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Craving incredibly crispy chicken with a vibrant citrus kick? Learn how to make this delicious Ponzu Chicken from scratch! This easy recipe skips the marinating and focuses on achieving perfectly crispy skin every time.

We’ll guide you through prepping the chicken thighs for maximum crispiness, explaining the simple cooking technique that renders the fat and creates that irresistible crunch. Discover how to use the flavorful rendered chicken fat to cook delicious accompanying vegetables.

Finally, we’ll whip up a quick and zesty homemade ponzu sauce to elevate your dish. This recipe is perfect for a weeknight meal or an impressive weekend dinner.

#PonzuChicken #CrispyChicken #AsianCooking
Transcript
00:00I am Udo and today on Statue I'm going to show you how to make crispy and zesty ponzu chicken.
00:06Let's get straight to it.
00:08First, take a boneless chicken thigh with the skin on, turn it over and use scissors to cut the
00:13thicker parts. The purpose here is to flatten the thick parts out and make it the same thickness all
00:19over. If you cut horizontally, kind of at an angle, you can pull out the meat and lay it flat.
00:27You can also use the scissors to cut out the tendons and connective tissues if you like.
00:33I generally use one chicken thigh per person for this dish.
00:37Once that's done, flip it over and pull the skin over the edges.
00:46Then flip it back over and cover the meat with plastic wrap.
00:52Now, flip it over once more and place it in a container. We're leaving the skin exposed so that
00:58it dries out a bit. This will help make it extra crispy.
01:03Place this in the fridge for about 30 minutes and make sure it's not touching any other items in
01:08your fridge. We want to avoid the cross-contamination.
01:12Okay, so it's been 30 minutes, so I'm going to add a generous amount of oil to a cold pan,
01:19about one tablespoon per chicken thigh. Place the chicken thighs with the skin side down.
01:25You can spread the oil around by moving it around the pan like this. Sprinkle the top with salt and
01:33pepper, then cover it with foil. Next, we want to weigh the chicken down. I'm using a large pot
01:41filled halfway with water. You can use whatever you like, just make sure it's stable and feedproof,
01:48preferably a heavy pot or pan. Set the heat to medium-low and hang out near the stove to listen
01:55and fall when it does sizzle. Once you can hear it, set a timer for 10 minutes. Okay, it's been
02:0210 minutes,
02:02so let's remove the weight and the foil. As you can see, the fat has rendered out of chicken skin
02:08and the pan is filled with fat and juices. Use these to baste the top of the meat for 2
02:14-3 minutes.
02:16Finally, let's flip it over and fry it on the other side for 1-2 minutes.
02:27As you can see, it's beautifully golden and crispy on top. After a couple minutes,
02:32transfer it to a wire rack and let it rest until it's time to serve.
02:43Now, I don't want to waste this delicious chicken fat, so I'm going to use it to throw some vegetables
02:48to serve with my chicken. Obviously, this is a bit much, so pour the excess into a heat-proof
02:54container and save it for another dish such as fried rice.
03:00I'm serving my ponzu chicken with pak choi and king oyster mushrooms, but you can use any of your
03:06favourite vegetables. Fry them until softened to your liking and then take them off the heat.
03:14Finally, we're going to make the ponzu sauce. Take a small saucepan and add 90ml of ponzu,
03:212 tablespoons of mirin, 2 tablespoons of sake, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of honey.
03:29Let it boil for 1-2 minutes to burn off the alcohol in sake and mirin.
03:35Ponzu is so sauce-based sauce infused with dash ingredients and citrus like lemon or yuzu.
03:41If you're interested in making your own ponzu, I have a recipe on my blog.
03:46While you wait for it to boil, add 1 teaspoon of potato starch to 1 tablespoon of cold water
03:53and mix them together to make a slurry. Pour this into the ponzu sauce and mix over the heat
03:59until it's thick and glossy. Once it looks like this, take it off the heat and let's serve.
04:05I'm serving my ponzu chicken with rice, so I'm just going to place the vegetables over one side of the
04:10rice,
04:13and then the chicken on the other side. I've cut it into strips so it's easy to eat with chopsticks.
04:22Finally, drizzle generously with the homemade ponzu sauce.
04:34And that's it. Delicious citrusy ponzu chicken with rice and vegetables.
04:40I hope you enjoyed this video. If you want to check out the written recipe, it's on my blog.
04:45The link is in the description. Thanks for watching. Hope to see you next time.
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