Thai Gai Yang Chicken
Gai Yang Chicken is a Thai grilled chicken recipe featuring a spicy lemongrass marinade. Use boneless chicken thighs and you can make this flavorful Asian BBQ in less than 45 minutes!
There’s nothing more satisfying than firing up the grill or oven to make a good Chinese or Thai BBQ recipe for a quick and easy meal.
Whether it’s Chinese barbecue pork, sticky short ribs, or tasty char siu bao pork buns, the Asian flavors always bring me back for more.
Of all the Thai grilled chicken recipes out there, Gai Yang chicken is a must-make. After a short bath in a spicy marinade, boneless chicken thighs are placed on the grill. They cook just long enough to create a char on the outside while remaining tender and juicy.
Using boneless chicken cuts the cooking time in half, so the meal is perfect for a busy weeknight or a relaxing weekend.
Gai Yang Chicken – Ingredient Notes
- Boneless chicken thighs– When I’m grilling chicken, I prefer to use thigh meat because it’s higher in fat than breast meat. The fat helps prevent the poultry from becoming too dry.
This being said, you can use breasts if you prefer them. The recipe also works with bone-in chicken, but it requires additional cooking time.
- Lemongrass paste– For convenience (and because it’s easier to find), I use lemongrass paste sold in a tube. It’s located in the produce section of most grocery stores. Actual lemongrass stalks will work as well
- Fresh garlic cloves– Minced garlic sold in a jar works as well
- Red chili flakes and chilis– Any type of red chili pepper is fine, but flakes will give you better flavor than ground red pepper. For the peppers, I use Fresno chilis or red jalapenos
- Fish sauce– This is a popular Asian condiment with an earthy, umami flavor. Good substitutes are soy or tamari sauce, coconut aminos, or worcestershire sauce
- Sake or Chinese cooking wine– There are just 2 tablespoons needed, so if you don’t have any on hand, feel free to skip it. Regular white wine works too
- Sesame oil– This oil is used in almost all Asian recipes and its flavor is unique, so there aren’t many substitutes for it. If you must use a different oil, choose something with a neutral flavor, like vegetable oil
Video: How to Make Thai Grilled Chicken
To see how simple gai yang chicken is to make, just watch my video, located in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Cooking Tips for Gai Yang Chicken
- Don’t over marinate the chicken.
Important Note:
If you’ve been told that poultry should marinate for hours to create the best flavor, forget that you heard it!
The primary purpose of marinating isn’t to develop flavor, it’s to tenderize the meat. Sadly, the longer you marinate chicken, the more likely it is to become chewy, rubbery, and/or mushy.
For the best results, never marinate poultry for longer than 1 hour, and really, it only needs 30 to 45 minutes.
- Discard the marinade after using.
Raw chicken contains bacteria that can make you very sick. Never reuse meat marinades, and don’t serve them as a dipping sauce.
After removing the poultry from the marinade, you can brush the marinade onto the meat as it grills. After that, you should promptly toss it out.
Cooking Times for Grilled Chicken
Chicken is considered safe to eat when the internal temperature at the thickest portion reaches 165°F. Because it continues to cook for a couple of minutes as it rests, you can remove it from the heat when the internal temp is 163°F.
Here are approximate cooking times for chicken grilled at 350°F.
- Boneless thighs: Grill for 4 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
- Bone-in thighs: Grill for 6 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
- Boneless breasts: Grill for 5 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
- Bone-in breasts: Grill for 7 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
Serving Suggestions
Spicy grilled chicken pairs well with almost any side you’re craving, from simple baked potatoes to fried rice or a healthy stir fry salad.
To counter the spicy heat of gai yang chicken, serve sides with fresh fruit. Grilled pineapple planks or Thai mango salad are flavorful sweet options, and both are really simple to make, too!
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Thai Gai Yang Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade
- 2 tbsp lemongrass paste
- 6 cloves garlic smashed and minced
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 tsp red chili flakes
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine sherry or sake
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Garnish
- Lime wedges
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- Red Fresno or Jalapeño chile finely sliced
- Cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken to a Ziploc bag and pour in marinade. Massage to spread the marinade over all the chicken and marinate for 45 minutes tops.
- Get grill to medium high (350°F). Remove chicken from the marinade and set aside.
- Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes each side. Baste with marinade before turning. (SEE NOTES for grilling times).
- Remove from grill and allow to rest for a few minutes before garnishing with sesame seeds, fresh chiles, cilantro and serve with lime wedges and steamed rice.
Video
Notes
- Boneless thighs: Grill for 4 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
- Bone-in thighs: Grill for 6 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
- Boneless breasts: Grill for 5 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
- Bone-in breasts: Grill for 7 minutes per side, then check the internal temp.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! Will definitely be a go to for us! Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!
So happy you enjoyed this one Lisa. Appreciate you coming back to let me know. 🙂
I have made SO many Asian and Thai inspired chicken recipes, and this is my far the best flavor I’ve ever made! We are making it again tonight and I’m so excited! I’m sure you could try to make this in the air fryer as well if it’s winter time? Not sure with the juices and marinade. But this is AMAZING.
AND it can be made on a grill pan or under the broiler, too Ciara. Thanks so much for coming back to let me know!
This is really good and so simple. I only added 1 tsp of chili flakes and it’s still a bit too hot for me. Maybe some coconut lime rice?! I boiled down the marinade (sorry!) and added some hoisin which helped. Anyway great recipe ❤️🌶️
Excellent! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and let me know Mary. 🙂
We made this tonight and the flavors were amazing – definitely reminded us of our honeymoon in Thailand. Next time, I would marinade the chicken longer though as I would have liked if it had a touch more flavor. I also used Thai chilis from my garden sliced in half length-wise instead of the pepper flakes, yum! We served it with rice and grilled broccoli. This recipe will definitely be in our rotation now – it’s great for those hot summer nights when it’s too hot to cook inside.
Fantastic, so happy you enjoyed this one!