Thai Chicken Thighs
Updated Dec 25, 2025
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These Thai chicken thighs bring bold Southeast Asian flavor to your table with ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, garlic, lime, and herbs. Tender, juicy, and quick to prepare, they pair beautifully with rice or noodles for a satisfying dinner.
If you crave bold, bright flavor without fuss, these Thai chicken thighs deliver. Marinated in fragrant ginger, garlic, lime, and herbs, then roasted or grilled to juicy perfection, they make dinner feel vibrant and fresh — weeknight easy but restaurant-worthy.
Thai Chicken Marinade
The most basic marinades have some fat and some acid and a seasoning or two involved. You don’t want to let certain foods sit in a marinade for too long (fish and seafood in particular, which can start to get mushy), especially if there is citrus juice or a heavily acidic balance to the mixture.
How long should different things marinate? Here’s a basic guide to start you off. These Thai Chicken Thighs should marinate for at least one day, and up to three.
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This Thai Chicken Thighs recipe is an ode to my friend Katie Chin’s recipe for Thai chicken wings, and you could definitely decide to use them as a marinade for wings and roast those up.
Lemongrass, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, chili garlic sauce, and you’ve got flavor to spare.
Substitutions
The peanuts and cilantro are optional for a few reasons:
- You may not have peanuts lying around, or someone in your family might be allergic.
- Some folks really, really don’t like cilantro. I do! You can pass the leaves on the side, and I did, for those who have that cilantro aversion.
More Chicken Thigh Recipes:
- Chicken Thighs with Onions and Green Olives
- Creamed Spinach Stuffed Chicken Thighs
- Roasted Chicken Thighs
- Greek Roasted Chicken Thighs
- Baked Chicken Thighs
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Thai Chicken Thighs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons minced shallots
- 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons minced lemongrass
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 3 pounds chicken thighs
- ¼ cup crushed roasted peanuts (optional)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
Instructions
- On a large container of gallon-sized heavy duty zipper top bag combine the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, and chili garlic sauce. Add the chicken thighs and turn hem to coat well with the marinade. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place the chicken on the baking sheet skin side up and roast for about 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through, with an internal temperature of 165 °F.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the peanuts and cilantro if desired (I clearly forgot to do that in these photos. Oops).
Notes
- You may not have peanuts lying around, or someone in your family might be allergic.
- Some folks really, really don’t like cilantro.
- I forgot to sprinkle them on for the photo, but I did remember to sprinkle them on the Thai Cucumber salad that is shown in some of these photos, so it sort of implies that I could remember to do this, only not reliably. Also think about Vegetarian Pad Thai as a side.
Delish! This was the first recipe I’ve made from your site, I paired it with roasted broccoli and carrots and coconut rice. This chicken recipe is by far my favorite way to cook thighs! I will be making this again today for a family picnic, I will par bake them and finish them on the grill. Yum! Thank you for another amazing dish! If you haven’t tried Katie’s shrimp and avacado salad, get on it! Perfect dish for summer!