Like my recipe for Thai Peanut, Lemongrass and Coconut Roasted Chicken Thighs, this recipe includes a marinade that turns into a pan sauce. Instead of discarding the marinade, as you might in another recipe, you’ll add all of it, along with the chicken, to a 7 x 11” (2-quart) Pyrex baking dish. There is just the right amount of liquid so that it will reduce into a lovely and very flavorful sauce in the time it takes the chicken to cook.
The tangy marinade in this recipe leads with balsamic vinegar but includes fresh lemon juice, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, light brown sugar, cumin, coriander, and plenty of chopped garlic. It’s delicious served with rice.
You can double the marinade and the amount of chicken to serve more people, but if you do, use two separate pans (of the same size) for cooking so that the marinade reduces properly. This is an alpha-gal friendly recipe.
Serves 2
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
- 3 large garlic cloves, chopped (about 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- Kosher salt
- 4 medium bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 ¼ pounds total)
1. In a large nonreactive bowl, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, mustard, brown sugar, olive oil, cumin, and coriander. Whisk until well-combined. Add the chicken thighs, season them lightly with salt, and poke each with a thin knife in several places on both sides. Toss well with the marinade.
2. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least two hours and as long as 24 hours.
3. Remove the chicken from the fridge 20 to 40 minutes before cooking. Arrange the pieces in a 2-quart shallow Pyrex baking dish or equivalent ceramic baking dish. (Steer away from enameled cast iron for this recipe, as the extra bottom heat will reduce the marinade too rapidly.) Sprinkle the chicken with a bit of salt. Heat the oven to 400ºF.
4. Bake the chicken on the middle rack in the oven for 30 minutes. Baste the chicken pieces with the pan sauce. Also take your basting brush and stir the pan sauces a bit, brushing down the sides of the pan as well. Cook for another 10 minutes and baste, brush, and stir, again. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken thighs and how done you like your chicken. Don’t worry about the color of the skin darkening; it will be delicious. If for some reason your pan juices have thickened so much that they look like they are starting to burn, just add a tablespoon or two of water to the pan and stir.
5. Remove the chicken from the pan to a warm serving plate. If you like, tilt the pan and spoon off a bit of the fat, leaving the pan sauces behind. Scrape and pour the pan juices into a warm serving container or directly spoon them onto the chicken.
