This Thai Chicken recipe is an easy way to make Gai Yang at home, Thailand’s famous barbecue chicken. It uses a fragrant Thai marinade that delivers street-stall delicious – without pounding pastes, lighting coals or wrestling a whole chicken! Serve with Coconut Rice and swoon.
Traditional Thai Chicken
If you’ve ever travelled through Thailand, you’ll know exactly what Gai Yang is and why I’m obsessed with it – smoky, savoury, aromatic Thai BBQ chicken sold by street vendors who churn out perfect chargrilled chicken all day long. It’s the kind of food that makes normally civilised humans revert to full caveman mode. Oh yes, you can totally picture me right??! Fred Flinstone would approve! 😀
Traditionally, whole butterflied chickens are marinated in a fragrant paste made by pounding ingredients like lemongrass and garlic with a mortar and pestle, then grilled slowly over charcoal until bronzed and juicy.
I wanted to recreate the flavour of authentic Gai Yang to make it more home-cook friendly. So I use boneless thighs, a stick blender for the marinade and cook it on the BBQ or stove. Simplifying street foods in this way can fall short – but for Gai Yang, the marinade is so good, it works great!
Ingredients in Marinated Thai Chicken – Gai Yang
My rule of thumb when cooking foods on a BBQ or stove rather than smoky charcoal is to dial up the marinade flavours to compensate for the absence of smoky flavour. That’s exactly what I’ve done here. 🙂
-
Boneless chicken thighs – Traditional Gai Yang in Thailand calls for cutting up a whole chicken and cooking it with the skin-on and bone-in. The best alternative cut that is easier to cook for juicy, flavour-packed Gai Yang is boneless chicken thighs. They stay tender, absorb marinade brilliantly and get those gorgeous caramelised edges!
Chicken breast and chicken tenders can be used too – the marinade helps retain juiciness inside. For breast, I’d either split them in half horizontally or pound to even thickness so they cook through more evenly, else the thinner end gets overcooked. I’ve popped directions in the recipe notes.
-
Lemongrass – A signature flavour of Gai Yang that is so distinctly South East Asian! It has an earthy lemon flavour and it is what makes this chicken special and sets it apart from just another soy-sauce-sugar marinade!
-
Garlic – Essential for building that classic Thai savoury base.
-
Fish sauce – Salty, savoury, and more flavour than soy. The smelly fishy flavour is gone once cooked! This is what makes it taste properly Thai.
-
Light AND dark soy sauce – I use soy sauce to add more salt into the marinade because using just fish sauce can be a bit too fishy. The dark soy sauce gives the chicken a beautiful bronzed finish while the light soy sauce adds the salt without darkening the chicken too much. Dark soy also has a much more intense soy sauce flavour so you need to use with restraint!
-
Brown sugar – Balances the salty elements and helps the chicken caramelise for sticky, charry edges.
How to make Gai Yang – Thai Chicken (grilled or stove)
As mentioned above, I wanted to make Gai Yang more home-kitchen friendly, so I use a stick blender rather than mortar and pestle for the marinade, and cook it on the BBQ or stove. I particularly like using the BBQ because you get a bit of the street-food reminiscent smoky flavour, plus it’s easier to cook the entire batch in one go. Great for summer gatherings!
-
Blitz sliced lemongrass, whole garlic cloves and all the other marinade ingredients into a jug large enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until the lemongrass is pulverised into tiny bits (lemongrass is quite tough, not pleasant to bite into large chunks).
No stick blender? No worries! Just grate the lemongrass and garlic finely then mix it into the soy sauce etc by hand.
-
Marinate the chicken in the marinade overnight. 24 hours is best, to really get the flavours all through the meat. Absolute bare minimum is 3 hours.
No time to marinate? Slice up the chicken into bite-size strips, toss in the sauce then pan fry it. You could toss in some vegetables and make a stir-fry. 🙂
-
Cook the chicken in a pan or a BBQ on medium heat for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side until gorgeous bronzed with charred edges. (I use the grill side of the BBQ, not flat iron, it works better). Because of the sugar and dark soy in the marinade, the surface can burn very quickly so what I like to do is preheat the pan / BBQ on high, then I lower the heat to medium once I put the chicken on.
No oil – You shouldn’t need any oil if your BBQ is well greased or if you use a non-stick pan because the marinade has oil in it, and we’re using thighs which has some fat in it.
Burning? Flip multiple times rather than just once, oh, and lower the heat! 🙂
-
Rest the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. I just pile it straight onto the serving plate and leave it. If cooking in batches, loosely tent with foil to keep them warm and pile on top of each other.
Never skip resting! This step allows the juices to be re-absorbed into the meat fibres so they don’t spill out onto the plate when you cut into it.
What to serve with Gai Yang
Sauce – Traditionally, Gai Yang is served with a sauce called Nam Jim Jaew which is made with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and finely chopped garlic, chillies, eschalots and green onion. You can dip pieces in or spoon it over the chicken so it also flavours the rice.
For a quicker sauce, you could also use the Sweet Chilli Sauce from the Thai Sweet Chilli Beef Bowls (similar flavours, no need to chop anything) or even just plonk a bottle of sweet chilli sauce on the table. 🙂
As for sides, serve with Jasmine rice, or even better, coconut rice! (PS If you’ve never been able to make coconut rice without it ending up a gluey mess or burning, you will love that recipe – my team and I worked so hard to crack the perfect coconut rice!).
