---
title: Authentic Thai Grilled Chicken Recipe (Gai Yang ไก่ย่าง)
date: 2015-07-18T20:44:49Z
source: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/2014/03/authentic-thai-grilled-chicken-recipe-gai-yang/
tags: recipes

---

[__ 21][1] [__ 342][2] [__ 188][3] [__15553][4] ![Thai Gai Yang \(ไก่ย่าง\)][5]Thai Gai Yang (ไก่ย่าง)

Just like a [whole roasted fish][6], the Thai way of grilling a full chicken, known as "Gai Yang (ไก่ย่าง)," is extremely tasty.

In Thailand, you'll find grilled chicken (Gai Yang (ไก่ย่าง) all over the place, from sit down restaurants to street side stalls where they specialize in whole grilled chicken.

Grilled chicken is also commonly made and sold at street food vendors who sell som tam (green papaya salad).

Some som tam, gai yang, and a few baggies of sticky rice, and you've got a meal that will make your taste buds rejoice!

Ok, so let's get started on this Thai gai yang recipe (ไก่ย่าง).

You could of course make this recipe with just a single whole chicken, but if I'm going to bring out the grill and fire up the charcoal, I think you may as well do a couple of birds. You could also use chicken pieces if that's what you have, but a whole chicken is more fun.

I'm going to make 2 full chickens in this recipe, but feel free to make just one, or more for that matter. The recipe will remain basically the same, you might just need to increase marinade ingredients by a percentage.

![Coriander root][7]Coriander root

The first part of making Thai grilled chicken is to make the marinade (ไก่ย่าง).

Though not all of the Thai gai yang recipes call for it, I think coriander roots really enhance the flavor. If you can find some of the roots, it adds a wonderful flavor to the chicken, and it's necessary if you want that truly authentic gai yang flavor.

![Thai recipes][8]Slice up all the ingredients to pound

A heap of garlic (I literally used about 40 cloves), lemongrass, black peppercorns, and coriander roots, make for the dry herb part of the marinade.

Before pounding everything, it's easiest to chop all the ingredients into small pieces.

![Pound the ingredients using a Thai mortar and pestle][9]Pound the ingredients using a Thai mortar and pestle

I pounded all the ingredients using a Thai mortar and pestle, but you could also use a food processor or blender to prepare all those tasty ingredients into a paste.

![Thai grilled chicken recipe][10]Once you have your dry ingredients, you can mix in the wet ingredients

You don't need a fine paste, but it should just be a coarse blend of all those amazingly fragrant ingredients.

I couldn't fit all the garlic, lemongrass, black peppercorns, and coriander roots in one round, so I had to pound a few rounds, and then mix it all together to make sure the ingredients were mixed throughout.

![Palm sugar][11]Palm sugar

Once the dry marinade ingredients are pounded, you can then mix in the wet ingredients. 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 2 tablespoons palm sugar, 8 tablespoons of water all go into the marinade.

Stir that up until it's like a nice chunky soup.

![Marinate the chicken][12]Marinate the chicken

Once your gai yang marinade is ready to go, put the chicken in a big mixing bowl and coat them with a thick layer of your marinade.

You want to really rub the chicken, get all that marvelous garlic to cover the skin, both sides of the chicken, and even in places like under the wing.

Bathe the chickens in that beautiful marinade – you don't want any part of the chicken to miss out!

**NOTE**: If you plan ahead and can marinate your chicken overnight, it will taste the best. For this recipe, I marinated my chicken the day before, and then grilled them the next day. But if you don't have the time, make sure you at least marinate your chicken for a few hours before grilling.

![Thai gai yang recipe][13]The bamboo skewers make it look pretty cool!

It's not completely necessary to reinforce your chicken with bamboo skewers, but I will say, it makes it look pretty cool – plus it is the authentic way to make Thai grilled chicken.

The bamboo sticks makes the chicken lay flatter of the grill, without curling up, so it's easier to grill evenly. The bamboo skewers also can be used as turning devices so you don't need to use a pair of tongs.

