Seen the weather forecast for this weekend? It’s going to be sunny! Actually, more than sunny, we’re getting tropical temperatures. Not to everyone’s liking, I’m sure. But I think we can all agree on one thing: it will be perfect weather for a BBQ. Which means that our favourite is on rotation again: Korean Chicken Skewers.

Marinating

Get an early start with marinating the meat. At least a couple of hours before cooking, though the meat will be at its best if you let it marinate overnight. It will become extremely tender. Instead of marinating in a bowl, I use a zip lock bag and press as much of the air our as possible, which definitely helps the process of marinating (the meat will soak up the flavours even more).

Tender meat

Not only the time the meat has to marinate will influence the tenderness, but also which cut you use. It’s perfectly fine to use chicken breast or chicken tenders, but they can dry out pretty fast during cooking. The best cut definitely is the chicken thigh fillet. Might be a bit more expensive sometimes, but definitely worth it.

Sauce

The marinate is what makes the chicken skewers taste incredible. What makes it even better? Making a BBQ-sauce out of the marinade. Brush the skewers with the sauce during grilling and serve the rest as dip. For the chicken AND for dipping drowning your bread in it.

Ingredients

500 g chicken thigh fillet (or chicken breast/tenders)

For the marinade:

1 red onion

50 g light brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

50 ml soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 à 2 tbsp Sriracha sauce (or more if you like it hot)

For the BBQ-sauce:

The chicken marinade (after marinating)

1 tbsp light brown sugar

20 g tomato puree

2 tbsp soy sauce

25 ml water

Optional: extra Sriracha sauce to taste

Instructions:

Cut the chicken into strips or cubes and put in a zip lock bag.

Put all ingredients for the marinade into a food processor or blender.

Blend a couple of seconds, until there are no more large chunks.

Pour the marinade over the chicken.

Press as much air out as possible and close the bag.

Massage the chicken a bit and put the bag in the refrigerator.

Let marinate for a couple of hours, preferably even overnight.

Take the chicken out of the marinade and put on skewers. If you’re using wooden skewers, let them soak in water a bit before using them. They might otherwise burn during grilling.

Pour the remaining marinade into a sauce pan and add the other ingredients for the sauce.

Mix well and bring slowly to a boil.

Let simmer for a couple of minutes.

Taste whether the sauce is sweet and/or spicy enough. Add more sugar or Sriracha to taste.

Is the sauce too think, add a bit more water. Too thin? Add a bit of corn starch.

Brush the chicken skewers during grilling with a bit of BBQ-sauce.

Serve the rest of the sauce with the skewers.

Enjoy!