Add a side of freshness with some raw slices or chunks of cucumber and tomato, Thai-style. No dressing, just plain. It sounds boring, but because the meat is so flavourful and juicy, the freshness really works. You will crave it! Else, if you’re after a salad, try an Asian Slaw, Vermicelli Noodle Salad (the fresh mint here really works) or the Thai Chicken Salad minus chicken plus extra veg.
Fall back option – Asian Sesame Dressing (4 ingredients, pour and shake) with any leafy greens or steamed vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, tomato, steamed broccoli, zucchini, peas, asparagus – it works with everything!).
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Thai Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang)
Prep: 8 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Marinating time: 1 day
Total: 20 minutes
Barbecue, BBQ, Chicken, Grilling
Thai
Servings5
Tap or hover to scale
Ingredients
Sauce options – CHOOSE ONE
Prevent screen from sleeping
Instructions
-
Blitz – Place Marinade ingredients EXCEPT oil in a jug just large enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until lemongrass and garlic is fully pureed. (No stick blender? Finely grate lemongrass and garlic, then mix)
-
Marinate – Pour in a bowl. Add oil, stir. Add chicken, toss to thoroughly coat. Cover and marinate overnight (my bare minimum is 3 hours). No marinating time? Finely slice, toss in marinade then cook like a stir-fry.
-
Heat the outdoor BBQ grill on high or a non stick pan over high heat on the stove.
-
Cook – Remove chicken from the Marinade and discard the Marinade (unless baking in the oven – refer Note 3). Put chicken on the BBQ or in the pan, then turn heat down to medium (sweet marinade = prone to burning). Cook the chicken until golden brown – around 5 to 6 minutes on each side. (If it burns, flip straight away. You can flip repeatedly, as needed.)
-
Rest and serve – Rest for 3 minutes. Serve alongside a mound of steamy coconut rice with lime wedges, garnished with fresh chilies and coriander/cilantro, and your chosen sauce.
Recipe Notes:
To use bone-in, skin-one pieces, flip frequently and cook for longer until cooked through. You could also bake at 200C/400F (180C fan) for around 45 minutes – baste towards the end for lovely caramelisation.
2. Lemongrass is readily available in supermarkets in Australia these days. Peel the outer green layers off to expose the white part at the bottom of the stalk (~15cm/6″). Only use the white / pale green parts – the other parts are tough and “reed” like.
3. Soy sauce – You can substitute the dark soy sauce with more light soy but do NOT substitute the light soy with more dark soy sauce (it is far too intense and will ruin the dish!).
4. Oven – If you want to use the oven, it is best to broil/oven grill, on a rack, for around 15 minutes on high, turning as needed. You’ll get good caramelisation without overcooking the chicken!
Regular oven bake – 200C/375F (180C fan) for around 20 – 25 minutes, depending on the size of your fillets though you won’t get the same amount of caramelisation. Turn once and baste at least once (preferably twice) using the remaining Marinade.
Originally published 2015. Updated in 2025 with improved marinade, sparkling new photos, a recipe video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added! I updated the marinade to reduce the number of ingredients but still deliver the same quality flavour – for example, I removed honey and increased sugar slightly. I removed Chinese cooking wine because it’s not traditionally used in Gai Yang, and I didn’t feel the recipe was lacking when I took it out. And finally, I reverted to using a stick blender which is not only faster than finely minced lemongrass and garlic, but also extracts more flavour out of the lemongrass.
Life of Dozer
Dozer had his Story Time Spectacular on the weekend, to celebrate the launch of Row Row Row your Boat (with Monsters!)! This is the children’s book featuring Dozer which is raising money for One Meal, the food relief charity that distributes our RecipeTin Meals to those in need.
There was a run sheet and schedule and scripts, we did rehearsals and all knew our roles.
Does it surprise anyone that nothing went to plan?? 😂 “Never work with children or dogs,” they said! Meanwhile, I spent 80% of the time stroking Dozer’s head trying to keep him calm as he barked persistently, irritated he was trapped in the row boat rather than waddling around the stage like the star he thinks he should have been.🤣
He became particularly bark-y when children were brought up on stage to join in the interactive reading part!
And here’s the author, Adam Simpson. He’s actually my company lawyer – that’s the connection! Is your lawyer as fun as mine?? 🤣 Adam wrote the book and is donating all his royalties to One Meal.
Dozer and I also treated the kids to some Dozer cookies! These were made by Claudia from Monogram Cookies. I’ve used her a few times now, it’s such a great way to do an edible thank-you gift for large numbers and be able to customise it with a message, or branding etc. and I think it’s very good value for what you get. Plus she’s local to my area (Drummoyne – though services all of Sydney), makes the whole process seamless and is such a lovely person to work with. I’m going to use her for some Christmas cookies for gifting too!
It was a big day for Mr Dozer! He’s spent the last couple of days slothing – and he deserves it. He’s an old creaky boy now (almost 14!) and technically in retirement, but was happy to come out of retirement for this good cause!
PS In case you didn’t pick it, the vehicle below is a row boat! Dozer was tucked in with Madeline, the daughter of the author Adam.
Love you Dozer! Sharing these experiences with you is so special, especially in your golden years. You make everything more fun! – N x
