One of our all time favorite Thai dish is Thai grilled chicken.  Thai grilled chicken or gai yang (ไก่ย่าง)  is a common street food you’d see all over Thailand, but specially in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  It’s usually eaten with sticky rice and green papaya salad.  You’d often see roadside makeshift restaurants grilling whole chickens and the aroma of all those spices and meat on charcoal is just irresistible.

This Thai grilled chicken recipe is so easy and we guarantee that it’s a crowd pleaser! Really, what’s not to like? This grilled chicken is sticky, finger licking good.  The combination of spices used to marinate the chicken not only flavours the meat, but also tenderizes the meat.  All you have to do is chop up and combine the marinade, rub it all over your chicken and let the chicken rest in the fridge for a few hours or overrnight and it’s time to grill.  Alternatively, you can bake these bad boys and you’ll still have the same flavourful, sticky goodness! If you don’t have sticky rice, or never heard of it, don’t fret,  good old fashioned steamed rice will do and if you’re not sure where to get a green papaya, you can make a mango salad instead and you have a complete Thai meal!

Here’s the recipe for you to try:

Thai Grilled Chicken ไก่ย่าง
 
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Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients
For the chicken:
  • 4 kilos of chicken*
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons palm sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dark sweet soy sauce (substitute some Indonesian kecap manis)
  • 8 tablespoons water
  • 4 heads garlic (approx. 30 – 40 cloves), peeled and chopped
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
  • 2.5 tablespoons black peppercorns
  • 8 coriander roots, chopped
Instructions
  1. If you have a mortar and pestle, add the garlic, coriander roots, lemongrass and peppercorns in increments and pound them until you've used up all the chopped garlic, coriander roots and lemongrass and you have a chunky, paste like mixture. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can add your garlic, lemongrass and coriander roots and process until you have a chunky, paste like mixture.
  2. Now add your soy sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar, dark soy sauce and water to your garlic, lemongrass, coriander, peppercorn mix.
  3. Rub the marinade mixture all over your chicken.
  4. Transfer your chicken to a ziploc bag or tupperware and let it rest in the fridge for at least 2-4 hours or even better, overnight.
  5. The next day, take out the marinated chicken and let it rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before grilling.
  6. Set up your grill and you want low, even heat.
  7. Grill the chicken until browned and cooked through.
Notes
*The original recipe from eatingthaifood.com calls for 2 whole chickens at 1.8 kilos each. We like to use chicken thighs instead and so we just marinade a total of about 4 kilos of chicken thighs.
You can purchase palm sugar, dark soy sauce, lemongrass and fish sauce at any Asian grocery store. If you cannot find palm sugar, you can substitute brown sugar instead.

Traditional Thai grilled chicken is served with a sour, sweet, spicy sauce.  But if you don’t want to have the sauce, that’s fine.  If you don’t think you can find the ingredients for the sauce, you can skip the sauce altogether.    However, if you want to have gai yang the Thai way, here’s the sauce recipe for you:

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 tablespoons toasted, ground rice
  • 1.5 tablespoons chili flakes
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 8 tablespoons tamarind juice (you can add more or less according to how strong it is and how sweet and sour you want your sauce)
  • Few sprigs of cilantro

How to:

  1. Semi-dried tamarind pulp can usually be bought at the supermarket in a small block. Add some tamarind pulp in a bowl and then add a couple tablespoons of hot water.  Let it sit for a bit.  Press the tamarind pulp with a back of a spoon until you have a tamarind juice.
  2. In a bowl, mix 1.5 tablespoons of toasted ground rice, 1.5 tablespoons of chili flakes (you can omit this if you don’t like it spicy or reduce the amount for less spice), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 8 tablespoons of tamarind juice.
  3. Mix all of the ingredients together.
  4. Try the sauce and if it needs more sweetness, add more sugar.  If it needs more sourness, add more tamarind juice.  If it needs more salt, add a dash or two of fish sauce.
  5. Top off your  sauce with some chopped up cilantro

Let us know how you like this Thai grilled chicken ! And while you’re at it,  let us know what’s your favourite Thai dish!