Take two bamboo stick, then slide the chicken in, from the drumstick to the neck. Fasten both ends of the bamboo together using a piece of metal wire, and repeat this process on both sides of the chicken.

Like I said, you don't need to do this, but it does look way cool.

Charcoal will give you the best flavor when it comes to grilled chicken, but if you prefer to use a gas grill, it will still work fine.

For charcoal, make sure you light it up and that you have a nice bed of hot coals before getting started.

You're looking for some good heat, but indirect heat so the chicken skin doesn't burn too fast. I like to tone down my charcoal with some leftover ashes (from the previous grilling), so that the the coals are hot, but not scorching.

![Gai yang][14]The beautiful golden skin of Thai gai yang!

Once the charcoal is ready, it's time to put your beautifully marinated chicken on.

You want to hear that soft sizzle as they slow cook over the fire. If you hear too much sizzle, and see flames shoot up from drips of chicken oil, you might want to tone down the fire a bit so you don't burn it.

![Preparing the tamarind][15]Preparing the tamarind

Once your chicken is happily roasting away, it's time to whip up some gai yang sauce (น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว).

There are a number of different types of Thai sauces that go with gai yang, some people really like the sweet and sour ketchupy Thai sauce from the bottle, which you can use, but I prefer a fresh tamarind based chili sauce.

I made this recipe in Thailand, but when I was visiting the United States, at the Asian supermarket, I found blocks of tamarind (like in the picture) pretty easily, so hopefully you should be able to find it wherever you are.

Usually the tamarind pulp will be in semi-dry form, so you just add a bit of hot water to a bowl, and start to work the tamarind until it turns into a thick soupy consistency.

![Nam jim jaew \(น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว\)][16]Nam jim jaew (น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว)

Once your tamarind is ready to go, you add [khao kua][17] (toasted pounded sticky rice, which gives the sauce a little texture), chili flakes, a bit of sugar, and fish sauce to make it salty.

Thai gai yang sauce is sweet and sour from the tamarind, with a bit of spice from the chili – it's a wonderful complement to grilled chicken!

![Gai yang recipe][18]Lean-to gai yang

Make sure you're monitoring your chicken as it grills, you don't want to turn it too often, as you'll lose some chicken juices and the marinade spices, but at the same time you don't want it to burn.

If you do use the bamboo sticks to grill your chicken, you can try out some Thai street food style grilling techniques, like standing them up together like a lean-to.

Also, make sure you keep using the extra marinade to baste onto the chicken.

![A beautiful Thai grilled chicken!][19]A beautiful Thai grilled chicken!

For my chicken, it took about _1.5 hours_ until it was fully cooked.

The final step in this Thai grilled chicken recipe to to remove the chickens from the grill, take off the bamboo sticks, and then cut your chicken into pieces.

![Chop the grilled chicken into pieces][20]Chop the grilled chicken into pieces

The most fun way to cut gai yang is using a big chopping block and a Chinese cleaver.

First, chop the chicken in half, from the neck to the butt. Then, just make swift chops with your cleaver to cut off the wing, drumstick, and then cut the breast part of the chicken into slices.

![How could you resist tearing into this!?][21]How could you resist tearing into this!?

By this time, you mouth will be watering beyond belief, and if you're like me, you'll probably get a sample while you're cutting it up.

(If you can't see the video, watch it here: <http://youtu.be/3l9omsiaO2M>)

**Time**: About 1.5 hours to grill (should marinate the day before)  
**Recipe size**: 2 whole chicken  
**Utensils**: Grill  
**Flavors**: Salty, smokey  
**Eat it with**:  Gai yang (ปลาเผา) is very common to eat in Thailand along with som tam (green papaya salad) and sticky rice. But really, it goes just as well with any kind of rice as well, or just as pure delicious chicken protein.

Be sure to [check out more of our recipes here][22].  

Authentic Thai Grilled Chicken Recipe (Gai Yang ไก่ย่าง)

 

![][23]

If you're looking for a delicious way to make grilled chicken, look no further than Thai style grilled chicken known as gai yang (ไก่ย่าง). The chicken is marinated in heaps of garlic, black pepper, lemongrass, palm sugar, and some soy sauce for saltiness. Thai grilled chicken is juicy and full of amazing flavor! Here's the full video recipe: <http://youtu.be/3l9omsiaO2M> which you should watch before anything else. Also, for more authentic Thai recipes, [click here][24]. Enjoy!

