ginger chicken and roasted carrots

One day my kindergarten boy came home and said, “Mom, the field trip people couldn’t believe I knew what ginger root was? They held it up at the store and asked if anyone knew the name. I just said ginger root.” I’m sure my eyes teared up, that little foodie in the making.

Same little guy told me when he was four that we’d have a restaurant together called the “Tasting Place” where we’d cook for people on stools who’d watch us cook. Cu-tie-pie.

Same boy just told me today, age 13, he thought he might be a journalist, or a technical engineer or someone who creates some kind of technology that changes the world. I mean I had to google after that because I had no idea what he was really talking about or how to help him get there. What’s happening? Stop the madness.

Back to ginger chicken, and things I can wrap my head around.

This really does need to be in my rotation of easy meals, and somehow I haven’t made it for a couple of years. All you need is 5 ingredients: soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and chicken. Done. You probably have most of them already, it can be prepped in 10 minutes and sits overnight.

I just threw 4 ingredients in a small saucepan while I was making dinner recently, and just like that I had another dinner ready to go. Believe me, this doesn’t always happen, but I’m thinking it should.

And by the way, this recipe is super easy to multiply. A few years back I even made it f0r 50 women. The original recipe calls for 2 whole chickens cut up, but I rarely do it this way. The amount of sauce is plenty for that amount of chicken though, and I use that as my guide. Instead, I usually use one of the following:
– 8-12 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
– 6-8 skin-on split chicken breasts, deboned. I’ve asked the butcher to do the deboning because it’s so easy, usually they are very willing. And yes, I always do skin-on. It keeps the chicken moist while cooking which gets amazingly caramelized and delicious if you like, if not you can remove it at dinner.

Ginger Chicken
adapted from Ina’s Indonesian Chicken, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

1 cup of honey
3/4 cup of soy sauce
8 cloves of garlic crushed, about 3 tablespoons
1/2 cup grated fresh ginger root
8-12 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs or 6 skin-on, split chicken breasts

Whisk the honey, soy sauce, garlic and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat, until the honey is melted and sauce is warm, about 5 minutes. In a baking pan, lay your chicken pieces skin side down, and pour the sauce over each piece. Cover the pan with foil and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

To bake, preheat oven to 350°. Place the baking pan in the oven, with foil, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375°. Continue baking for another 30 minutes or until chicken is done. The skin turns a dark caramel brown and sauce has a dark glow.

Our family loves this with roasted carrots and mashed potatoes or brown rice.

To roast carrots, just toss with a little olive oil (like I did with these brussel sprouts), and add to the oven for the last 25 minutes at 375°. (If I’m not making chicken, I roast carrots for 20 minutes at 400°.) Better than candy, way better. Yum!

Enjoy.

~H

Last Updated on June 16, 2022 by Heather Bursch