If you love the flavour of hoisin, you're going to love these hoisin chicken thighs. Hoisin is mixed with a few more Chinese ingredients and will transform your chicken into flavourful and delicious skewers. Serve these grilled chicken thigh skewers with a side of napa cabbage and shiitake mushrooms glazed in the same sauce and you have yourself a fairly easy dinner. And if it's not BBQ season, you can also make these in the oven, I've got you covered with both cooking options.

This recipe was inspired by the brilliant Kenji López-Alt. His cookbook "The Wok" is packed FULL of recipes, techniques and information. I've learned a lot from it already and highly recommend it if you're interested in learning more about cooking in a wok.

Ingredients

If you're unfamiliar with these ingredients, I hope you take some time to read a little more about them and give them a try. As always, I have substitutions for some ingredients so check those out near the end of this post.

• hoisin sauce (gluten-free if needed)
• dark soy sauce
• Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar)
• Shaoxing wine
• garlic cloves
• avocado oil
• sriracha
• chicken thighs (boneless, skinless)
• Napa cabbage
• shiitake mushrooms
• avocado oil spray

Ingredients In Depth

Let's talk a little more about the ingredients, in case they're new to you.

Hoisin: this is a thick, dark, intensely flavourful condiment that is both a little sweet and salty. It's made with fermented soybean paste and other seasonings. It's often used in marinades and sauces for meats or veggies that will be barbecued. You can read more about hoisin over here. For this recipe, I wouldn't recommend any substitutes as it makes up the majority of the saucy mixture.

Dark soy sauce: this is a thicker and darker version of soy sauce. Because it is saltier (and sweeter) than regular soy sauce, you don't need to use a lot at a time. You can substitute this with regular soy sauce for this recipe. Read more about dark soy sauce here.

Chinese black vinegar: this is made from fermented black sticky rice and is slightly less acidic than distilled white vinegar. See substitutions for this near the end of the post. Read more about this vinegar here.

Shaoxing wine: this is a type of rice wine from Shaoxing, a city in China. I wouldn't recommend skipping or substituting this one because it's so versatile and I'm sure you'll use it in many other Chinese dishes. But, if you do need to substitute, see them near the end of this post.

How to Make Hoisin Chicken Thighs

These hoisin chicken thigh skewers are really easy to make once you have your ingredients ready.

In a large bowl, combine the hoisin, soy sauce, black vinegar, wine, garlic, avocado oil and sriracha and mix well. Remove about 1/3 cup of this mixture and set aside for glazing the meat and veggies while they're cooking.

Add the chicken to the bowl and stir well to coat and cover and refrigerate. Let sit for at least 1 hour, or overnight (the longer the better).

If using bamboo/wooden skewers, remember to soak them prior to use.

Toss the cabbage and mushrooms in a drizzle of avocado oil, salt and pepper. Thread onto skewers.

Remove the chicken from the marinade when ready to cook and thread onto skewers.

If using a BBQ, spray the skewers lightly with avocado oil spray, or grease the BBQ grates. Heat up your grill over medium-high heat.

Place the chicken skewers on the grill and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, until charred and cooked through, rotating every few minutes and glazing with the remaining hoisin mixture a few times throughout cooking.

Place the cabbage and shiitake skewers on the grill and cook for five to six minutes, until the cabbage is charred and mushrooms cooked through, the cabbage will take less time (around three to four minutes). Glaze both with the hoisin mixture throughout.

Serve these hoisin chicken skewers with any leftover glaze on the side for dipping if you wish. Enjoy!

How to Make in the Oven

If it's not BBQ season, or you don't have a BBQ or want to use it, you can easily make these in the oven.

Bake the chicken skewers in the oven at 400ºF for about seven to eight minutes per side (on a lined baking sheet). Glaze again with leftover hoisin mixture and broil on high for two minutes or more, until slightly charred.

Bake the cabbage and mushroom skewers for about five minutes on a lined baking sheet at 400ºF and broil for one to two minutes until charred slightly.

Tips

• Marinate longer: you can do a quick one hour marinade if you're short on time, but it will taste it's best if you let it marinate for longer.
• Don't overcook the cabbage: you only want to char the outer leaves a bit, so be sure to keep an eye on it when BBQ'ing or in the oven. Broiling and glazing it at the end will help it get charred.
• Soak your skewers: if you're using wooden skewers, remember to soak them beforehand.
• Use chicken thighs: using these will allow you to cook them without having them dry out too much. Personally, I much prefer to use boneless, skinless thighs over chicken breast. Not only is it cheaper, it's so much tastier.

Substitutions

Making these hoisin chicken thighs is really easy, but the ingredients may be new to you, so here are some substitutions if you need.

• Dark soy sauce: use regular soy sauce, or regular tamari (for gluten-free). Note: all products (hoisin etc will also need to be gluten-free).
• Chinese black vinegar: substitute with rice vinegar instead.
• Shaoxing wine: I would encourage if you can find it at a Chinese grocery store to pick it up, but if you can't find it, try using a sherry cooking wine.
• Shiitake mushrooms: substitute with another type of mushroom instead, or use a mixture.

Other Chicken and Grilling Recipes to try

• Juicy Jalapeño Turkey Burgers
• Cilantro Lime Chicken and Rice Bowls
• Jerk Chicken Burgers with Slaw
• Caesar Marinated Chicken Skewers
• Margarita Marinated Chicken Skewers

Are you ready to make these grilled hoisin chicken thighs? Let's get to it!

If you make these glazed hoisin chicken thighs please share with me, by tagging me on Instagram or leave a comment and/or review below. I truly love seeing and hearing from you!

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