Recipe type: Grilled Chicken

Cuisine: Thai

Serves: 4

Ingredients

* 2 whole chickens (mine were 1.8 kilos each)
* Bamboo sticks or skewers
* Charcoal
* Grill

Marinade

* 4 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon fish sauce
* 2 tablespoons palm sugar
* 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
* 8 tablespoons water
* 4 heads garlic (30 - 40 cloves)
* 2 stalks lemongrass
* 2.5 tablespoons black pepper corns
* 8 coriander roots (optional)

Gai Yang Sauce

* 1.5 tablespoons khao kua (see method [here][25])
* 1.5 tablespoons chili flakes
* 1 tablespoon of sugar
* 3 tablespoons fish sauce
* 8 tablespoons tamarind juice (you can add more or less according to how strong it is and how sweet and sour you want your sauce)
* Few sprigs of cilantro

Instructions

1. For this recipe, I'm going to cook 2 full chickens, together weighing in at 3.6 kilos. If you wanted, you could also make this recipe with 3 - 4 kilos of chicken pieces, or really, however much chicken you want.
2. For this gai yang (ไก่ย่าง) to be at its finest, it's best to marinate the chicken overnight and grill it the next day, but if you don't have the time, marinate the chicken for at least a few hours.

Chicken marinade

1. Peel about 4 bulbs of garlic, which should be about 30 - 40 cloves in all.
2. Thinly slice 2 stalks of lemongrass and cut off the roots of 8 stalks of coriander.
3. Now comes the hard part, pounding everything using a mortar and pestle (If you don't have a mortar and pestle you can blend the ingredients in a food processor (but I'd really recommend you invest in a Thai style mortar and pestle).
4. Add small amounts of garlic, lemongrass, black peppercorns, and coriander roots to the mortar and pestle and pound them until the oils come out, and you have a coarse paste. Keep pounding until all the marinade ingredients are finished. You'll probably need to load the mortar a few times.
5. Put all the pounded marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir them up, and add 4 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 2 tablespoons of palm sugar. Mix everything together while adding about 8 tablespoons of water to the mixture. You should end up with a potent marinade that looks like a chunky garlicky sauce.
6. If you're using whole chickens, you'll want to butterfly cut them starting from the breast side down to the butt. Flatten the chickens out. This is going to prepare it for the grill ([Watch the video][26] to see how to do it).
7. In a big pan or mixing bowl start to rub the marinade on the chicken, making sure the garlic, herbs, and soy sauce go into all parts of the chicken. Rub down both chickens using all the marinade.
8. Cover the chickens and allow them to rest overnight. You might stir them a couple of times if you remember.

Grilling

1. The next day, take out your chicken, and the first step is to light your charcoal. You want a low even heat, coals that aren't too hot, but a low and even.
2. Put the chicken on the grill and begin cooking!
3. Wait about 20 minutes or so (but monitoring them to make sure they don't burn), before making your first flip. You can baste the chicken with the extra marinade.
4. Cook the chicken on low heat for about 1.5 hours, until the chicken is cooked through to the bone and the skin is golden dark brown on the outside.
5. Take the chicken off the grill, and dismantle the bamboo supports.
6. If you have a Chinese cleaver, first cut the chicken in half from the neck to the butt, and from there cut off the drumstick, wing, and chop the rest of the chicken into strips.

Gai yang sauce (Nam jim jaew น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว)

1. Semi-dried tamarind pulp can usually be bought at the supermarket in a small block. To rehydrate it, get a couple tablespoons of hot water and start to work the tamarind into the hot water. This should turn it into a nice tamarind water sauce.
2. In a bowl, mix 1.5 tablespoons of khao kua (toasted sticky rice, [recipe here][17]), 1.5 tablespoons of chili flakes, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 8 tablespoons of tamarind juice.
3. Mix all of the ingredients together.
4. After mixing up the sauce, make sure you taste test. You're looking for the perfect sweet, sour, and salty combination. You might need to add more tamarind juice, more sugar, or more fish sauce to balance it out.
5. Top off your gai yang sauce with some chopped up cilantro.
6. Happy eating!

