This Thai Chicken recipe is an easy way to make Gai Yang at home, Thailand’s famous barbecue chicken. It uses a fragrant Thai marinade that delivers street-stall delicious – without pounding pastes, lighting coals or wrestling a whole chicken! Serve with Coconut Rice and swoon.
Traditional Thai Chicken
If you’ve ever travelled through Thailand, you’ll know exactly what Gai Yang is and why I’m obsessed with it – smoky, savoury, aromatic Thai BBQ chicken sold by street vendors who churn out perfect chargrilled chicken all day long. It’s the kind of food that makes normally civilised humans revert to full caveman mode. Oh yes, you can totally picture me right??! Fred Flinstone would approve! 😀
Traditionally, whole butterflied chickens are marinated in a fragrant paste made by pounding ingredients like lemongrass and garlic with a mortar and pestle, then grilled slowly over charcoal until bronzed and juicy.
I wanted to recreate the flavour of authentic Gai Yang to make it more home-cook friendly. So I use boneless thighs, a stick blender for the marinade and cook it on the BBQ or stove. Simplifying street foods in this way can fall short – but for Gai Yang, the marinade is so good, it works great!
Ingredients in Marinated Thai Chicken – Gai Yang
My rule of thumb when cooking foods on a BBQ or stove rather than smoky charcoal is to dial up the marinade flavours to compensate for the absence of smoky flavour. That’s exactly what I’ve done here. 🙂
Boneless chicken thighs – Traditional Gai Yang in Thailand calls for cutting up a whole chicken and cooking it with the skin-on and bone-in. The best alternative cut that is easier to cook for juicy, flavour-packed Gai Yang is boneless chicken thighs. They stay tender, absorb marinade brilliantly and get those gorgeous caramelised edges!
Chicken breast and chicken tenders can be used too – the marinade helps retain juiciness inside. For breast, I’d either split them in half horizontally or pound to even thickness so they cook through more evenly, else the thinner end gets overcooked. I’ve popped directions in the recipe notes.
Lemongrass – A signature flavour of Gai Yang that is so distinctly South East Asian! It has an earthy lemon flavour and it is what makes this chicken special and sets it apart from just another soy-sauce-sugar marinade!
Tube paste option – I haven’t tried it for this recipe, but I’d probably use around 1 tablespoon as the flavour is much milder than using fresh lemongrass, especially as we blitz it in this recipe which releases a lot of flavour.
Garlic – Essential for building that classic Thai savoury base.
Fish sauce – Salty, savoury, and more flavour than soy. The smelly fishy flavour is gone once cooked! This is what makes it taste properly Thai.
Light AND dark soy sauce – I use soy sauce to add more salt into the marinade because using just fish sauce can be a bit too fishy. The dark soy sauce gives the chicken a beautiful bronzed finish while the light soy sauce adds the salt without darkening the chicken too much. Dark soy also has a much more intense soy sauce flavour so you need to use with restraint!
Substitutions – You can substitute: light soy with any all-purpose soy sauce or tamari, and the dark soy sauce with more light soy. But you cannot substitute the light soy sauce with dark soy because it is so intense, it will overwhelm the other flavours! More on different soy sauces here.Brown sugar – Balances the salty elements and helps the chicken caramelise for sticky, charry edges.
How to make Gai Yang – Thai Chicken (grilled or stove)
As mentioned above, I wanted to make Gai Yang more home-kitchen friendly, so I use a stick blender rather than mortar and pestle for the marinade, and cook it on the BBQ or stove. I particularly like using the BBQ because you get a bit of the street-food reminiscent smoky flavour, plus it’s easier to cook the entire batch in one go. Great for summer gatherings!
Blitz sliced lemongrass, whole garlic cloves and all the other marinade ingredients into a jug large enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until the lemongrass is pulverised into tiny bits (lemongrass is quite tough, not pleasant to bite into large chunks).
No stick blender? No worries! Just grate the lemongrass and garlic finely then mix it into the soy sauce etc by hand.
Marinate the chicken in the marinade overnight. 24 hours is best, to really get the flavours all through the meat. Absolute bare minimum is 3 hours.
