These Asian Chicken Thighs are a simple weeknight dinner that hits all the notes that you’ve come to expect from a well-balanced oven-baked chicken dish: savory, slightly sweet, tangy, and packed with umami. Plus, the Whole30 Asian chicken marinade can be ready in minutes!
Table of Contents
- The Easiest and Tastiest Asian Chicken Marinade
- Can You Make This Dish with Other Chicken Parts?
- Make-Ahead instructions
- Ingredients
- How to make Asian chicken thighs
- What Do You Serve With It?
- Air Fryer instructions
- How do you clean the dirty wire rack?
- More paleo chicken thigh recipes
- Asian Chicken Thighs Recipe
The Easiest and Tastiest Asian Chicken Marinade
This simple gluten-free marinade for my Asian chicken thighs will win over your pickiest eaters. Here are some helpful tips to make it just right:
- If you’re doing a Whole30, simply replace the honey with some diced apple. Want a keto-friendly version?Leave out the sweetener and your chicken dinner will still taste great.
- The easiest way to make the marinade is to dump all the ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. If your blender isn’t super powerful, you’ll have to chop the marinade ingredients smaller before dumping them in.
- You’re aiming for a marinade that’s saltier than you would use as a dressing—taste it before pouring it on the chicken! Even though the marinade will taste salty, they chicken will be perfectly seasoned.
- Avoid using fresh ginger in the marinade because it contains an enzyme that can break down protein. (I learned this lesson the hard way when I was developing my Wonton Meatballs recipe.)
Can You Make This Dish with Other Chicken Parts?
Definitely! I’ve used this Asian chicken marinade marinade on spatchcocked whole chickens, boneless skinless chicken thighs, chicken breast, wings, you name it. Just remember that boneless and skinless chicken will cook faster so you should check the internal temperature earlier.
Make-Ahead instructions
You can blend the Asian chicken marinade ahead of time and have it ready in your fridge for up to four days. Also, you can marinate the chicken for up to two days before roasting it. I don’t love freezing marinated raw chicken and thawing it to roast later because the chicken skin gets kind of tough. I’d rather roast the chicken and save the cooked chicken in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Ingredients
- Scallions / Green Onions
- Garlic cloves
- Ground ginger: Fresh ginger can make the chicken mushy so use ground ginger!
- Rice vinegar: Apple cider vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, and fresh lime juice also work!
- Avocado oil or fat of choice
- Honey: If you’re on the Whole30 or avoiding honey, use ½ cup peeled and diced apple. You can leave out the sweetener and it will still taste amazing!
- Coconut aminos: I love using the combination of coconut aminos + fish sauce as my go-to soy sauce replacement.
- Red Boat fish sauce
- Toasted sesame oil
- Umami Stir-Fry Powder or Diamond Crystal kosher salt: I use my Umami Stir-Fry Powder in place of salt in all of my Asian recipes because it packs a flavor punch!
- Freshly ground pepper
- Skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
How to make Asian chicken thighs
First, let’s make the marinade! Break out your high speed blender or food processor and toss in the scallions, garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, avocado oil, honey (or diced apple), coconut aminos, fish sauce, sesame oil, Umami Stir-Fry Powder or Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and pepper.
Blitz until smooth.
Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl, storage container, or freezer bag and pour the marinade on top of the chicken.
Toss to coat the chicken thoroughly, and marinate it in the fridge for up to two days. (No time to marinate? Don’t worry—the chicken will still taste good, even with just a quick toss in the marinade!)
When you’re ready to cook the chicken, remove the marinated thighs from the fridge and heat the oven to 425°F (or 400°F on convection roast) with the rack in the middle.
Place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and arrange the chicken skin-side down in a single layer.
Bake the chicken for 40 minutes, flipping the thighs skin-side up at the halfway point.
These Asian Chicken Thighs are ready when the skin is crisp and browned and the internal temperature reaches 165°F to 175°F when measured with a meat thermometer.
Serve immediately! (And don’t forget to soak your wire rack in hot soapy water while you eat dinner! See below on how to clean the rack!)
What Do You Serve With It?
I love serving Asian Chicken Thighs with my Asian Cauliflower Fried Rice, Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, and Smashed Cucumber and Carrot Salad, but feel free to plate it with whatever your favorite vegetable side dish happens to be. When I’m super lazy, I just serve Asian Chicken Thighs with a big green salad, like my Chopped Green Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing.
Air Fryer instructions
Cook the chicken thighs in a single layer in the air fryer at 400°F for about 20 to 25 minutes, starting skin-side down and flipping the thighs skin-side up at the halfway mark. Repeat in batches until done.
How do you clean the dirty wire rack?
For this recipe, I recommend that folks elevate their chicken pieces on a stainless steel wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet when they roast them to ensure even cooking. Inevitably, the number one question I get when people try this method is how to clean the dirty rack afterwards.
The key is to soak the rack IMMEDIATELY in hot soapy water. Just follow these steps:
- Transfer the chicken off the rack as soon as it’s out of the oven.
- Immediately place the rack upside down in the rimmed baking sheet and fill it with hot soapy water. Let the rack soak while you’re enjoying dinner.
- After dinner, scrub off any gunk on the rack with a sponge and place the rack in the dishwasher. (No dishwasher? Just continue scrubbing the rack with hot soapy water and rinse well.)
- Watch this quick Instagram highlight to see how I do it!
More paleo chicken thigh recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Asian Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 scallions trimmed and cut into thirds
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger (fresh ginger can make the chicken mushy)
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons honey Whole30? Use ½ cup peeled and diced apple in place of honey.
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon Red Boat fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons Umami Stir Fry Powder or Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 pounds chicken thighs
Instructions
- First, let’s make the marinade! Break out your high speed blender or food processor and toss in the scallions, garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, avocado oil, honey (or diced apple), coconut aminos, fish sauce, sesame oil, Umami Stir Fry Powder or Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and pepper. Blitz until smooth.
- Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl or storage container and pour the marinade on top.
- Toss to coat the chicken thoroughly, and marinate it in the fridge for up to two days. (No time to marinate? Don’t worry—the chicken will still taste good, even with just a quick toss in the marinade!)
- When you’re ready to cook the chicken, remove the marinated thighs from the fridge and heat the oven to 425°F (or 400°F on convection roast) with the rack in the middle.
- Place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and arrange the chicken skin-side down in a single layer.
- Roast the chicken for 40 minutes, flipping the thighs skin-side up at the halfway point.
- The chicken’s ready when the skin is crisp and browned and the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Serve immediately. (And don’t forget to soak your wire rack in hot soapy water while you eat dinner!)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Family friendly, easy, and delicious!
Have made this recipe twice and we love it! Was wondering if you can make a sauce/gravy with the leftover marinade after removing the chicken to bake?
You can simmer the marinade and reduce it in a saucepan to make a sauce. Alternatively, you can make extra sauce and cook that on the stovetop. Both can be thickened with an arrowroot starch slurry!
I love your recipes and cook books!
How long can I freeze this dish after cooking?
Made this tonight…. This marinade is awesome. My entire family made it.
So easy and good!! I had some marinated beets and rice on the side and this will definitely be a part of the regular rotation.
This was super tasty. I heated the marinade to put on the chicken with rice. Definitely joining the regular rotation!
I made this without a blender using onion powder instead of green onions and just whisked all the marinade ingredients together … super easy and less washing up. I used organic chicken breasts, cut into cutlets, and pan fried them. They were very tasty but a bit dry. I think I’ll try again using chicken thighs.
This is great! One of my kids favorites!