Soy Hoisin Chicken Thighs. Savory, sweet, juicy chicken thighs baked in a soy, hoisin, scallion glaze. Easy to make. Perfect for dinner or a busy night.
This is one of those dishes that you can simply shove into the oven without any hassle. It's one of my easier Asian recipes to make at home!
Easy Recipe
This is one of my favorite soy chicken recipes to share with you. It's an easy recipe that only requires 7 ingredients (which is not a lot in Asian cooking). Incredibly tasty thanks to the sweet and savory flavors.
The hoisin mixture is like an Asian barbecue sauce. This gives the chicken sweet salty flavors that are undeniably tasty! If it's your first time making this, don't worry, it's super simple!
The total time to cook the thighs is about 35 minutes! It's a delicious recipe that you can pair easily with white rice, brown rice, or cauliflower rice with bok choy, green beans or any fresh veggie of your choice. A fantastic way to introduce Asian food to any household in a simple way.
My mother would make this chicken thighs recipe when I was young. We kids loved eating it with jasmine rice and veggies! It was simple and delicious - thanks to the dark meat. The quick marinade also comes together in no time at all!
Within Chinese cuisine, it's not one of those overly popular Chinese dishes like Sweet and Sour Chicken, but it tastes so good as it's still packed with Asian flavors! A great recipe for meal prep because you can marinate the chicken thighs overnight.
Ingredients
You will need the following main ingredients for this hoisin chicken recipe. Please scroll down to the below printable recipe card for exact measurements.
Note: Most Asian grocers will carry these ingredients. You may find some at your select grocery store or online, like on Amazon.
- Chicken thighs with skin on and bone in: or you may substitute with boneless skinless chicken thighs but please reduce the cooking time to about 20-25 minutes or until you reach an internal temperature of 165 F. Boneless chicken thighs will take less time since they are without the bone.
- Chicken drumsticks will also work too with a baking time of 25-30 minutes.
Marinade/Basting Sauce Ingredients:
- Hoisin sauce: please note this is not the same as oyster sauce which has a salty flavor and is not sweet!
- Garlic: or substitute with garlic powder
- Green onions aka spring onion
- Regular soy sauce: this is simply all-purpose soy sauce. You may substitute with light soy sauce. Do not replace with dark soy sauce as that has a thick consistency and is less salty but heavy in color.
- Sesame oil: to add a nutty flavor and aroma to our golden brown sauce.
- Black pepper or white pepper
How to make Soy Hoisin Chicken
Please scroll down to the full recipe card for exact steps:
- In a small bowl, combine Marinade ingredients (as listed) together. Pour it into a resealable container or zip lock bag.
- Add chicken thighs into the marinade. Marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight, for best flavor.
- Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F. Transfer chicken thighs only onto a baking sheet or baking dish lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Reserving the marinade as your basting sauce.
- Bake for a total for 35 minutes. Basting the chicken with the marinade every 10 minutes. Ensuring the chicken thighs reach an internal temperature of 165 F.
- Then transfer any residual marinade into a small saucepan set on your stove top. Bring it to simmer on medium heat. Once it simmers, remove off heat. Serve sauce as a reserved glaze over chicken thighs. Enjoy!
Storage
Refrigerate in an airtight container and it will last up to 4 days.
FAQ
Can I use any other meat for this recipe?
Yes, feel free to use pork or beef with some fat marbling through it for a juicy cut. Just be sure to cook either meats through. Both pork and beef are safely consumed at an internal temperature 145 F.
Is there a substitute for hoisin sauce?
Unfortunately, not, but there are many recipes online on how to make hoisin sauce at home. Hoisin sauce is an ingredient that is popularly sold at most Asian markets. You may be lucky and find it online or at your local grocery store in the international aisle.
Other recipes you may like!
If you enjoyed this chicken recipe, please check out my other recipes:
- SOY CHICKEN WINGS
- SOY MAPLE GLAZED CHICKEN
- STEAMED SOY GINGER CHICKEN
- SWEET SOY SAUCE CHICKEN
- SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN
Soy Hoisin Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 lb or 4 chicken thighs bone-in skin-on
Marinade/Basting liquid:
- 4 tablespoon hoisin sauce (not oyster sauce!)
- ½ tablespoon garlic minced
- ⅓ cup green onions finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon regular soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil toasted kind
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper or white pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine Marinade ingredients (as listed) together. Pour it into a resealable container or zip lock bag.
