Thai Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang)

Chicken – As mentioned above, this dish typically uses a whole chicken, but chickens in the US tend to be a lot larger than those found in Thailand. This makes evenly cooking the chicken more difficult, so I recommend cutting a whole chicken at least in half or using individual pieces. Here I use whole chicken legs and cut the thigh from the drumstick. It’s very inexpensive and easy to separate yourself.

Gai Yang Marinade

Coriander – One of the base flavors in gai yang comes from coriander root, which can be difficult to find. Here I use both coriander seeds and coriander (cilantro) stems and leaves. Use the entire cilantro sprigs, not just the leaves, as the stems have a lot of flavor in them as well. If you don’t have coriander seeds on hand, you can also use coriander powder instead.

White Pepper – I use whole white peppercorns here, but you could also use ground white pepper, or black peppercorns/ground black pepper if you prefer.

Garlic – Another base flavor, I use six cloves in the marinade but feel free to use more if you desire.

Lemongrass – This is optional, but I recommend it wholeheartedly. Lemongrass adds a mild flavor somewhat like ginger and lemon zest combined. This ingredient is becoming more popular in regular grocery stores, typically sold where you find packaged herbs, or as whole bundled stalks in Asian grocers.

Turmeric – Also an optional ingredient, turmeric has an earthy flavor reminiscent of ginger and pepper. With the amount used here, it adds more coloring than flavoring. It’s a nice, subtle addition, but again, optional.

Sauces – Another base flavoring comes from fish sauce. I also use both soy sauce and black soy sauce here as well. Black soy sauce is slightly thicker and sweeter than regular soy sauce. If you can’t find black soy sauce, you could also use sweet soy sauce, or dark soy sauce. Or you can replace it with more regular soy sauce and fish sauce instead.

Sugar – A bit of palm sugar adds some sweetness to the grilled chicken, but also helps to caramelize the skin, especially when cooking on a grill. If you don’t have palm sugar, you can use light brown sugar instead.

Oil – Using a bit of neutral oil helps to keep the chicken moist while cooking.

Nam Jim Jaew

Tamarind Paste – This adds a slightly citrusy, very sour flavor to the sauce. Typically sold in Asian grocers as “tamarind concentrate”, it is also easy to make your own homemade tamarind paste.

Liquids – Other than the tamarind paste, most of the liquid ingredients come from fish sauce and fresh lime juice.

Sugar – Add some palm sugar to sweeten and balance out the sourness of the dipping sauce. Again, if you don’t have palm sugar, you can use light brown sugar instead.

Chili Flakes – Dried chili flakes add heat. Use Thai chili flakes if you can find them, otherwise crushed red pepper works as well.

Vegetables & Herbs – A combination of shallot, green onion, and cilantro adds flavor and texture to the sauce.

Toasted Rice Powder – This is a key ingredient in Thai and Lao cuisine and adds a lot to this dipping sauce and many other recipes. Toasted rice powder acts as a binder and a thickener and gives the sauce a nutty flavor and an aroma that resembles popcorn. This is simple to make yourself with a bit of jasmine or sticky rice, so no need to buy a bag of powder.

🔪 How to Make Thai Grilled Chicken

Starting with the marinade, this can be made with a traditional mortar and pestle, or you can use a food processor. If using coriander seeds, toast them for a few minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat, until you can small them. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

If using a whole stalk of lemongrass, remove some of the dry, outer layers. Cut the tip off the bottom, then chop off everything above 4-5 inches from the root end. Finely chop the softer usable part of the lemongrass and set aside.

Mortar & Pestle

Add the cooled coriander seeds and white peppercorns to the mortar and grind them into powder. Add the chopped lemongrass, garlic cloves, and chopped cilantro stems and leaves. Pound and grind them into a pulpy, paste like consistency. Adding a pinch of kosher salt here can add an extra abrasiveness to help grind.

From here you can add the rest of the ingredients and gently mix them in the mortar or dump the paste into a bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients in with a spoon or whisk.

Food Processor

If using a food processor instead, be sure to grind the coriander seeds and white peppercorns in a spice grinder beforehand. Add all the ingredients to the bowl of the food processer, and pulse until the lemongrass, garlic, and cilantro are finely chopped. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice while processing.

Once the marinade is ready, prepare the chicken. You can add chicken to a large zipper loc bag, or a deep baking dish or roasting pan. Add the marinade and make sure the chicken is fully coated on all sides. This isn’t a super wet marinade, so just be sure to spread things around evenly. If using a baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

The chicken benefits from a longer marinading time. At the absolute least, it should marinate for 2-4 hours. If you’re not pressed for time though, I recommend marinading at least overnight and for up to 48 hours.

Cooking Gai Yang

Once the chicken has marinated, remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for at least 15-20 minutes (if you’re grilling the chicken, leave at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour) while you preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a cooking rack inside it and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Bake the chicken for 35-40 minutes, then allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Because chicken can vary in size, be sure to start checking around 30 minutes in, and use a quality instant read thermometer. For breasts, cook to about 155-160°F and for thighs and legs to about 165-170°F. Carry over cooking will continue heating it to the proper temperature without drying the chicken out.

