Smokey's Sweet and Spicy Low-Carb Korean Chicken

When I was a little kid, growing up in Hawaii, we would attend various beach picnics and potlucks.

Our friends and family would create and bring various kinds of local cuisine.  

One, that especially comes to mind, is Shoyu Chicken - a chicken marinated in Soy Sauce, garlic, and sugar.  The marinated chicken would then be cooked on the grill to perfection.  The end result was a moist and juicy chicken, with flavorful skin.

Well, this week we thought we would try a spicier Korean Style version of Shoyu Chicken, excluding the sugar and most of the carbs - Smokey's Sweet and Spicy Low-Carb Korean Chicken.

We used Korean Chili Paste and Chili Powder to add authentic Korean flavors to our marinade and were very delighted with our outcome.  

At only 5g of carbs per chicken thigh (30g. of carbs for the entire marinade) and tons of sweet and spicy flavor, this recipe will definitely be a keeper.

Our preparation time was about 5-10 minutes, another 3 hours for marinating our chicken, while our baking time was another 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Although this recipe took longer to prepare, the end result was SO worth the wait.  

This week's ingredients include:

• 1 Family Pack of Chicken Thighs (or chicken part of choice)
• 3 Tbsp. Minced Garlic
• 3 Tbsp. Gochujang (Korean Hot Pepper Paste - we couldn't find this at our local grocery store.  So, we bought from Amazon.  Click on these highlighted words to direct you to Amazon's Gochujang)
• 3 Tbsp. Water
• 3 Stalks of Green Onions
• 2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
• 1 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. Sesame Seeds (Enough to sprinkle over each chicken thigh)
• 1 Storage Bag, Gallon Sized
• 1 tsp. Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp. Gochugaru (Korean Hot Pepper Powder - we also couldn't find this at our local grocery store.  We, therefore, also bought this from Amazon. Click on these highlighted words to direct you to Amazon's Gochujang. 

(We didn't realize that the bag of Gochugaru we ordered was HUGE. Since we only used 1 tsp of the powder, this bag will probably last us a lifetime.  😆  The price was reasonable. However, be careful to check the size of the bag before purchasing. 😆)

• 1/2 Cup of Sweetener
• 1/4th Cup of Soy Sauce

We'll begin making our marinade, by adding our Gochujang, Gochugaru, Garlic, Ginger, water, Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, and sweetener to our mixing bowl and will stir, until well blended.

(Our Hot Pepper Powder contains 12g. of carbs per 1 teaspoon.  Therefore, if a lower carb count is desired, merely reduce to possibly 1/2 tsp. or maybe eliminate completely. )

We'll then, cut the ends of our Green Onions and will discard.

Next, we'll slice our Green Onions, will add to our marinade, and will stir.  (We tend to use about 3/4ths of each stalk, discarding their tops)

We'll then, add our liquid to our storage bag, so that we may easily and thoroughly marinade our chicken.

Our chicken thighs were larger than we had wanted. So, we were only able to add 6 of them to our marinade.  

Had our thighs been small, we probably would have added 8-10 pieces to our marinade.

After ensuring our storage bag has been secured, we'll thoroughly coat our chicken, by rotating our bag, a few times.

We'll then, place our chicken in our refrigerator for a couple of hours.  

We chose to prepare our marinade earlier in the afternoon, so we could bake our chicken at dinner time. 

This should allow enough time for our marinade to sufficiently soak into our chicken thighs.

Next, we'll remove our chicken from our refrigerator and will once again, ensure our chicken has been coated well, by rotating our bag a few more times.

We'll now, preheat our oven to 350 F degrees and will spray our Aluminum Foil covered pan with cooking spray.

We'll then, pour our chicken and marinade into our pan, evenly spacing our pieces apart.

Next, we'll place our chicken in the oven, and will initially, bake for about 20 minutes.

We'll then, remove our chicken from our oven and will flip each piece, to ensure our chicken remains coated with our marinade.

We'll again, return our chicken to our oven and will bake for another 20 minutes.

We'll again, remove our pan from our oven and will continue flipping our chicken, ensuring our marinade is sticking to each piece.

We'll again, return our chicken to our oven and will bake for our final 20 minutes on 350 F degrees.

We'll again, remove our pan from our oven and will continue flipping our chicken, ensuring our marinade is sticking to each piece.

At this point, we'll increase our oven's heat to 400 F degrees.

This will allow our chicken skin to slightly crisp and will offer our chicken a "grilled" flavor.

We'll then, bake for a remaining 25 minutes.

We'll remove our chicken from our oven and will transfer to our serving dish.

Notice how our chicken offers a grilled appearance. 

Lastly, we'll sprinkle our chicken thighs with our Sesame Seeds and will serve!!

The flavors of our thighs were sweet, and robust, while offering a touch of spice.  

We are thoroughly enjoying the smokey and rich flavor of the Hot Chili Paste and Chili Powder, glazing our chicken. 

Each bite offers a taste of Korean authenticity!  

Hope you enjoy our take on Asia and we'll see ya next week!

From our kitchen to your ~

Bon Appetit!