Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs with Asparagus Pepper Sauté ~ An Asian style BBQ sauce brushed on roasted chicken thighs served with a quick vegetable sauté of peppers and asparagus over rice.

This post has been updated with new photography, fixed grammatical issues, and recipe clarifications from its original posting of March 29, 2014.

I am on a quest to get my daughter to like Asian flavors…any Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and so on. I love those flavors, particularly since I grew up in the melting pot that is Southern California.

But she doesn’t care for them. She has a pretty decent palate for an almost 4 year old except for Asian foods. She just might like these Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs with Asparagus Pepper Sauté.

Our town does not have much by way of Eastern or even Southeastern flavors. Sure we have Chinese restaurants, but the vast majority of it is what I consider the 1950’s Chinese for Americans. There are a few places that I do enjoy but only a few dishes on their menus.

Due to the limited offerings, my daughter has had limited exposure. When we do go to a restaurant, she will eat fried rice, usually covered in the pink sweet and sour sauce (which I’m not criticizing, I love both those things too.)

I am going to continue to make Asian-generic-inspired dishes like this Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs with Asparagus Pepper Sauté and hope she learns to like them. In the meantime, I have plenty of back up food for her while the adventure of cooking with these ingredients continues. The chicken portion of this meal was taught to me by my time living with a Cambodian family after high school.

Asian Style BBQ Sauce

Chicken drummers were the meat of choice, simply shaking them in a bag of oyster sauce and grilling them. To me they tasted like Asian flavored bbq chicken. That concept has stuck with me ever since. I’ve added to the sauce mixture over the years, but have remained true to that initial teaching.

Since I live in a place where winter feels like it last nine months of the year, grilling isn’t always possible. In a pinch, when the craving is to unbearable and I actually contemplate weathering the snow outside to grill, only to chicken out (pun intended), these can be cooked in the oven. The key is basting them every ten minutes or so to help develop that crispy flavorful skin. If you’re like me, you will take a bite, maybe two of the most crispy part and pull the rest of the skin off.

Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs with Asparagus Pepper Sauté

The key to true, deep flavor with these, particularly if you are not going to eat the skin is to pull that skin back and make sure the marinade gets on the actual meat. Replace the skin and cover in the marinade. Once the sauce is covering them, they need to sit for at least an hour to allow those rich, deep spices and flavors to work their way into the meat. If the skin doesn’t get pulled back and if they don’t marinade for an hour, the flavor will only be on the skin and you will have an unseasoned piece of chicken.

Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs with Asparagus Pepper Sauté

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: Asian, Asparagus, bbq, Chicken, Vegetables

Servings: 6

An Asian style BBQ sauce brushed on roasted chicken thighs served with a quick vegetable sauté of peppers and asparagus over rice.

Ingredients

6-9 Chicken Thighs; bone-in/skin-on

Marinade/Basting Sauce

3/4 cup oyster sauce
1 1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic chili paste; +/- to taste
1 tsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic; minced/grated

Vegetables

2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb asparagus; trimmed
2 large bell peppers; sliced or julienned
1/2 medium large onion; sliced or julienned
2 cloves garlic; minced/grated

Stir-Fry Sauce

2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha
Pinch Chinese 5 Spice
1/4 tsp dried ground ginger
1 tsp honey wine vinegar OR: Use an additional ⅛ tsp honey and a 1 tsp of either white wine vinegar, plain white vinegar or fresh lemon juice.
3 tsp honey
1/8 tsp Black pepper; +/- to taste
2 tbsp chicken broth
Cooked Jasmine Rice Optional

Instructions

Marinating

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the chicken marinade until well combined.
Pull the skin back on the thighs and brush or rub a small amount of the marinade onto the flesh of the chicken, replace the skin.
Add the chicken to a large (2 gallon) zip-close bag with 4-5 tablespoons of the marinade to the bag, seal, and shake until the chicken is well coated.
Reserve the of the marinade for basting.
Refrigerate and allow the chicken to marinade for one hour to over night (the longer the better).

Oven-Roasting

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
Using a raced baking sheet, place the thighs on the rack.
Brush the thighs with the marinade.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the thighs.
While cooking, baste the chicken with the marinade every 10 minutes or so.
Remove Chicken from the oven when an instant-read thermometer reads 150ºF. (They will continue to cook while resting, getting to 165ºF.)

Stir-Fry Veggies and Sauce

Prep the veggies; remove the woody stems from the asparagus, slice the onions and peppers.
In another bowl, add the ingredients for the sauce and mix well. Set aside.
In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
Add the onions and the peppers. Sauté for about 2 minutes.
Add the garlic and the asparagus and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Pour the sauce over the veggies and mix well.
Allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes or until the veggies are at the desired consistency.
Plate with cooked Jasmine rice, serve and enjoy.