Korean Gochujang Marinated Chicken
For some time now, gochujang has been one of my favorite condiments. There is something about it, whether that combination of sweet, spicy, or savory, but whatever it is gochujang has got it going on. I have used gochujang in a couple of different recipes including Korean style zucchini as well as some Korean style quick pickles, both of which were delicious, but not it was time to try to incorporate the gochujang into a chicken marinade and see how it would turn out. Actually, I knew how it was going to turn out, and I was right, it turned out pretty awesome.
Let’s get started.
- 8 chicken thighs, fat trimmed
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 heaping tablespoon of gochujang paste
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce
- 1 dash of fish sauce
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 3 tbsp water
- cooked rice, optional
- sliced scallions, optional
Start by making your marinade. Combine everything but the chicken, rice, and scallions in a mixing bowl. Whisk until everything is smooth.
Add the chicken thighs to a large plastic sealable bag, and pour in the marinade. Seal, and place into the refrigerator overnight.
The following day, about an hour before you are ready to begin cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter to take off the chill.
Strain the marinade, reserving it into a bowl. Pat the chicken dry and place on a wired rimmed baking sheet.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Add the chicken thighs, skin side down to the baking sheet.
Place into the oven and cook for about 25 minutes. Remove, then flip the chicken so it is skin side up, and cook an additional 10 minutes or so, or until the skin is nice and crispy.
During this time, add the reserved marinade to a sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until the sauce has reduced. This will act as your glaze with the chicken is ready.
Now it is time to serve.
Remove the chicken from the oven, and carefully add them to a large serving dish. With a cooking brush, or spoon for that matter, begin brushing the chicken thighs with the reduced marinade.
Serve and with rice. My kids totally loved these. They are typically not fans of thighs like I am, but that told me something, and that something was most likely that awesome gochujang marinade. Hope you enjoy!
Korean Gochujang Marinated Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs fat trimmed
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 heaping tablespoon of gochujang paste
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce
- 1 dash of fish sauce
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 3 tbsp water
- cooked rice optional
- sliced scallions optional
Instructions
- Start by making your marinade. Combine everything but the chicken, rice, and scallions in a mixing bowl. Whisk until everything is smooth.
- Add the chicken thighs to a large plastic sealable bag, and pour in the marinade. Seal, and place into the refrigerator overnight.
- The following day, about an hour before you are ready to begin cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter to take off the chill.
- Strain the marinade, reserving it into a bowl. Pat the chicken dry and place on a wired rimmed baking sheet.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Add the chicken thighs, skin side down to the baking sheet.
- Place into the oven and cook for about 25 minutes. Remove, then flip the chicken so it is skin side up, and cook an additional 10 minutes or so, or until the skin is nice and crispy.
- During this time, add the reserved marinade to a sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until the sauce has reduced. This will act as your glaze with the chicken is ready.
- Now it is time to serve.
- Remove the chicken from the oven, and carefully add them to a large serving dish. With a cooking brush, or spoon for that matter, begin brushing the chicken thighs with the reduced marinade.
- Serve and with rice.
6 Comments
Peter D Reid
I adapted this recipe to make turkey meatballs- putting 1/2 of the marinade into the meat mixture along with bread crumbs, fresh parsley, egg, minced roasted garlic, and sun dried tomatoes to the mixture. Baked off the meal balls and them glazed with reduced marinade. Whole thing was packed with flavor. Thank you for the inspiration! -Peter
JohnnyWanex
Marinated thighs last night, grilled them today. Amazing flavours. gochujang is such an under valued condiment. Paired the grilled thighs with an Asian sesame pasta salad.
Thanks for great recipe. We will be making this through out the summer… cheers!
Dax Phillips
Thanks Johnny, I couldn’t agree more with you! Glad everything worked out for you. Stay safe my friend, and keep cooking!
Fraser
Life being busy I ended up marinating it for 48 hours, was packed with flavour and had a nice bit of spice from the gochujang paste. I’ve made it twice now, as I devoured the first batch. The next time I might add a quarter teaspoon red habanero powder for an extra kick 🙂
Fraser
Love these, great flavour. Been making them for work lunches, I marinate then for 48 hours. Sometimes I add some habanero or ghost pepper powder to heat things up
Jon Richt
I used skin-on, bone-in thighs; they were large, 6 to a package. Even though I left them out of the fridge for an hour before baking, after the 35 minutes of baking they were still slightly pink next to the bone. Perhaps the size and bone kept them from being more done.
The skin never crisped up, either; the color was tan-brown rather than red.
Little things like this annoy me, but I say that as a foodie, rather than a critic. The flavor was fantastic. Next time, I will probably finish with a few minutes under the broiler. Thanks for a simple but flavorful recipe which will be the basis for more experimentation on my part!