Korean Chicken Thighs
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These delicious Korean chicken thighs are marinated in a sweet and smoky chili paste called gochujang and make an easy weeknight meal. Serve them with a side of rice or cauliflower rice for a full meal. You will LOVE them!
We could honestly talk about how good these Korean chicken thighs are until we’re blue in the face! Actually, don’t take our word for it – here’s what one recipe tester had to say:
Hands down the best chicken recipe I can remember making. It brings the heat and sweet and made me think I was eating at a restaurant. This will be added to my normal dinner rotation.
~Jessie F.
- All aboard the flavor train: Between the slightly spicy, salty gochujang paste, the sweet honey, and the savory soy sauce and sesame oil, these Korean chicken thighs are a winning flavor combination. The spice from the fermented chili paste has a slight kick, but it’s truly a dish the whole family can enjoy!
- Easy & inexpensive: This recipe has 4 steps and only 10 minutes of prep time, making it a great weeknight option. Not to mention, chicken thighs are usually less expensive than chicken breasts, and many of the ingredients needed you likely have in your pantry or on the door of your fridge.
- Versatile: These chicken thighs can be served over rice or sliced and tossed on a salad for a lighter meal. If you’re following a paleo diet, you can easily make your own gochujang or use a paleo-friendly variety. This is a delicious paleo option served over cauliflower rice! If your household is gluten-free, you can order gluten-free gochujang to make these Korean chicken thighs.
Is this a traditional Korean chicken thigh recipe?
This chicken thigh recipe features Korean flavors. To achieve the flavors characteristic of Korean cuisine, we use gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger. It’s a delicious combination.
A few ingredient notes
7 ingredients are all you need to make this sticky, spicy-sweet chicken dish:
- Honey: 3 tablespoons of honey adds enough sticky-sweetness to balance the salty and savory flavors in this dish.
- Gochujang: Add 3 tablespoons of gochujang (homemade, store-bought, paleo, or gluten-free varieties will work perfectly) to give your chicken a distinct spicy, funky, salty quality.
- Soy Sauce: Add a tablespoon of soy sauce, or coco aminos if you’re making paleo chicken thighs, or tamari if going gluten-free. This adds another layer of flavor and depth to the marinade.
- Sesame oil: Is there any better smell than sesame oil? Just a teaspoon will go a long way in adding a nutty and sweet component to the sauce.
- Ginger & garlic: Time to add a fresh zing to the chicken by incorporating 2 finely minced cloves of fresh garlic and a teaspoon of minced fresh ginger.
- Skinless chicken thighs: Chicken thighs are a great cut to use for this recipe as they stay tender and juicy as the sauce caramelizes in the oven.
- Optional garnishes: To finish off the dish, you can optionally toss some sesame seeds and sliced green onions over top.
What to serve with Korean chicken
Let’s make it a whole meal! Alongside your Korean gochujang chicken, here’s some other tasty sides sure to please the entire table:
- Ginger Rice or Cauliflower Rice
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Miso Tahini Butter
- Crispy Eggplant Fries
- Spicy Long Beans
- Asian Salad with sesame ginger dressing
- Avocado Cucumber Salad
Recipe FAQs
Can I use another cut of chicken other than chicken thighs?
You can definitely make this recipe using other cuts of chicken, like drumsticks or breasts. That said, since the thighs are a tender cut they will perform better in the oven as the gochujang sauce has time to caramelize and crisp up.
What can I use instead of gochujang?
You can use miso paste (made from fermented soybeans, so some of the flavors will be replicated) or sriracha, in a pinch!
How to store leftover Korean chicken thighs
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in your fridge for 3-4 days.
Can I freeze Korean gochujang chicken?
Absolutely! You can follow the recipe to step number 2 and then pop the chicken in the freezer. Thaw the chicken before baking when you’re ready to eat it.
Korean Chicken Thighs Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons gochujang – Korean chili paste (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (use coco aminos for paleo)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 1 ½ lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Sesame seeds and sliced green onions (to serve)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized baking dish, mix the honey, gochujang, coco aminos, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.3 tablespoons honey, 3 tablespoons gochujang – Korean chili paste, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 1 ½ lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Add the chicken thighs and mix them around in the marinade. Let the chicken marinate for 1-24 hours in your fridge.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the chicken from your fridge and let it come to room temperature while your oven preheats. Bake the chicken for 20 minutes. Turn your oven to broil and broil the chicken for another 5-10 minutes, until the chicken starts to darken.
