I love recipes like the one we have for you today, our Garlic and Ginger Braised Chicken. It only requires a few ingredients, but is still full of amazing flavors. It also takes little effort to make this dish, because most of the magic happens during the braise. I love using a sturdy dutch oven for this recipe, but it’s not totally necessary. Although this dish might take a while to cook up, I think it still makes a great weeknight meal. You can also make this dish ahead of time and simply reheat it stovetop when you’re ready to dig in.
Ingredients needed to make this braised chicken
- chicken leg quarters – I like using the leg quarters because they stay really nice and juicy in this recipe. I also just almost always prefer dark meat to light meat because they don’t dry out easily in general.
- shallots, garlic and ginger – These are the aromatics of the dish and very important! They impart really great flavor into the sauce and chicken. If you don’t have shallots, a little bit of diced onion will work just fine.
- chicken stock, soy sauce, and brown sugar – I love the combination of these three ingredients together to make the super simple sauce. The sweet and salty combination is addicting and so easy. I like using stock for the added flavor, but if you don’t have it, you can use water instead.
- white pepper – I like adding white pepper to this dish because it adds the most subtle ‘spicy’ flavor to the dish and balances everything out. If you don’t have white pepper, you can leave it out and everything will still be delicious.
How to make garlic and ginger braised chicken
- First start by browning the chicken quarters. You’re not trying to cook them through at all just get a nice crust on them.
- After removing the chicken from the pot, start sauting up the aromatics. You want the flavors to release from the shallot, garlic and ginger, but you don’t want them to brown too much.
- Next you want to deglaze the pan with stock (or water), making sure to scrape up all the small bits of flavor at the bottom of the pot.
- The soy sauce and brown sugar are then added and simmered until the sugar dissolves.
- Once the sugar dissolves, nestle the chicken quarters back into the pot and bring the mixture to a boil, then immediately down to a simmer.
- Cover finish braising the chicken in the oven. The chicken will be tender and packed with so much flavor! The extra braising liquid is also so good to pour on top!
I love serving the garlic and ginger braised chicken over brown jasmine rice, because the aroma of the rice is so nice. Cauliflower rice is also a great option if you’re trying to stay low carb and it also soaks the sauce up nicely. I also love eating this with blistered, sesame snow peas. The light crunch of the snow peas paired with the tender chicken is such a great combo!
If you love comforting recipes like this one, you’ll also love:
- Galbi Jim – Korean soy braised short rib dish
- Coq Au Vin – A red wine braised chicken dish
- Oven Baked Chicken Thighs – A simple and delicious chicken dish perfect for weeknight dinners!
- Thai Red Curry Chicken Thighs – A flavorful chicken dish especially if you love curry!
xx,
Jenny
Garlic and Ginger Braised Chicken
INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 chicken leg quarters, any excess skin and fat trimmed
- ¼ cup diced shallots
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup low sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 thinly sliced green onion to serve
- 3 cups steamed jasmine rice to serve
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Pour oil into a Dutch oven and place over medium-high heat.
- Generously season chicken quarters with salt and pepper and sear in the Dutch oven, skin side down, for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and sear for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the pot and set aside.
- Drain all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the pot. Reduce heat to medium and sauté shallots and garlic for about 2 minutes. Add ginger and continue to sauté for 1 minute.
- Add stock to the pot to deglaze and simmer for 1 minute. Add the soy sauce, sugar and pepper and continue to simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add chicken back into the Dutch oven, skin side up, cover and place in the oven for about 40 minutes.
- To serve: Remove Dutch oven from the oven. Create a bed of rice onto a serving platter and top with chicken, pouring some of the braising liquid over each quarter. Top with sliced green onion or chives and serve.
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This was super! There were no leftovers. I was worried with having equal portions of soy sauce to chicken broth. Thanks for this great recipe.
Must have done something wrong? Followed recipe but the chicken never took on a nice sticky, glaze but instead was just swimming in the braising liquid. Tasted good, smelled wonderful and was certainly moist!
Hi! The chicken actually doesn’t take on a sticky glaze, but should absorb some of the braising liquid as it braises. How you’re describing it is exactly how it should be! You if do want a glaze on the chicken, you can remove about 1 cup of the braising liquid from the dutch oven (after the chicken is finished), add it to another pot with an additional 2 tablespoons brown sugar, then simmer/reduce it by 1/3, then brush that glaze over each chicken qtr.
Loved this. I did thicken the sauce with corn starch and substituted half of the chicken stock with white wine. I will definitely make this again.
Hi Jenny,
What size is your le creuset pot in the video?
Hi! It’s a 5.5 quart
Is it possible to make this on the stove top? I don’t have a Dutch oven ☹️
Yes you totally can! It just needs to be covered with a lid and the liquid should be very lightly simmering (so maybe medium-low heat?). The cook time might also have to be slightly adjusted
Since we are not going out because of the virus, I don’t have chicken legs but I do have thighs that are not skinless and boneless. I think I am going to make this tonight! I have a million chicken recipes, but when I saw this, the power of suggestion caused me to run to the freezer! Thanks for the great suggestion!
That’s great! I usually have chicken thighs in my freezer too and make this with just thighs often! Hope you love it!
This was absolutely delicious! This has been added to our rotation. My family has asked for it twice this week.
I’m so happy to hear that!! It’s on regular rotation at my house too! :)
Thanks for sharing this on insta!! Only had to buy a few things that I normally have on hand
i think it’s been good. but it’s saltier for my tastes. so for ones that are watching their sodium, please just use half maybe.
This looks really good, but I’m wondering if I reduce the amount of sugar if that will really affect the outcome?
Mmmm-hmmmm…this looks really tasty. Think dinner is covered for tonight. Thanks!
this looks great, love the soy-ginger-garlic flavors in this and the relative simplicity of the recipe for a weeknight dinner, thank you!
Thanks! This recipe is definitely a favorite of mine. :)