Notes

Thai grilled chicken (gai yang ไก่ย่าง) is often eaten with som tam (green papaya salad) and sticky rice. The combination makes for an outstandingly tasty meal!

3.2.2310

![Gai yang \(ไก่ย่าง\)][27]Home-made Gai yang (ไก่ย่าง)!

If you love grilled chicken, you're absolutely going to love this Thai grilled chicken recipe (gai yang ไก่ย่าง).

On each and every juicy piece of chicken, you'll taste that amazing flavor of garlic and coriander roots, black pepper, and a hint of soy sauce.

Paired with that wonderful tangy tamarind dipping sauce, and [a side of sticky rice][28], chicken can hardly get better.

If you're like me, you might eat a full chicken yourself!

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[1]: https://twitter.com/home?status=Authentic Thai Grilled Chicken Recipe (Gai Yang ไก่ย่าง) - http://www.eatingthaifood.com/2014/03/authentic-thai-grilled-chicken-recipe-gai-yang/
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[5]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-WQrwdmZ/0/X2/thai-grilled-chicken-recipe-X2.jpg "Thai Gai Yang (ไก่ย่าง)"
[6]: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/2014/03/thai-grilled-fish-recipe-pla-pao/ "Pla pao"
[7]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-N23mvNz/0/640x427/corriander-roots-640x427.jpg "Coriander root"
[8]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-7k3MGkH/0/640x427/lemongrass-640x427.jpg "Slice up all the ingredients to pound"
[9]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-rPxR44c/0/X2/thai-morta-pestle-X2.jpg "Pound the ingredients using a Thai mortar and pestle"
[10]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-JBNC4rK/0/640x427/marinade-640x427.jpg "Once you have your dry ingredients, you can mix in the wet ingredients"
[11]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Bangkok-Restaurants/i-3CqngVC/0/L/palm-sugar-gai-yang-L.jpg "Palm sugar"
[12]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-LK6TwrV/0/640x427/thai-chicken-640x427.jpg "Marinate the chicken"
[13]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-MrPXPmM/0/640x427/chicken-640x427.jpg "The bamboo skewers make it look pretty cool!"
[14]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-N6dK5md/0/X2/chicken-grilling-X2.jpg "The beautiful golden skin of Thai gai yang!"
[15]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-nQJ9cvC/0/640x427/tamarind-640x427.jpg "Preparing the tamarind"
[16]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-pQLcJ5k/0/640x427/thai-grilled-chicken-sauce-640x427.jpg "Nam jim jaew (น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว)"
[17]: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/2014/02/thai-larb-recipe/ "Khao kua"
[18]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-LMsbHr9/0/640x427/chicken-legs-640x427.jpg "Lean-to gai yang"
[19]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-LDLRxbQ/0/640x427/thai-grilled-chicken-640x427.jpg "A beautiful Thai grilled chicken!"
[20]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-TXkNQ8F/0/X2/gai-yang-X2.jpg "Chop the grilled chicken into pieces"
[21]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-vGJNG39/0/X2/gai-yang-recipe-X2.jpg "How could you resist tearing into this!?"
[22]: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/thai-recipes/ "More Thai recipes"
[23]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-N6dK5md/0/X2/chicken-grilling-X2.jpg
[24]: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/thai-recipes/ "Authentic Thai recipes"
[25]: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/2014/02/thai-larb-recipe/ "Thai larb recipe"
[26]: http://youtu.be/3l9omsiaO2M "Gai yang recipe"
[27]: http://migrationology.smugmug.com/Blog-Posts/i-wrRGZ2H/0/X2/thai-chicken-recipe-X2.jpg "Gai yang (ไก่ย่าง)"
[28]: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/2015/02/how-to-make-thai-sticky-rice/ "Sticky rice"