- Add chicken thighs into the marinade. Marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight, for best flavor.
- Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F. Transfer chicken thighs only onto a baking sheet or baking dish lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Reserving the marinade as your basting sauce.
- Bake for a total for 35 minutes. Basting the chicken with the marinade every 10 minutes. Ensuring the chicken thighs reach an internal temperature of 165 F.
- Then transfer any residual marinade into a small saucepan set on your stove top. Bring it to simmer on medium heat. Once it simmers, remove off heat. Serve sauce as a reserved glaze over chicken thighs. Enjoy!
Marie
Very delicious! I love chicken and rice and this really satisfied me. I added some honey to it as well and it made it even more yummier
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs
This is my kind of meal Christie! Love the ease of marinating it overnight. This one will be a hit at my house!
Never Ending Journeys
These chicken thighs look so tasty and well garnished. Thanks for sharing this recipe. 🙂
Josiah - DIY Thrill
These chicken thighs look so good!
Rosemary
I think I am going to make this one just for the name!! Hehe Soy hoisin !
Kim Lange
Looks so succulent and mouth-watering! I love it's so easy. Pinning! xo
Michelle | Sift & Simmer
Looks so savoury and delicious! Classic Chinese flavours 🙂 Yum!
christieathome
Thanks Michelle!
Nora
I made this recipe over the weekend and it turned out great. I marinated the chicken thighs for almost 24 hrs (actually forgot abt it in the fridge 😅), and it came out super flavorful. I definitely gonna make this again.
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
Your homemade sauce is spot on... and using chicken thighs in this recipe really adds so much flavor, yum!
Sarah
Delectable! I couldn't get this out of the oven and onto our table fast enough. The house smelled insanely good as these babies baked. I used boneless skinless thighs as that's all I could find and only marinated for an hour as I was short on time, and it was still phenomenal. Best Asian-style chicken I've had in a long time. Will definitely make it again.
Alexa
Delicious!!! Made the house smell soooo good while they were in the oven. I've been trying to find an Asian chicken dish that is better than take out and nothing has worked until this recipe. Thanks so much! 🙂
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe! I am so glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
Darlene
Do I use fresh minced garlic or garlic powder? Making it now.
christieathome
Hi there, sorry for the delayed reply! Yes, please use fresh minced garlic.
Ming
Hi Christie. Thanks for the recipe. These tasted great! However mine did not look like your picture. The skin is not browned at all, especially with the basting. I'm wondering if the temp should be higher than the 355 deg in the recipe? Or did you broil it in the end? I will be trying your other recipes soon. Thanks again!
christieathome
Hi Ming, thanks for making my recipe and glad you enjoyed it! It could be your oven. For next time, I would suggest baking for a couple more minutes until it's browned or increasing your temperature. Hope this helps!
Rosie
Did you cook this in an oven or an air fryer? The recipe says "bake" which I thought meant cook in the oven, but you mention air fryer in the comments. Thanks
christieathome
Hi Rosie, thanks for your question! Yes, please bake in the oven. I mistakenly used the word air fryer but I meant oven. Thank you for catching that!
Kevin
You say baste every 10 minutes with residual marinade. Do I bake with all the marinade in the bake dish, or leave marinade separate during baking and if that’s the case should I heat the marinade on the stovetop to kill any raw chicken bacteria. Or lastly is residual marinade just what melts off chicken while baking, or 10 minutes baking for each basting with the raw chicken marinade is enough time to kill any raw chicken bacteria. Thank you I’m looking forward to making this!
christieathome
Hi Kevin, thanks for your questions and for flagging them to me! I have actually just updated the entire blog post and recipe card to hopefully answer all your questions. But to simply put it, you're only baking the chicken thighs and reserving the marinade as a basting sauce. Then with any leftover basting sauce, heat it in a small sauce pan on medium heat until it simmers. Once it simmers, you can pour it over your chicken. Enjoy!!!
Susan
This was delicious! I used onion powder instead of scallions. I had deboned chicken hindquarters. Very tasty sauce. Thank you for your recipe.
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe, Susan! So glad you enjoyed it with the onion powder instead 🙂
Paula a carney
Making this tonight...chicken has been marinating for 8 hours...rice and stir fry vegetables are on the menu
christieathome
Awesome! I hope you enjoy my chicken recipe!