- OPTIONAL STEP: For a thicker sauce, pour the sauce from the baking dish into a small frying pan and boil it rapidly for 3-4 minutes, until it thickens. Baste the chicken with the thickened sauce and broil it for a few minutes, until it turns dark red.
- Serve the chicken with sesame seeds and sliced green onions on top.Sesame seeds and sliced green onions
Video
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Korean paleo chicken thighs:
- To make this paleo-friendly, start by using paleo-friendly gochujang paste. Gochujang contains glutinous rice (and sometimes wheat) that ferments over time to enhance the paste’s sweetness, so you will want to find a paleo-specific chili paste for these Korean chicken thighs or consider making your own.
- Consider whether you want to serve your chicken as is or with a side. A perfect vehicle or accompaniment to your paleo chicken thighs is this cauliflower rice.
Gluten-free Korean chicken thighs:
- For the same reason, traditional gochujang isn’t an option for those who follow the paleo diet; the wheat in the paste means a gluten-free gochujang is what you’ll need instead.
- For a gluten-friendly marinade, replace the soy sauce with tamari.
- Consider serving your Korean chicken thighs with a salad, roasted broccoli, cauliflower rice, or sweet potato fries.
More chicken thigh recipes
For more inspiration, check out all of our chicken recipes!
Thank you for this recipe! I live in Alabama and was not able to find gochujang so I picked up a bottle of Hoisen instead. I am not sure that this is a good substitute as I don’t really know a lot about cooking but we love the taste so I am sticking with it. We make this dish almost once a week or when my husband doesn’t feel like cooking. Thanks for sharing your amazing recipes!
Hoisen is delicious! It doesn’t have the spiciness or smoky flavor of gochujang … but I bet it’s so good in this recipe! I might just have to try that myself. 🙂
I want to make this, but we have a severe soy allergy in our family and all brands of gochutang contain soy. Can you recommend a replacement ingredient (soy free) for the gochutang?
I think the best option would be to make your own but to substitute coco aminos for the soy.
Our new favorite!
That’s so great to hear!
Made this with my sister last week and we haven’t been able to stop talking about how delicious it was! I didn’t have gochujang, but used chili garlic sauce. OMG it was sooooooo tasty! I want to try it with the gochujang though because the sauce didn’t get very thick like the picture looks. We wrote the recipe down and have it in our cook book! Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Horray!! I’m so happy to hear you and your sister loved the recipe. Totally made my day!! 🙂
First time I made it I was unsure now my husband begs for this chicken!!! I’m making it with pork chops tonight instead of chicken I hope it works!
That’s awesome! I’d love to hear how it turned out with pork chops. That’s a great idea!
HOLY GOCHUJANG! I’ve been looking at this recipe for about a week while I gathered the stuff needed and wow was it good! I was skeptical because my only experience with Korean food was the smell coming from the neighbors house which I understood to be coming from the jar she sometimes kept outside, I later learned that was Kimchi, still haven’t braved myself to try that.
I cooked the boneless thighs on a raised wrack and it was amazing. I can’t wait to cover everything in this Gochujang, going to try the same sauce for tofu for my mom. Nice suttle spicyness and tang and the fresh ginger! Will be keeping this and looking at some of your other recipes!
Thank you for sharing.
Ha ha omg I love it! You totally made my day.
And be brave and try kimchi … it’s really good. Think spicy saurkraut. Yum!
I don’t think i’ll be able to find gochujang where I live! 🙁 I’m an hour outside of the city.
Do you have some ideas about what I could substitute for it? Siracha? Do you think it would be too spicy for my 6&8 year olds?
thanks, erin
I wouldn’t substitute Sriracha as it has quite a different flavor. Have you tried Amazon? That’s where I always turn when I can’t find something. So easy!
It’s not super spicy so as long as they can handle a little heat they’ll be ok. 🙂
Finally got around to trying this recipe and it is outstanding..When my small pack of gochujang is empty I will definitely try to make my own…which by the way ….not in the to far distant future.
Awesome! I actually had to buy a new jar of gochujang just yesterday. I’ve got a few more Korean-inspired recipes coming up this fall. 🙂
Trying the Spicy Kung Pao Chicken tonight and can’t wait to try some of the vegan recipes .Three carnavores and two vegetarians for Thanksgiving so all the recipes and shared bloggers going to make my planning a breeze.Thank you all
Gochujang contains a lot of corn syrup, rice syrup, fructose or glucose. Not sure if that fits into a Paleo diet or not.
