Recipe video. This is based on a popular southern Thailand street food that's typically made with a butterflied chicken grilled over smokey coals. It's sweet but has complexity owing to the simple but clever marinade.Here, I'm making a home version using the marinade for bone-in chicken thighs instead and baked it in my boring oven. I miss the charcoal flavour but it's still lip smackingly delicious! The tumeric powder really makes it. :)
Recipe by Nagi | RecipeTin Eats on November 20, 2023
Prep time: PT10M
Cook time: PT50M
Total time: PT230M
Rating
4.95 stars (117 reviews)
Keywords
Thai chicken, thai marinade, turmeric chicken
Ingredients
5 large chicken thighs, skin-on, bone-in ((~1.2kg/2.4lb) (Note 1))
4 garlic cloves (, finely minced or crushed using garlic press)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp white pepper (, ground (sub black))
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1/4 cup brown sugar ((tightly packed cup))
Categories
BBQ/Grilling
Dinner
Cuisine
Thai
Steps
Marinade chicken - Mix Marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat. Marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced).
Prepare - Line a tray with baking paper/parchment paper. Place chicken on the tray, skin side up. Scrape all Marinade out of th bowl and dab onto chicken.
Bake for 40 minutes, basting at the 30 minute and 40 minute mark using the tray juices to make it golden brown and sticky, and rotate the tray as needed for even colour.
Increase the oven temperature to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan-forced). Pop the chicken back in for a final 10 minutes to caramelise the skin.
Rest for 3 minutes before serving with jasmine or coconut rice, and plain chunks of tomato and cucumber the Thai way!
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 260 g
Calories: 505 kcal
Carbohydrates: 15 g
Protein: 34 g
Fat: 34 g
Saturated Fat: 9 g
Trans Fat: 0.2 g
Cholesterol: 200 mg
Sodium: 972 mg
Sugar: 11 g
Unsaturated Fat: 21 g
Reviews
afra on 2026-09-30 (4 stars): Lovely mild recipe. Great for kids.
I had bone in thigh without skin and I think they were done in 20 min at 160C fan (used a thermometer - 85C)
Georgia Meneaud on 2026-08-13 (5 stars): What is this witchcraft. I made this for dinner last night. Had marinated it the night before and it tasted like heaven. Im going to make it again next week to see if this was a fluke or not.
Deb on 2026-04-15 (5 stars): This was delicious! Thanks for another winner, Nagi! I served this with jasmine rice and baby arugula sautéed with garlic, soy sauce & sesame oil.
Rodney Clotz on 2026-01-01 (5 stars): All my favourite are quick to make but great flavours. Whether chicken, beef, fish etc same with this dish
Katie on 2025-12-31 (5 stars): This was INCREDIBLE! I didn’t have enough time to marinate fully, ended up around 40-60 minutes but the flavor was DELICIOUS! My husband and young kids devoured it. Served this with simple white rice and one of your Thai salads. Will be making this quite often!
Jill Barnao on 2025-12-01 (5 stars): Sooo good!! I added fresh grated ginger for an extra zing & grilled on the bbq. My partner loved it too. Going to be a regular meal in our house. Thanks for another awesome recipe. 💕
Penguintummy on 2025-10-21 (5 stars): So delicious! We're low FODMAP so I put in one tablespoon of garlic olive oil instead of the garlic cloves. It was so tasty
Steve on 2025-10-06 (5 stars): You're the best Nagi and Dozer sings for you so sweet
Kerrie on 2025-09-29 (5 stars): Just made this for dinner and it was perfect. Thank you Navi.
Jessica on 2025-06-19 (5 stars): I made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit with my husband and 7 year old daughter! We grilled the chicken and it was wonderful. We all agreed that I should make it again and I should double the sauce , reserve half, and heat it before serving so we could have some extra to put on the chicken, rice or noodles.
gabby on 2025-05-20 (5 stars): I only had boneless/skinless thighs on hand and these still hit the spot! I baked them for 25 min.
It certainly reminds me of the free chicken samples at the food court as a kid (maybe because they're both sugary-yet savory) though obviously a different recipe.
thanks for the recipe, excited to see how it tastes when I have bone-in and skin-on thighs!
Janine on 2025-05-09 (5 stars): Hi Nagi,
Thanks so much for this great, simple recipe. I made it tonight for me and my husband and we both really enjoyed it. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks so much!
Kirsten on 2025-04-25 (5 stars): I cooked this for my family last night, and my kids said it was the best chicken highs they’ve ever eaten! A massive hit, and so easy!
Diane on 2025-04-25 (5 stars): My daughter made this and we had it with coconut rice and broccoli.
The total meal was so delicious.
Once again, Nagi has given us a flawless recipe. So easy to make.
Highly recommended
avree on 2025-03-19 (5 stars): Another wonderful recipe.
I use Nagi's site more than any other and have never encountered a bad recipe. Thank you so much for your educational instruction. I love that most meals are easy to cook, delicious and are able to incorporate veggies into the dish
Lynda McConnell on 2025-03-05 (5 stars): Well this was simple and so delicious! A bit of a spicy hit with the white pepper. I used boneless thighs in the frying pan. I think BBQ would be sooooo good! 👍
Jeremy Frugg on 2025-03-05 (5 stars): If you are cooking chicken thighs bone in or out, 175 Celsius is a perfectly normal temp to cook Chicken at for 1 hour.
In no world does "Chicken need 550 F" or 290 Celsius. Hell, my oven doesn't even go above 220 Celsius. Also Greaseproof paper, is exactly that, its Hydrophobic, meaning it wont ever absorb liquid like you are suggestion. I believe you have taken some other sort of paper and are using it incorrectly. But after reading you think Chicken needs to be cooked at nearly 300 Celsius i'm just assuming you cannot cook or follow instructions.
