Japanese Sticky Chicken is packed with flavor and perfect for anyone wanting an easy to prepare, family friendly meal!
The end of the school year is finally here and for us that means waking up a little later, playing hooky here and there and lots and lots of picnics in our yard. I want a plethora of make ahead dinners that are so simple and easy, but have big, bold, memorable flavors that get everyone jazzed. This Japanese Sticky Chicken may be one of my all time favorite dinner recipes which means you need to make it now!
Chicken is by far the most versatile protein and incredibly kid friendly. It’s all about what you do to it, though. A few of my go to chicken dishes everyone loves are No Work Chicken, Middle Eastern-ish One Sheet Chicken Dinner, Roast Chicken with Caramelized Lemons, Cherry Tomatoes and Olives and Adobo Chicken.
This Japanese Sticky Chicken has a sweet and salty taste that begs to be eaten with your hands and tastes finger lickin’ good. I’ve made it 5 times with slight variations, so I’ve had plenty of leftovers that were just as tasty as when the chicken first came out of the oven. Serve it with Perfect Brown Rice and my kids new request of a wedge of salad topped with Carrot Ginger Miso and you’ve got the perfect summer meal!
Photos by Matt Armendariz
Japanese Sticky Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon togarashi spice blend, optional
- 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken legs
- 3 scallions, chopped
Instructions
- In a large zipper bag or in 13 x 9 baking dish, whisk the first 7 ingredients.
- Add the chicken to the sauce, turning the pieces so they are completely coated. Marinate 1 hour in the refrigerator or up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 450F.
- Bake Chicken, skin side up, for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve sprinkled with scallions.
[…] recipe is adapted slightly from this post here. Among small tweaks, I upped the number of chicken pieces, and left off the scallions to adhere […]
Can you do this with boneless chicken breasts and thighs?
Once I remove the chicken from the marinade and transfer to the baking dish, I discard the marinade!
Catherine, do we discard the remaining marinade or pour it in the baking pan?
Ethan, there’s no fish sauce in the recipe.
I haven’t tested this recipe on the grill, but I think it would work great! Let me know if you try it and how it comes out!
Can this be BBQ’d?
Do it!
This sounds wonderful! I adore togarashi–now I have an excuse to buy some!!
I made this tonight with my wife and it was ok. I will say that I wasn’t a fan of the fish sauce. I would just stick with soy sauce. Also we had to add a few herbs to make it a little more flavorful.