Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken (2024)

Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken – juicy chicken bites glazed in a Vietnamese caramel sauce with a good dose of ginger. 5 ingredients. 12 minute braise. Serve over jasmine rice with Asian Slaw for a dinner everybody will gobble up!

Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken

When you see today’s recipe, you’re going to doubt me. How can a recipe with so few ingredients that’s so fast to make be as good as I promise??

Answer: Because the Vietnamese have been making this for centuries!

The caramelisation cooking method used in today’s recipe is a traditional Vietnamese technique. Proteins such as chicken, pork, egg and sometimes vegetables are braised in a simple mixture of sugar and water (or coconut juice), seasoned with fish sauce and flavoured with aromatics such as ginger, garlic and chilli.

At first the mixture looks thoroughly unimpressive – watery and foamy. Like this:

But just give it a mere 12 minutes, and this is what it looks like:

I know, right?? Incredible. We should know better than to doubt the Vietnamese!

And here’s a nice close up for you, including the inside – proof of juiciness:

What you need for Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken

Here’s all you need to make today’s miracle dish:

• Boneless chicken thighs – Thighs work best because they will stay juicier for the required simmer time for the sauce to reduce down into a glaze. But if you want to make this with chicken breast, I’ve popped directions in the recipe notes – best to take it out of the pan partway so it doesn’t overcook.

• Brown sugar – This is what makes the caramel glaze! Brown rather than white sugar, for extra caramely flavour.

• Fish sauce – The “secret ingredient” that gives the sauce more depth of flavour than just using salt or soy sauce. You can substitute with soy sauce, but the glaze won’t have quite the same flavour.

• Ginger – We use quite a lot, for lovely gingery flavour! 1/3 cup finely julienned.

  Garlic could be substituted.

• Chilli (optional) – For a faint background hum of warmth. I use Birds Eye but Thai chilli or other chilli of choice would be fine. This dish is not spicy by any means, the spiciness of a single chilli is reduced through the cooking process and overpowered by the sweetness.

• Eschalots(optional) –Also known as French onions, and called “shallots” in the US. They look like baby onions, but are finer and sweeter than regular onions so they disappear into the glaze better.

  Not to be confused with what some people in Australia call “shallots” ie the long green onions. Substitute with finely sliced red or regular onions, or skip it. It’s not so common in traditional Vietnamese caramel dishes but it does add extra flavour (I tried with and without).

How to make Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken

Very easy, low maintenance and quick! No marinating required, and just a 12 minute braise.

1. Toss the chicken in the fish sauce and chilli (if using). Then just set aside while you prepare and measure out the other ingredients. Marinating isn’t required – plenty of flavour infusion into the chicken happens during the braise. But you could leave it overnight, if you wanted to.

   Use a large non-stick pan else the liquid will take ages to reduce. Mine is 30cm/12″. If yours is smaller or the liquid is taking way too long to reduce down into a glaze, remove chicken with slotted spoon and reduce the liquid by itself (it will be fast).

2. Caramel – Put the oil and sugar in a pan over medium heat and stir.

3. Melt – As the pan heats up, the sugar will melt and form a caramel. As soon as it has melted, take the pan off the stove before adding the chicken. ⚠️ This is a precaution step – because the caramel does sizzle a bit when you add the chicken. If your stove runs very hot or you’re a little…..err…. overly enthusiastic when tossing the chicken in, I’d hate for caramel bits to splash on you. By taking it off the stove, we don’t need to worry.

4. Chicken -Slide the chicken in carefully (don’t throw it in!), eschalots and ginger. Toss briefly to coat, then return to the stove. The caramel may harden but that’s ok, it will re-melt on the stove.

5. Cook – Stir the chicken until it changes from pink to white but the inside will still be raw. Add water then let it come up to the simmer.

6. Braise 10 to 12 minutes – Simmer for 10 to 12 minutes until the sauce reduces down into a brown glaze that coats the chicken. This is what it looks like at the start – not very appetising! It’s very low maintenance – just stir every couple of minutes.

7. Midway – Here it is halfway through. You can see the chicken is starting to be stained by the sauce colour. What you can’t see is all the lovely flavour being absorbed by the chicken! 🙂

8. Glaze! Then after 10 to 12 minutes, this is what it looks like. The liquid will have reduced right down and transformed into brown stick glaze that coats the chicken. At this stage, you will want to stir quite regularly to ensure the sauce doesn’t catch and burn on the base of the pot. Just reduce the heat it you’re concerned.

   And that’s it! It’s ready to eat!

What to serve with Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken

Serve over jasmine rice or other plain rice of choice (or cauliflower rice if you’re going the low-carb thing). It’s not a sauce stir fry but you definitely won’t miss the sauce because the glaze is more intense flavoured than a typical saucy stir fry. So you can eat it with plain rice because every rice grain the chicken touches will be graced with the tasty Vietnamese caramel sauce!

For a lovely fresh side salad, I’d suggest a crunchy fresh Asian Slaw. Else, my ever-trusty Smashed Cucumbers (perfect juicy freshness to contrast with this sticky goodness) or Asian Sesame Dressing which you can use for “anything” – leafy greens, steamed broccoli or carrots.

Enjoy! – Nagi x

Recipe credit: Adapted from Eat Like a Viet cookbook by Jenny Lam, after eating this at PhatLon, her Vietnamese restaurant in Perth! I dialled down the saltiness (fish sauce) and added eschalots because I think they make it even tastier.

Watch how to make it

Life of Dozer

Dozer’s way of sulking about being on a strict gastro-intestinal dog food diet for the next 7 days – spitting his food out on the ground. Seriously. What a brat! (Mind you, his natural greediness means he ends up hoovering the floor clean. But still. The attitude!)