No time to marinate? Slice up the chicken into bite-size strips, toss in the sauce then pan fry it. You could toss in some vegetables and make a stir-fry. 🙂
Cook the chicken in a pan or a BBQ on medium heat for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side until gorgeous bronzed with charred edges. (I use the grill side of the BBQ, not flat iron, it works better). Because of the sugar and dark soy in the marinade, the surface can burn very quickly so what I like to do is preheat the pan / BBQ on high, then I lower the heat to medium once I put the chicken on.
No oil – You shouldn’t need any oil if your BBQ is well greased or if you use a non-stick pan because the marinade has oil in it, and we’re using thighs which has some fat in it.
Burning? Flip multiple times rather than just once, oh, and lower the heat! 🙂
Rest the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. I just pile it straight onto the serving plate and leave it. If cooking in batches, loosely tent with foil to keep them warm and pile on top of each other.
Never skip resting! This step allows the juices to be re-absorbed into the meat fibres so they don’t spill out onto the plate when you cut into it.
What to serve with Gai Yang
Sauce – Traditionally, Gai Yang is served with a sauce called Nam Jim Jaew which is made with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and finely chopped garlic, chillies, eschalots and green onion. You can dip pieces in or spoon it over the chicken so it also flavours the rice.
For a quicker sauce, you could also use the Sweet Chilli Sauce from the Thai Sweet Chilli Beef Bowls (similar flavours, no need to chop anything) or even just plonk a bottle of sweet chilli sauce on the table. 🙂
As for sides, serve with Jasmine rice, or even better, coconut rice! (PS If you’ve never been able to make coconut rice without it ending up a gluey mess or burning, you will love that recipe – my team and I worked so hard to crack the perfect coconut rice!).
Add a side of freshness with some raw slices or chunks of cucumber and tomato, Thai-style. No dressing, just plain. It sounds boring, but because the meat is so flavourful and juicy, the freshness really works. You will crave it! Else, if you’re after a salad, try an Asian Slaw, Vermicelli Noodle Salad (the fresh mint here really works) or the Thai Chicken Salad minus chicken plus extra veg.
Fall back option – Asian Sesame Dressing (4 ingredients, pour and shake) with any leafy greens or steamed vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, tomato, steamed broccoli, zucchini, peas, asparagus – it works with everything!).
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Thai Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang)
Ingredients
- 2 lb / 1 kg chicken thigh fillets (skinless, boneless) (Note 1)
Marinade
- 1 large lemongrass stalk , white part only, reedy outer layers removed, sliced 5mm / 1/5" thick (Note 2 tube paste sub)
- 4 cloves garlic , peeled (whole)
- 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce , or any all-purpose soy or tamari (Note 3)
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 3)
- 3 tbsp (tightly packed) brown sugar or palm sugar
- 2 tbsp oil , vegetable, canola, or any other neutral flavoured oil
Sauce options *optional*- CHOOSE ONE
- Nam Jim Jaew – traditional Thai Dipping Sauce for meat *RECOMMENDED*
- Lime Sweet Chilli Sauce from Thai Beef Bowls recipe (quick to make)
- Bottle of sweet chilli sauce
Garnishes / sides
- Lime wedges
- Red chili , finely sliced (optional)
- Cilantro / coriander leaves (optional)
- Coconut rice
Instructions
- Blitz – Place Marinade ingredients EXCEPT oil in a jug just large enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until lemongrass and garlic is fully pureed. (No stick blender? Finely grate lemongrass and garlic, then mix)
- Marinate – Pour in a bowl. Add oil, stir. Add chicken, toss to thoroughly coat. Cover and marinate overnight (my bare minimum is 3 hours). No marinating time? Finely slice, toss in marinade then cook like a stir-fry.
- Heat the outdoor BBQ grill on high or a non stick pan over high heat on the stove.
- Cook – Remove chicken from the Marinade and discard the Marinade (unless baking in the oven – refer Note 3). Put chicken on the BBQ or in the pan, then turn heat down to medium (sweet marinade = prone to burning). Cook the chicken until golden brown – around 5 to 6 minutes on each side. (If it burns, flip straight away. You can flip repeatedly, as needed.)
