This Coconut Caramel Chicken is a magical, EASY Vietnamese chicken recipe!! The chicken version of Vietnamese Caramel Pork, it’s slow cooked in coconut milk with Vietnamese flavourings until it reduces down to a sweet-savoury glaze and the flesh is tender.
Go all out with a Vietnamese menu and serve this alongside fresh Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls, Bun Cha Vietnamese meatballs and a fresh Asian Slaw on the side!
An incredible Vietnamese chicken recipe
There are no words to describe how good this Vietnamese chicken is.
And how it looks like a million bucks when it’s finished but completely unimpressive while it’s cooking. You’ll probably be doubting me the whole time right up until the last 5 minutes when it transforms from milky bleakness into golden gloriousness!
Here by popular demand!
This is the chicken version of the wildly, unexpectedly popular Vietnamese Caramel Pork that I shared a few weeks ago. It really caught me off guard how much you loved that one – and it makes me so happy! That sort of recipe is completely and utterly me. A little different from the usual, big kapow! flavours, a bit exotic, and yet something that anyone can make without having to hunt down hard to find ingredients.
At the time I shared it, I was flopping back and forth trying to decide whether to share the legit Vietnamese pork version or this chicken version which is adapted from the pork.
And, unsurprisingly, quite a few people asked how to make the Vietnamese Caramel Pork with chicken. It’s not as simple as just switching the pork with chicken. So here it is – the chicken version. 🙂
The Vietnamese Caramel Pork is made with coconut water which actually doesn’t taste of coconut. It’s kind of salty and a bit sweet – not that pleasant to drink plain. But it works great as a broth to slow cook pieces of pork.
However, I found that with chicken, it lacked flavour (pork meat has a stronger flavour than chicken). So I used coconut milk instead and tweaked a few things – coconut milk is way sweeter than coconut water, so I cut down slightly on the sugar and added vinegar to balance out the sweetness. Plus reduced the cook time – the pork takes 90 minutes which is too long for chicken.
Best cut of chicken for this recipe
I find it’s easiest to make this Vietnamese chicken recipe with bone in, skin on thigh fillets, not only because you get the gorgeous bronzing of the skin but also because it won’t fall apart in the time it takes to reduce the broth down to a sticky sauce.
However, I also really like this made with skinless boneless thigh fillets so I’ve got directions for this in the recipe too (it does involve taking them out earlier, otherwise they fall apart and it gets difficult to handle in the sticky sauce).
How to serve Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken
Because the glaze has quite a strong flavour, this is best served with plain white rice – jasmine rice is my favourite.
And for a fresh side, a crunchy Asian Slaw would be very fitting – it’s a terrific fresh salad with beautiful bright flavours. Or toss steamed vegetables or a garden salad with this Asian Sesame Dressing or the Nuoc Cham in this Lemongrass chicken recipe.
And lastly:
I, Nagi of RecipeTin Eats, do hereby solemnly declare that this will be the last variation of a recently published recipe for the remainder of 2017.
I’m very aware that I’ve done a handful of variations of late, pursuant to reader requests. 🙂 Like the Mushroom Rice (stove version) which was followed by a Baked Mushroom Rice. Parmesan Crusted Potatoes were followed by the low carb version of Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower.
Now Vietnamese Caramel Pork followed by this Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken.
That’s it! No more!!!! (For 2017 😉 ) – Nagi x
Get your Vietnamese fix!
Lemongrass Chicken – one of my favourite things to grill!
Vietnamese Caramel Pork Bowls – super quick!
Browse all Vietnamese recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 large / 5 small chicken thighs , bone in skin on (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup / 80 g brown sugar , loosely packed
- 1 tbsp water
- 400 g / 14 oz coconut milk , low fat (1 can) (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (Note 3)
- 2 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar (or cider vinegar)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 eschallot / French onion , finely sliced (Note 4)
- 1/4 tsp white pepper (or black)
Garnishes (optional):
- 1 shallot , finely sliced (green onion / scallion)
- 1 large red chilli , finely sliced
Instructions
- Place sugar and water in a skillet over medium heat. Stir, then when it bubbles and the sugar is melted (it looks like caramel), add the rest of the ingredients except chicken.
