Sticky Brown Sugar Bourbon Chicken

This sticky brown sugar bourbon chicken ...

... is YUMMY!
... is originally created by Pinch of Yum, a blogger living in Minnesota, America.
... is baked and grilled with Bourbon, American whiskey.
... doesn't taste 100% American!!! Instead, it tastes moreish with Asian flavours!!!

Sticky Brown Sugar Bourbon Chicken

Baking this yummy dish is easy!
To start, I need these ingredients.

Bourbon of course!

Not forgetting another important ingredient, brown sugar!
Here, I'm using dark muscovado sugar.

All I have to do is this... Easy, isn't it?

Bake the chicken until tender. It is ready now for the next grilling step.

For an effective grill, I'm using this new tool, Tovolo Basting Buddy today.

It supports and tilts the baking tray and prevent the food from submerging in its own juices while grilling. 

After pouring 90% of the marinade into a saucepan, this is how I grilled the chicken

The additional basting and grilling step is making the chicken so glossy and sticky.

This is not the end yet... For an ultimate finish, I would strongly encourage you to reduce the marinade into a sauce that you won't forget!!!

When the sauce has cooled to room temperature, it will separate into two layers. Scoop out and discard the top oily layer and  leave the bottom sugary layer behind... and here, you have your ultimate sauce to enjoy with the bourbon chicken.

Instead of enjoying the chicken with salad, mashed potatoes or fries, this American creation suggests that we should enjoy this dish with steamed rice plus sliced spring onions. Hmmm... I hope that you are seeing my point that this is not 100% American but rather an American-Asian fusion dish.

Whether American or American-Asian, my family and I are loving this!

As we were happily nom nom nom noming our dinner, my husband suddenly felt curious...

"Are you sure that this is bourbon chicken?" asked my doubtful husband. "This tastes more like Chinese to me."

With a mouthful of chicken, I gave him a silence nod and dashed to our ipad after I swallowed my chicken. I found Pinch of Yum and confidently showed him the photo of the creators. "See! They are not Chinese! They look 100% American!"

My son didn't say anything but spoken finally for more chicken... LOL!

Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from Pinch of Yum

Serve 6-8
1 1/2 kg (about 12) boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup malt vinegar
1/2 cup bourbon
1/2 cup or 100g brown sugar (I like to use dark Muscovado sugar for a deeper flavour)
one about 5cm fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into strips
one garlic, peeled and sliced into strips

To serve:
3-4 spring onions, washed and sliced into about 0.5cm pieces
plain steamed rice

On the night before, combine soy sauce, oil, vinegar, bourbon, brown sugar, ginger and garlic in a large bowl and divide the marinade into two large zip lock bags. Place 6 chicken things into each bag and make sure that all the chicken are in contact with the marinade. Seal the bags and marinate the chicken in the fridge overnight.

On the day of bake, arrange the chicken in a single layer in a deep baking dish and pour all the marinade over the chicken.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the chicken (with no cover) in the marinade for 1 hr 15 mins or until tender. You might need a slightly longer baking time if you are baking the chicken that it is still cold after removing from the fridge. Keep basting or turning the chicken while baking in every 15-20 mins.

When the chicken is done, transfer 90% of the marinade into a saucepan leaving 10% of the marinade in the baking dish with the chicken. Cook the marinade in medium high heat with no cover and allow it to boil rapidly and reduce for about 15-20 mins. Remove from the heat and allow the sauce to cool and settle into two distinct layers. Scoop out and discard the top fatty layer as much as you can and leave the bottom layer to serve.

While reducing the sauce, change oven setting to bake plus grill setting. Grill the chicken with constant basting of the remaining sauce for an additional 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned or glossy. 

Serve chicken with plain steamed rice, a generous sprinkle of sliced spring onions and a drizzle of the sticky sauce.

Happy Baking
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