Baked Chili Chicken with Garlic Spinach
The baked chili chicken cooks in its own juices with minimal supervision. Make the garlic spinach while the chicken is in the oven. Easy, delightfully tasty dish to make for lunch or dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram chicken portions use whatever part you prefer, with or without skin, but I like thighs and I like them with the skin on
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon chilies finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 2 tablespoons salt
Garlic spinach
- 2 handfuls spinach or your local spinach
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 1 tablespoons garlic
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Rinse and pat the chicken dry with a kitchen towel.
- In a bowl, mix together the garlic, ginger, chilies, oyster sauce, salt, sugar and sesame seed oil. Add the chicken pieces and mix well.
- Take two large sheets of foil. Arrange the chicken in a single layer on one side of one sheet, fold the foil to cover the chicken and fold all the open sides to seal the package.
- Place the package in the remaining sheet of foil and repeat the sealing process (see notes after the recipe).
- Place the package in a baking tray and bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken portions.
- When cooking time is up, take the tray out of the oven. Leave the chicken inside the package to cool a bit.
- Cut the spinach into two-inches lengths.
- Heat the sesame seed oil in a wok or frying pan.
- Add the spinach stalks to the hot oil first as they need to cook longer than the leaves. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for a minute or so.
- Then, add the leaves and the garlic. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper.
- Stir fry for another minute or so or just until the leaves start to go limp.
- Cut the foil open — carefully so that the juices don’t spill out. Take out the chicken and arrange on one side of a platter. Fill the other side of the platter with the garlic spinach. Drizzle the chicken juices and spoon the aromatics that remain inside the folded foil over the chicken.
- Serve the baked chili chicken with garlic spinach at once.
Notes
The chicken cooks in its own juices and steam and no other moisture, so you don’t want any of it escaping so that the chicken does not dry out. Hence, double wrapping and sealing the chicken before going into the oven.
Updated from a recipe originally published in November 12, 2012
Updated from a recipe originally published in November 12, 2012
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