I just love Thai cuisine! Having had the good fortune to visit Thailand twice and experience truly authentic (and very hot and spicy) Thai food, I’m always on the look out for great recipes (and great Thai restaurants). One of my favorite food bloggers, Sam, from My Carolina Kitchen, posted a wonderful, grill-outside-don’t-heat-the-kitchen recipe for chicken that really pleases the taste buds and satisfies one’s Thai food fix. Sam is a food professional and I trust her judgement and the recipes that she develops.
I had to try her recipe for BBQ Thai Chicken and just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand . . . I love it when that happens!
The chicken marinates in a sweet and spicy coconut marinade for 4 hours. And oh does this marinade make the chicken moist and bursting with flavor. When you first read the ingredients you might think that this is going to be spicy-hot. But it really was not; in fact, it gave the chicken perfect undertones of lime, coconut, red pepper, and cilantro.
We just loved it!
I served this with basmati rice cooked in Tom Gha Kai coconut chicken soup . . . superb! And served some bright green, fresh steamed broccoli alongside a fresh fruit salad.
I would have preferred to serve my recipe for Thai Cucumber Salad, but my husband’s tummy can’t handle cucumbers. But here’s a photo and link for the recipe (also on my sidebar) for you. It would pair perfectly with the chicken.
It was a lovely summer’s evening dinner and I highly recommend this recipe!
Grilled Thai Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup nam pla (Asian fish sauce)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 small cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 shallots, peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 - 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 6 scallions, trimmed and minced, for garnish or Thai basil
- 1 fresh lime, cut in wedges for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the coconut milk, nam pla, lime juice, garlic, shallots, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar,
- and cilantro in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
- Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and put it in a large plastic zip lock bag.
- Pour the coconut mixture over the chicken and marinate it for 4 hours in the refrigerator, turning the chicken occasionally.
- Prepare a gas or charcoal grill.
- When the temperature is medium-hot, remove the chicken from the bag, and discard the marinade.
- Place the chicken on the grill; cover and cook for about 8 minutes on one side.
- Turn the chicken over and cook another 8 - 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees.
- Transfer the chicken to a platter and garnish with the scallions or Thai basil.
- Serve at once with lime wedges on the side.
This sounds so flavorful, I have always wanted to visit Thailand.
I plan on making this when we return from vacation, I love coconut.
Thank you
Helen
Yours and Sam’s both look delicious.
I love Thai cuisine too.It can be so fragrant:) Chicken looks amazing:)
Both your chicken and the cuke salad look wonderful and I too have all the ingredients in the house so I’ll be making these.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
so cool to see Sam’s recipe here, she will be thrilled
Oh so good!
I love Thai food too- I think both recipes look delish! 🙂
This is bookmarked for me, Thai food is right up my street and one of my fav things to eat!
Roz, I’m so glad you liked this grilled chicken. I wish I had served it with your cucumber salad. We love cucumbers and eat them often. I’ll be sure to give it a try.
I didn’t realize you had visited Thailand twice. How fabulous. Thanks so very much for the shout-out.
Sam
absolutely mouthwatering indeed! Truly looks like it is a picture from a mag. I love it and the flavors of thai. Perfect for outdoor or even indoor grilling. Another great recipe my friend!
Oh, Roz, this looks amazing! I love Thai inspired dishes (I always have to tone them down for the hubby)…and this looks perfect for the grill. Printing it off to try 🙂
I so enjoy reading Sam’s blog and am glad to see you cooking up one of her recipes. This is a unique and different approach to cooking chicken and one that I know we’d definitely enjoy. It looks amazing!
Hi Roz, what an amazing looking recipe. Thanks so much for sharing. Hope all is well and that you have a great week. From, the OTHER Roz!!
A delicious meal!
A perfect summer dish! Wonderful when served together with that gorgeously fresh salad.
Cheers,
Rosa
I have bookmarked this recipe…looks so tasty and refreshing….can’t wait to give it a try! Lovely site too!
I also love Thai food! The chicken sounds delicious and I love the look of that refreshing cuc salad!
Roz look fantastic! LOL gloria
What a fantastic meal! I’ve tried many of Sam’s recipes and have loved every one. I just may have all these ingredients in my cupboard too.
This Thai chicken and the salad look amazing. Fresh, simple and flavorful. It’s awesome.
Sam is one of my favorite bloggers too.
Velva
P.S. So lucky to have visited Thailand, not once but twice. I am so envious.
I love Sam’s recipes and you made this one look fabulous, Roz! How lucky you are to have tasted authentic Thai food –it is so fragrant and flavorful!
I love Thai food also and your list of ingredients for the marinade has all the best Thai flavors. And then being charred on the grill… Outstanding!
I am such a sucker for thai food and I’m super jealous that you got to go there! That’s my dream. I am definitely going to try this marinade out…sounds super delicious.
Thai food is something we enjoy when we travel outside Italy, maybe we should try this sometime, not sure if we would be able to find all the ingredients though.
Sam’s Thai chicken was on my list to make also. Thai is one of my favorite cuisines…I love spicy food.
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This sounds so good! And that cucumber salad sounds like a refreshing match to it.
this is such a beautiful dish! Thanks for sharing at Cast Party Wednesday. I hope you will come back and join me next week for another awesome party full of fansastic recipes!
It wasn’t just your Thai Cucumber Salad which I made, served and blogged about but you inspired me to make your Grilled Thai Chicken too. That recipe too was thumbs up all around. Tonight I posted about it and of course shared the linky love here: Grilled Thai Chicken on Cook Lisa Cook. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes.
Lisa~~
i love BBQ THAI CHICKEN/
I too love Thai flavour! These grilled chicken breasts look tender and delicious… perfect with that crunchy cucumber salad.
This really sounds like a delicious recipe for chicken, Roz! I love it when a marinade really impacts the flavor of the meat in a big way which this one sounds like it does. And what a great combination of flavors. I wanted to let you know that I am going to be stopping blogging as of this month due to the fact that we are building a house. I have very mixed feelings about it as I love blogging, but am so excited about building. I’m not a multi-tasker and feel like I would eventually not be able to keep up with the blog. My most recent post explains a little more. But I will still be looking at other food blogs as often as I can, especially yours! It is because of people like you that I love blogging so much, and I still would love to meet you someday! But until then, I just wanted to let you know what was going on if you don’t see me around as much. I hope you are doing well. I know this is such a busy time for you with your job. Take care, and thanks for all of your encouragement over the years. I’m so happy I got to know you through our blogs!