now additional for drizzling over the hen and rice.
Cook dinner the glaze till it reduces by about half. It might not look tremendous thick on the range, however it’s going to thicken because it cools. And also you don’t need to cook dinner it too lengthy otherwise you’ll find yourself with vinegar taffy.
And that’s just a little bit sketch.
When the bubbles intensify and get tremendous shut collectively (like within the image beneath on the appropriate), it’s in all probability about time to drag it off the warmth.
Grill or bake the hen
This recipe is great with grilled hen – that’s my final desire. But it surely additionally works nice to cook dinner the hen in a scorching skillet or bake within the oven.
Both manner, towards the tip of cooking time, brush that tasty glaze over the hen!
Because the syrupy glaze is coming into contact with warmth, it’s going to skinny out and drip off a bit, so repeat usually over the previous few minutes for a thicker coating of glaze, if desired.
Any leftover glaze might be drizzled over the hen and rice (if serving with rice).
Fast Coconut Rice
I nearly all the time use the opposite half of the coconut milk for a modified coconut rice recipe.
I add the leftover coconut milk to the liquid wanted for the rice. It’s wonderful! (Extra thorough particulars are within the recipe notes beneath.)
Should you haven’t made this sticky coconut hen but, don’t wait!
So many individuals have fallen in love with it through the years:
Keri: My go-to grilled hen dish. I’ve made it so many occasions through the years and all of us nonetheless adore it. We like to have it with grilled veggies!
Erica: We had this for dinner tonight and it could simply be the very best factor that I’ve ever eaten! Yum!
Rebecca: Thanks a lot for posting! My husband stated it’s the finest hen he has ever had, my 3yo like every other 3yo normally picks at her plate however she licked the plate clear and requested for extra, defiantly going to be a traditional in our home!
I hope you adore it, too! It’s significantly one in every of my favourite meals within the historical past of ever.
Rice (or higher but, Coconut Rice)
Grilled Pineapple or recent pineapple/fruit
5-Minute Skillet Broccoli
One 12 months In the past: Mel’s Buddha Bowls {With Tremendous Tasty Peanut Sauce}
Two Years In the past: Mandarin Spinach Bowtie Pasta Salad with Teriyaki Dressing
Three Years In the past: The Greatest Floor Beef or Turkey Tacos {20-Minute Meal}
4 Years In the past: {Stress Cooker or Stovetop} Chicken Coconut Curry
5 Years In the past: Grilled Honey Mustard Rosemary Chicken
Six Years In the past: Grilled Asian Chicken with Peanut Noodles and Cucumber Sambal
Seven Years In the past: Tex-Mex Enchilada Casserole
Eight Years In the past: Brown Sugar Crackle Cookies
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook dinner Time: 15 minutes
Further Time: Eight hours
Whole Time: 9 hours 25 minutes
Components
- 6-Eight boneless, skinless hen thighs, breasts or tenders
Marinade:
- 1 cup canned coconut milk, gentle or common
- 1 tablespoon minced recent ginger or ginger paste (see word)
- half teaspoon salt (I exploit coarse, kosher salt)
- 1/Four teaspoon black pepper (I exploit coarsely floor)
- 1/Four to 1 teaspoon pink pepper flakes (see word)
Glaze (see word about doubling):
- 3/Four cup rice vinegar
- half cup granulated sugar
- 1/Four cup soy sauce
- 1/Four to 1 teaspoon pink pepper flakes
Directions
- Whisk collectively the marinade substances (or mix till clean).
- Pour the marinade over the hen, tossing to coat evenly. Cowl and refrigerate no less than one hour or as much as eight hours (any longer and the feel of the hen can soften and get just a little mushy).
- Towards the tip of marinading time, deliver the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and pink pepper flakes to a boil over medium warmth. Simmer vigorously till the combination is decreased by about half and is barely thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Take away from the warmth. If it does not appear to be thickening, simply regulate the discount degree, and take into account that it could nonetheless look a bit skinny on the range however will thicken because it cools.
- Grill the hen over medium warmth (or bake within the oven at 375 levels on a greased, foil-lined pan), 4-5 minutes per aspect. The precise time will rely upon sort of hen and thickness of the items – hen thighs will take longer to cook dinner than hen breasts.
- The previous couple of minutes of grilling or baking, brush the hen with the glaze (repeat if you would like a thicker coating). Serve with leftover glaze and rice, if desired.
Notes
Coconut Rice: I usually use the leftover coconut milk from the can for a modified coconut rice recipe (cook dinner 1 cup of lengthy grain basmati or jasmine rice with 2 cups liquid – a mix of broth or water and the leftover coconut milk + a pinch of salt).
Ginger: ginger paste OR recent ginger works nice on this recipe. Contemporary ginger is tremendous straightforward to work with. I purchase a knob, lower it into 1-inch items, retailer in a freezer ziploc within the freezer. After I need to use it, I pull a bit out of the bag and grate it frozen on the small holes of a field grater or on a rasp grater/zester. No have to peel the ginger!
Pink Pepper: a full teaspoon of pink pepper flakes will give a bit of warmth to this recipe. I exploit between 1/Four and half teaspoon for a extra family-friendly vibe (nevertheless it’s scrumptious with the complete teaspoon).
Glaze: I nearly all the time double the glaze or no less than 1 half the recipe as a result of we prefer to drizzle leftover glaze over the rice and hen. A single batch can be high quality only for glazing, however you may take into account rising the quantity if you would like leftover for drizzling.
Vinegar: the delicate taste of rice vinegar is ideal for this dish; I have never tried subbing in one other sort of vinegar, however you may experiment.
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Recipe Supply: from Leigh Anne with my slight diversifications
Initially revealed June 2008; up to date April 2020 with new photographs, recipe notes, and many others.
