Honey and Soy Baked Chicken

Honey and Soy Baked Chicken - made May 4, 2013 from She Wears Many Hats

I feel like I've made some semblance of this already but I had all the ingredients and no idea what to pack for lunches for the coming week so I threw this recipe together since it had all my requirements for a savory dish: quick and easy.  Marinating something is the easiest way to provide flavor in my otherwise bland cooking repertoire.  I mixed up the marinade ingredients, put the chicken thighs in a gallon-size ziploc bag and poured the marinade over it.  Then I put the bag in a bowl and plunked the bowl in the refrigerator overnight, turning it occasionally to redistribute the marinade.

When it came time to bake, I placed the chicken skin-side down first and covered the baking dish with foil.  After 20 minutes, I turned the chicken skin-side up, left off the foil and let it bake until the skin was nicely golden brown.  This couldn't have been simpler.  The only downside is the sauce is what gives it the most flavor and would have been perfect with rice.  Except I was cutting back/cutting out rice (bucking my Asian roots once again) so I ended up just eating the chicken as is, sans the skin since I don't eat skin even though that looked like it would have been flavorful as well.  So you can make this dish as fat or as lean as you want - your choice.

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
5 tablespoons honey
4 cloves of garlic; minced (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 pounds (approximately) chicken thighs (or preferred chicken meat)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Mix first 6 ingredients together in a large plastic zip-top storage bag. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken to plastic bag making sure to coat each piece.
3. Place chicken in baking dish along with sauce/marinade or leave in large plastic bag to marinate in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to cook, in a baking dish, bake chicken in a 425° oven for 20-25 minutes with the skin side down. Turn the chicken skin side up and cook another 15-20 minutes to crisp up the skin. Cook until internal temperature of chicken reads 165°F and/or until skin is golden brown.