Miso Ginger Glazed Chicken Thighs

Tonight’s dinner had us seeking out an ingredient we never had before- Miso Paste.  While we have a pretty awesome Mexican selection at our local Shop N Save, the Asian section leaves us with just the basics. 

So we headed over to Olive to China Town Market.  Olive Boulevard in University City is full of a lot of ethnic food grocery stores and restaurants.  Just about all of them fall in that, “are you sure we’re supposed to be HERE?” category. 

We walked into China Town Market and I was totally feeling that way. First, almost all of the packaging for all the items was written in Chinese characters.  There were some things that were pretty obvious what they were (hey, there’s some rice!) but just about everything else looked a little out of our league.  After wandering through a few of the aisles we realized we were going to need some help.  We asked about the miso paste and were directed to it, only to find out a.) miso means soybean (ohhhhh) and b.) there’s a red kind and a white kind.  According to Wikipedia, the red kind is a little stronger tasting.  We picked the red kind.  The recipe actually called for shiso miso paste, and I’m still not sure if we got the right stuff. 

After finding some miso paste, we found ourselves in the candy/ chip aisle and it took all of my might to get us out of there without buying cod jerky (just let that sink in a minute…) and wintermelon candy.

It turned out pretty good.  It had the taste of one of those tasty chicken dishes on the Chinese buffet, but a lot healthier.  I felt pretty good about eating it. 

Little red chili flakes give the chicken some flavor but don't go overboard. 

The chicken was moist and had a good umami taste to it with just a little sweetness.  I thought the chili sauce might bring it to spicy land, but it was pretty mild. 

We also swapped out the chili garlic sauce for sweet red chili sauce.  You can find the original recipe at Everyone Likes Sandwiches' blog.  Lee’s adapted recipe is below. 

Miso Ginger Glazed Chicken Thighs

6 skinless chicken thighs

2 Tbsp red miso paste

1 2-inch knob fresh ginger, grated

4 garlic cloves, grated

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp sweet red chili sauce

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

• Rinse chicken under cold water & pat dry.
• Mix the miso paste, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce and chili sauce together and set aside.
• Put the chicken and paste mix in a large ziploc bag and seal the bag. Marinate chicken overnight.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Cover the bottom of the pan with the vegetable oil.
• Place the chicken in the pan (be sure not to lose much of the marinade) and bake for 40 minutes, turning chicken over once.
• Remove chicken and let rest for 5 minutes- this step is really important if you want the chicken to be nice and juicy when you’re eating it.
• When you get the chicken out of the pan, get it in water ASAP to make cleaning a little easier, all that tasty marinade makes a mess of your pan! 

Calories 318   Calories from Fat 110

Total Fat 12.3g

Saturated Fat 3.2g

Cholesterol 130mg

Sodium 425mg

Total Carbohydrates 5.8g

Dietary Fiber 0.6g

Sugars 2.5g

Protein 43.3g

Vitamin A 3%    •           Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 3%       •           Iron 12%