- Rest and serve – Rest for 3 minutes. Serve alongside a mound of steamy coconut rice with lime wedges, garnished with fresh chilies and coriander/cilantro, and your chosen sauce.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published 2015. Updated in 2025 with improved marinade, sparkling new photos, a recipe video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added! I updated the marinade to reduce the number of ingredients but still deliver the same quality flavour – for example, I removed honey and increased sugar slightly. I removed Chinese cooking wine because it’s not traditionally used in Gai Yang, and I didn’t feel the recipe was lacking when I took it out. And finally, I reverted to using a stick blender which is not only faster than finely minced lemongrass and garlic, but also extracts more flavour out of the lemongrass.
Life of Dozer
Dozer had his Story Time Spectacular on the weekend, to celebrate the launch of Row Row Row your Boat (with Monsters!)! This is the children’s book featuring Dozer which is raising money for One Meal, the food relief charity that distributes our RecipeTin Meals to those in need.
There was a run sheet and schedule and scripts, we did rehearsals and all knew our roles.
Does it surprise anyone that nothing went to plan?? 😂 “Never work with children or dogs,” they said! Meanwhile, I spent 80% of the time stroking Dozer’s head trying to keep him calm as he barked persistently, irritated he was trapped in the row boat rather than waddling around the stage like the star he thinks he should have been.🤣
He became particularly bark-y when children were brought up on stage to join in the interactive reading part!
And here’s the author, Adam Simpson. He’s actually my company lawyer – that’s the connection! Is your lawyer as fun as mine?? 🤣 Adam wrote the book and is donating all his royalties to One Meal.
Dozer and I also treated the kids to some Dozer cookies! These were made by Claudia from Monogram Cookies. I’ve used her a few times now, it’s such a great way to do an edible thank-you gift for large numbers and be able to customise it with a message, or branding etc. and I think it’s very good value for what you get. Plus she’s local to my area (Drummoyne – though services all of Sydney), makes the whole process seamless and is such a lovely person to work with. I’m going to use her for some Christmas cookies for gifting too!
It was a big day for Mr Dozer! He’s spent the last couple of days slothing – and he deserves it. He’s an old creaky boy now (almost 14!) and technically in retirement, but was happy to come out of retirement for this good cause!
PS In case you didn’t pick it, the vehicle below is a row boat! Dozer was tucked in with Madeline, the daughter of the author Adam.
Love you Dozer! Sharing these experiences with you is so special, especially in your golden years. You make everything more fun! – N x
This was fantastic! Perfect balance. We’ll make it often!
I’m so glad you loved it Bob!
Hi Nagi
I’m making this for dinner tonight with Thai Fried Rice – I have the chicken in the fridge marinating.
Will I lose out on much if I choose the oven option and finish it on grill mode rather than just on the BBQ?
Is it best to cook the chicken on a baking rack or just a flat baking tray?
Thanks!
Hi Jess, sorry for the late reply, I’d cook this on a baking rack under the grill to get that nice golden colour – N x
Can i do This recipe for chicken wings, Nagi. Thank you so much. You r great.
Does this have a fishy taste due to the 3 tbsp of fish sauce?
No not at all Tiana!
Hi Nagi,
I just marinated the chicken, Can you please advise on side dishes.
Thank you.
Hi Jane, this would be perfect with some coconut rice or Thai fried rice! – N x
So easy to prepare and quick to cook. A great mid week dinner. Thanks – another winning recipe!
Woot! Thanks so much for the feedback Maria!
Morning Nagi!
Made this for lunch on Sunday with your Israeli Couscous salad for our family – lets just say the were wanting more – i even doubled the recipe. Flavours were amazing. Both recipes are keepers.
thanks again
Mish
Woah, great stuff Mish, I’m so glad it was a hit ❤️
Hi Nagi
Can this be frozen ( raw) in the marinade and then defrosted to cook? I’m looking for recipes that can be pre-prepared
HI, Lemon Grass is difficult to find in the CA Desert..what is your experience with Lemon Grass Paste?
Second question…how many iterations of a recipe does it take you to you feel you have the mixture just right?
