Sweet Chili Chicken | Everyday Dorie

Sweet Chili Chicken Thigh in a rice bowl

Sweet Chili Chicken Leg on a bed of rice

Dorie can’t decide to make the sweet chili with chicken or with pork. For me, the issue is to decide whether to make the sweet chili chicken thighs or legs. So I ended making both on separate days. Since there was enough braising liquid or chili sauce leftover from earlier, I only needed to thin it out with some water. Then refreshed with additional soy, mustard, Sriracha and sweet chili mixture to fill the pot. I have to agree with Dorie. This is a simple sauté-then-braise dish that’s so good and so versatile that we’d pull out the recipe repeatedly.

I prefer the sweet chili chicken legs, for no good reason, other than the easy pleasure of holding on to the drumstick with my fingers. Then lick and savor the delicious sauce. Or just imagine frenching the chicken leg, by scraping off the flesh from the lower part of the bone, and turn it into a sweet chili chicken lollipop!

I bought a small bottle of Trader Joe’s sweet chili sauce. Combine that with soy sauce, Dijon mustard and Sriracha (all from the pantry) and the previously sautéd garlic, ginger and onion mixture. While the chicken thighs are cooking, the braising liquid is slowly thickened and caramelized. The resulting sauce has such a perfectly balanced flavor of sweet, savory and heat. I like it just as much slathering the sauce over the rice alone — without the chicken, but with some green onions. Reaching deep into the bottom of the bowl, I scraped out the last few grains of rice soaked with the chili sauce. Yum!

To prepare the chicken, it’s important to keep the meat pat dry. Place the chicken pieces, skin-side down first, in the sizzling canola oil under medium heat in a cast iron pan. (Dorie does not say anything about seasoning; so I didn’t as I’d normally do.) Brown all sides evenly and remove the chicken pieces. Return the onion and the soy and chili sauce mixture to the pan. Finish cooking the chicken pieces in the braising liquid. Simmer until the instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°F, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking. (The instant-read thermometer is the most reliable gauge for the doneness of the chicken. It never fails.)

Mise en place. What’s left to decide: legs or thighs?