Making the Dipping Sauce

The nam jim jaew dipping sauce will last about a week, but it’s definitely best the first day or two made, so you can make this ahead of time or while the chicken is cooking.

Start with the toasted rice powder. In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, add jasmine or sticky rice. Toast it, stirring or shaking the pan often, until the rice turns a golden, almost dark brown color and smells like popcorn almost on the edge of burning.

Remove from the pan immediately to stop the cooking and allow to cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, crush into a powder with a mortar and pestle, or use a spice grinder.

In a bowl, add the tamarind paste, lime juice, fish sauce, and palm sugar. Stir or whisk together until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the diced shallot and chili flakes and stir to combine. A little before serving, add in the diced green onion, finely chopped cilantro, and toasted rice powder, stirring again to combine.

Store the nam jim jaew in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Cooking Thai grilled chicken on a grill instead of an oven is even better, but not everyone owns a grill and sometimes the weather doesn’t work well for that. However, if you have a grill, definitely try this recipe on there.

Follow all the instructions listed above, simply replacing the oven instructions for the grilling ones below.

With all the various types of grills available, from charcoal to gas, from wood-burning to Blackstone, I’ll keep these instructions a little more generalized. The basic principle is to cook the chicken low and slow to a degree. Use a two-zone cooking method and cook the chicken over indirect heat or on the lesser hot side.

If using charcoal, place the brickettes to get one side nice and hot and cook the chicken on the opposite side. On other grills, have one side what you consider medium-high and the other side medium-low, cooking the chicken on the medium-low side.

Starting skin side up, cook the chicken for roughly 20-40 minutes, flipping about every 5 minutes. If it starts to look dry, you can brush it with a bit of oil. If you like a nicely blackened and crispy exterior, cook the chicken until mostly done, then move the chicken to the hotter side to finish it.

Because white and dark meat need to be cooked to different temperatures, and the size of chicken can vary, be sure to use a quality instant-read thermometer to gauge when it’s fully cooked. For breasts, cook to about 155-160°F and for thighs and legs to about 165-170°F. Carry over cooking will continue heating it to the proper temperature without drying the chicken out.

Dipping Sauces

• Nam Jim Jaew – The recipe included with this Thai chicken recipe is a popular dipping sauce for most meats, especially grilled ones. The name basically means “dipping sauce” twice, but Jaew is the northeast Thai dialect, so basically “dipping sauce from the northeast.” It’s slightly sweet, spicy, tart and sour, and a little nutty flavor from the toasted rice powder.
• Nam Jim Gai – Also known as Nam Chim Kai, it literally “dipping sauce for chicken.” This is also called Thai sweet chili sauce. It has a sweet, mildly hot, vinegary flavor that goes well with chicken, as well as spring rolls, dumplings, and other appetizers.
• Jeow Bong – This is more of a thick paste type of dip and is quite popular in Lao cooking. Also called Luang Prabang chili sauce, this is a sweet and spicy chili paste often used as a dip for vegetables, sticky rice, noodles, and a popular choice with grilled meats.

Side Dishes

• Rice – Thai grilled chicken is great served with some fresh steamed sticky rice for a carb option. Jasmine rice is also a good choice, or even coconut sticky rice.
• Green Papaya Salad – A very traditional side when serving gai yang, also called som tam, is the green papaya salad (also pictured in this recipe). It is a crunchy salad that is sweet, spicy, and sour all at once.
• Veggies – This can be as simple as some sauteed vegetables to Thai sweet chili beans or pad pak ruam, which just means “mixed vegetable stir-fry.”
• Noodles – Instead of rice, you could also make some simple noodles tossed with some Thai chili sauce or make a pad Thai without meat to serve with the chicken.

Mortar & Pestle – A good quality stone, marble, or granite mortar & pestle is useful for grinding and pounding ingredients in many Asian and other recipes. Have a large one for making pastes, as the smaller ones are only good for grinding spices.

Food Processor – While a good mortar & pestle does the job, a quality food processor has more uses, especially in Western cooking. If you only have one, the food processor might be the better option depending on what you typically make at home.

Spice Grinder – I recommend a good spice grinder or coffee grinder for most kitchens. They’re not really expensive, don’t take up much space, and do a quick and easy job of turning whole spices and herbs into powder.

❄️ How to Store Gai Yang

Like any cooked chicken, wait for leftovers to come to room temperature and then place it into an airtight container. Refrigerated, it should last a good 3-4 days. To reheat Thai BBQ chicken you can microwave it, but I prefer the oven.

Remove leftovers from the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for at least 15-20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F and bake for 15-20 minutes, until heated throughout.

For longer storage, you can place the chicken in an airtight container and freeze for up to 6 months. I’d recommend eating it within 3-4 months, however. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake as above.