Lemon zest is your best substitute and lemongrass paste the second best according to an online search: https://www.spiceography.com/lemongrass-substitute/
I have also used lemongrass essential oil (a few drops) when I could not find fresh lemongrass. Never use dried lemongrass, it has hardly any flavor.
This looked so good I made it tonight and grilled in -15C. It was worth it!! So good.
I’m so glad you braved the cold for this one! ❤️
Should I add salt?
I absolutely love all your recipes. No fancy ingredients are ever need and realistic results.
Thanks so much Sonia!
I did this last night as part of family BBQ and they loved it, loved it.
I marinated it overnight, not in a plastic bag, as I am trying to eliminate all soft plastic bags/cling film from my kitchen activities, but in a hard plastic box, which meant I had to turn it every now and then. Made little difference as sooo delicious.
Love that you enjoyed this Angela! Thanks for letting me know – N x
Nagi:
Thank you for all the amazing recipes. Can I use Shaoxing cooking wine for the Chinese wine? Also, our local markets cant seem to get red chilis in right now. Do you have any other suggestion as a substitute? Hope your having a great summer. Thanks!
Gregg
Yes definitely! It’s the same thing 🙂 As for the chillies, anything spicy you can get your hands on! Hot sauce, dried chillies 🙂 Do it to taste N x
Hi, the recipe looks relish. I plan to make this coming weekend. If I opt to bake the chicken in the oven, should I bake together with the marinate or without? Thanks for your advice.
Hello came accross this while searching for chicken thigh recipe to cook tonight. Can i ask how long to bake if i use bone in thigh? Also i have all ingredients on hand bar lime, can i use lemon instead? Thanks!
HI PK! Give it 50 minutes at 180C/350F. Lime is more Thai than lemon but it will still taste fantastic! N x
Yowza!!! What a delicious chicken dish!!! I made it for an 8-person dinner party the other night and they all loved it – most of all, me! I marinated boneless skinless thighs overnight and then popped them on the grill 20 minutes before eating.
They charred beautifully and were so juicy that the dipping sauce (which I made) was not necessary. This tasted very similar to the grilled meat they serve on bun at Vietnamese restaurants. So…. guess what I’m making with the leftovers???
So pleased to hear that Janis! Thanks for letting me know – N x ❤️
Oh my goodness! You are totally correct – it is the BEST! I wanted some beautiful Asian flavours for our Christmas barbecue and came across your recipe. We took your advice and made double – and we were disappointed there were no leftovers because our guests kept coming back for more! There was excitement around our table! A Christmas tradition begins! (And some sneaky serves in between.). Thank you so much Nagi for such an easy and super delicious recipe.
That’s so terrific to hear Julie!!!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x ❤️
Nagi, do you pound the chicken filets before marinade?
Regarding grill cooking- do you close the cover to cook chicken or leave lid open and grill chicken 3 minutes each side?
Have you cooked chicken thighs, bone-in with skin with this recipe? If yes, how long did you cook it?
Thank you.
Hi Linda! I don’t but the ones I get are usually a reasonably “normal” size, if they were giant, I would pound 🙂 I leave the lid on and grill 3 minutes on each side, and my chicken is at room temp (I will add that tip). 🙂 N x Oh – bone in thighs, yes I have but it has to be cooked on medium low, lid down (or lid on skillet on stove) and cooked for around 13 – 15 minutes.
This was my second Thai recipe from your site – the first was the Thai Coconut Chicken (fantastic!) – and this one is another winner! So much flavor – thank you!
This was easy and delicious, Nagi. Mr. Fussy loved it! I did it on the stovetop, serving it with an Asian-inspired slaw and a noodle side dish. I’ll be recommending it to my friends and family, too.
Woah, that is high praise coming from you Marlene! So glad you enjoyed it!! N xx
And the leftovers were great in the slaw for lunch the next day! I’ll make a larger batch next time. But first I’m going to try your other two Thai chicken recipes!
MMMM yes to that!!
i like thai food
This looks delicious – I will definitely be trying this very soon. How do you think this would go with Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Salad?
AMAZING x 1 million!!! 🙂