Most commercial brands do contain some ingredients that are not paleo, although they differ by brand. If you can’t find a brand that fits your diet, I’ve linked to a homemade gochujang that is 100% paleo approved. 🙂
Would this work on a bbq? In a tinfoil pan maybe?
It’s way too hot for the oven these days, isn’t it?! I haven’t tried it on the BBQ yet, but it’s definitely worth a try.
I know it’s a little late, but I just found you! This recipe sounds freaking fantastic! Can I make this with bone-in chicken thighs? I already have them. Will I need to increase the cooking time?
Thanks, Cheryl 🙂
Thanks, Cheryl!
I would increase the cooking time by 5 minutes if you’re using bone-in thighs. If you have a meat thermometer use that to make sure the chicken is at 165 degrees. 🙂
I made them with the chicken thighs… OMG… they were delicious! My son loved them! But, they didn’t get sticky… the sauce remained liquidy. I may have used a little extra soy sauce by accident, and it got all bubbly while cooking. The skin crisped up nicely too. It was still delicious enough for him to say, “Mom, can I drink the rest of this?” But I still wonder why it didn’t thicken up and get sticky like you describe.. It was definitely a hit, and I will be making it again, but perhaps you can figure out what happened?
Thanks again! Cheryl 🙂
How strange that it didn’t thicken! Did the chicken fit quite tight in the pan you used? The smaller the pan the longer it would take for the marinade to reduce. Perhaps this is what happened?
So happy to hear that the recipe was a hit!
I had the same thing happen almost to the letter. We did bone in chicken thighs (we had to double the cooking time for bone-in), and my husband was CRAZY about the sauce… As in licking MY plate clean. I must confess, I snuck into the kitchen after dinner was over and spooned some over the leftover cauliflower rice. It was that good!
My guess is that because the bone in thighs have the skin on, the extra fat keeps the sauce from thickening. There was a thick layer of oil on top when I pulled it out of the refrigerator this morning.
I personally don’t care, this is still one of the best low-guilt chicken dishes I have had. Thank you SO much for posting this recipe!
YES… I noticed all the fat too! I think you may be right. But, like you said, it was so delicious, I didn’t care. I think I’ll try it with boneless, skinless next time and see what happens. I want the stickiness!! Whew… I’m glad it wasn’t just me! 🙂
That’s it! I make these with boneless, skinless thighs but … I bet all that extra fat was extra delicious!
This recipe is so freakin good!!! Since finding it my husband asks for it weekly. Even my picky 6 year old that usually wouldn’t touch a piece of chicken loves it. Thank you so much for sharing!
That makes me so happy to hear!!!
Yum this looks so good! Instead of marinating the chicken could I put everything in the crock pot? If so how long do you think I should cook it and at what temp? Thx!
I haven’t made this in a crock pot before so I can’t say for sure. I’m sure you could use the recipe flavours as a guide and go from there. You will want to add some liquid or it might burn. I would try it on low for 4 hours and go from there. Happy experimenting!
Hey Kristen,
Thanks for your recipe. I love Korean food. Just a heads up though, most gochujang contains grain, usually wheat. Making a ‘porridge’ to add to gochujang, kimchi, etc. is a traditional way of making Korean ferments. It’s a delicious food but not Paleo due to the grain in it. Most gochujang also contains sugar that isn’t Paleo friendly in the ingredients. If you’re up for it, I’d love for you to let us know how to make a Paleo gochujang or if there’s a brand of it that would be best to purchase?
Thanks,
Maria
Hi Maria,
You’re right, most gochujang does contain wheat. I know that many people who eat paleo are ok with small amounts of non-paleo condiments in their diets … so many contain wheat and sugar!
If this is not something you’re comfortable with I’d suggest checking out the link I have in the notes under the recipe for homemade gochujang. You can sub the soy for coco aminos. It’s not my recipe, but it is a really good one. 🙂
Hello kristen,
Is the sauce similar to the of hotties lollipop wings, take me out restaurant?
I’ve never heard of the restaurant Hotties before, so I really can’t say. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
This recipe looks amazing! I’d like to try it with chicken drumsticks..do you think that the cooking time would change?
Drumsticks and thighs cook at a pretty similar time so you shouldn’t have to adjust the time at all. Hope you like the recipe as much as I do!