If you have the chance to visit Vietnam, you will see a lot of street food vendors selling all kinds of foods. One my favorite is thịt gà nướng. Thịt gà means chicken and nướng means grilled. So when it’s put together thịt gà nướng translates to grilled chicken.
Summer vacation has officially begun, which means more time spent outside playing, grilling and eating. Whenever I think of grilling, it brings me back to my childhood of seeing people using portable grill baskets to grill steaks, chicken and pork on the side of the road over charcoal. Since I don’t have access to such vendors here in the U.S. I recreate those memories and flavors at home by slightly modifying one of my mom’s chicken marinades.
It turned out great. The chicken was moist and flavorful.
Ingredients needed for the marinade
Soy sauce
Soy sauce was invented approximately 2,200 years ago in ancient China. It’s made from fermented paste of soy beans and has a strong umami flavor. When it comes to soy sauce, I like to use the low sodium soy sauce. This way I can control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe. Plus, it’s healthier to consume less salt.
Oyster sauce
Lee Kum Sheung discovered oyster sauce by accidentally letting his oysters boil too long, turning it into a dark, viscous liquid. Fast forward to today, oyster sauce is a well known ingredient used in Asian cooking. It has a salty, but slightly sweet taste and is perfect for a marinade or in stir fry.
Maple syrup or honey & sugar
The addition of maple syrup or honey & sugar is completely up to you. I personally prefer a bit more sweetness added to the marinade, but you can play with the amounts and determine what you like best.
Vegetable oil
This adds moisture to the grilled chicken. The recipe just calls for regular vegetable oil, but you can definitely use garlic infused olive oil, or Tuscan herb olive oil. Both of these oil will add flavors to the chicken.
Siracha
Siracha is also known as “Asian ketchup” in our house. We love to put it on everything. If you’re not a fan of hot foods, you can definitely skip it.
Different ways to serve grilled chicken
The best thing is, this grilled chicken recipe is so versatile. You can serve it on top of noodles along side egg rolls to make a bowl of bún thịt nướng chả giò (grilled meat & egg rolls over noodles).
You can serve it with Jasmine rice and a side of pickled daikon radish & carrots. Click here for my perfect Jasmine rice recipe.
Or my favorite, serve it on a bed of romaine lettuce as a grilled chicken salad.
Thịt Gà Nướng (Grilled Chicken)
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp Maggi sauce or low sodium soy sauce
- 4 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp honey or maple syrup
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp siracha sauce
- 6 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- chopped green onions for garnish.
Instructions
- Remove the chicken from the packaging and sprinkle it with table salt. Gently rub the chicken, then rinse the salt off using warm water. Pat the chicken dry using a paper towel.
- Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.
- Place the cleaned chicken in a large bowl or container, then pour the marinade over the chicken. Gently mix the chicken to make sure all the chicken is covered with marinade.
- Place a plastic wrap over the bowl and let the chicken marinade for at least 30 minutes.
- Place the chicken pieces on the grill until they're done. Enjoy.
This recipe has definitely been our go-to recipe for dinner when we are short on time because it is so easy to whip up, tastes delicious, and is healthy. So the next time you’re short on time for dinner, marinade some chicken and place them on the grill.
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