Honey and Soy Baked Chicken

  

Everyone needs a tasty recipe like this up their sleeves!  It is so simple and so delicious and uses things I always have in the house, and I am betting that you do too!  

  

It's as simple to make as combining a few marinade ingredients in a heavy zip lock bag, adding some chicken, smushing it around a bit in the bag, letting it sit in the refrigerator for several hours and then dumping it all into a baking dish and baking it until it is deliciously meltingly tender.

  

I always buy my chickens whole when there is a deal on them and then I bring them home and cut them up and repackage them in serving size packs of legs, breasts, thighs, wings, etc. and bang them into the freezer.  That way I not only save money, but always have a variety of chicken pieces at my finger tips ready to use.  I freeze the backs and necks for soup as well. It's win/win all around!  



On this particular day I used a mix of drumsticks and thighs.   You will love this marinade/sauce.   It's filled with lovely oriental flavours . . .  soy, honey, garlic, ginger . . . which bakes into a finger licking sticky glaze.



Wings would be really good done in it as well.  I wouldn't do breasts though as the long cooking time would dry them out too much.  Chicken breasts are not really suited to this type of dish at any rate.  You want a nice piece of chicken meat which gets succulent and tender under a long slow cook period that allows the marinade to cook down into that delicious rich and sticky glaze.  I like to serve these with some steamed basamati rice and maybe some broccoli on the side, also lightly steamed.  Enjoy!

*Honey and Soy Baked Chicken*
Serves 4  
Printable Recipe

Simple and delicious.   A real family favorite.  

3 TBS olive oil

3 TBS dark soy sauce

5 TBS runny honey

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste

3 pounds of chicken pieces (I use thighs and drumsticks)  

Mix the olive oil, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, pepper and salt together in a large plastic food bag with a zip lock top.  Add the chicken pieces and smush them around a bit to coate well in the bag.   Close the bag and place in the refrigerator to marinate for half an hour to an hour.  (Obviously the longer you leave it the more the flavours permeate the chicken.)  Give it a smush every once in a while.    

When you are ready to cook it, preheat the oven to 220*C.425*F/ gas mark 7.   Dump the chicken into a large baking dish and separate the pieces.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Turn the pieces over and bake for a further 15 minutes.  Turn a final time and bake fur a further 10 to 15 minutes, until the skin is nicely crisped and the chicken juices run clear.   Serve hot or cold.