- Stir, then put the chicken in SKIN SIDE DOWN.
- Adjust the heat so it is simmering energetically. Not rapidly, not a slow simmer (I use medium high heat on a weak stove, medium on a strong stove).
- After 25 minutes, turn the chicken.
- After another 25 minutes, the fat should separate from the sauce and turn a pale brown (see video).
- Turn chicken so the skin side is down. Move it around so the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the skillet and to brown the skin.
- Once sauce and skin is brown, remove from heat.
- Place chicken on serving plates, spoon over some sauce (don’t need much, chicken is infused with flavour + sauce is strong).
- Garnish with shallots and chilli, if using. Serve with rice.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Still sporting the Cindy Crawford beauty spot*. Who wears it better?
* Otherwise known as black permanent hair colour that somehow got splodged on this face when he tagged along with me to the hairdresser!
Cindy Crawford image credit Feelgrafix.com.
This tastes amazing! I’m a beginner cook but I love how your recipes are very easy to follow. I never actually manage the sauce to separate tho.. the sauce just gelled and then got burned.. not sure if i did something wrong somewhere or if it’s the type of coconut milk that i used.. or something else? 🤔
Another great recipe! And one more who managed to burn the sauce (solidarity to A) 😂
Wanted to try something new as my family can’t have enough of Nagi’s Oven Baked Chicken and Rice. Foggy juice actually thickened nicely by the 1st turn at 25 minutes, like magic! If it were not for my hubby who asked questions from then, I might have not burned it, but the chicken was great anyway. Just a lot of sweating by cleaning the pan.
Reception? My kids asked for Oven Baked Chicken and Rice for the next time 😅
I made this last night using vegan protein and it worked wonderfully. Really tasty sweet coconut flavor. I added the vegan protein in at the end when the oil was just starting to separate a bit. Turned out great.
Loved the flavour but i didn’t get the sticky sauce.
The chicken and sauce still had no colour after required cooking time, and I still had a lot of liquid in the pan,so i went another 10 minutes with still no luck. Ended up spooning out most of the sauce to get some colour on the skin, but still no sticky sauce, not sure what went wrong 🙁
This is great with salmon, but only add the fish right before the sauce thickens. Otherwise, the fish will be over cooked.
I just made this with leftover pork (from Christmas).
It worked perfectly!
thankyou for providing the coconut milk version Nagi – it’s a lifesaver on boxing day (I could make my own and didn’t have to go anywhere near a shop!)
I managed to burn it 😭 the sauce turned into caramel-ish charcoal. I removed the “sauce” and the chicken was still good, so I’m rating it 5 stars because I know it would have been amazing had I done it better lol
Don’t be like me! Supervise your food while it cooks!
I just made this tonight with chicken breast as per notes. It was absolutely delicious! Only this omitted was oyster sauce instead of fish sauce but I believe they are very similar? And I used coconut cream. Soo yummy!
Hi Nagi, we followed your recipe, exactly. It was great. We loved the juicy chicken and the subtly sweet sauce. We had it with jasmine rice, Asian slaw, and a quick stirfry of multi vegetables. It was delicious. Thank you for such a great recipe.
Hi Nagi,
This recipe is a winner! I made it tonight for my husband and me and it was delicious. You were so right that it does not look for appealing throughout the simmering process but those last five minutes sure make a difference!
Thanks for another great recipe!
Made this for the fourth time and loved it again. Made a vege loaded fried rice as well. Perfect. One of those pan licking dishes. Easy clean-up in dishwasher. Nagi, you make cooking bombproof. Exact temps and times. Love that. Kisses for dozer from cooroy qld.
We all loved Vietnamese Caramel Chicken. Gavin says it would be excellent with cashew nuts added just before serving. Would you entertain that?
What did I do wrong? I increased recipe as per the scale, using 6 large Thighs. Although it tasted good and the family really liked it, the sauce never turned into the lovely brown glaze consistency. The chicken was cooked, and the sauce still looked ‘milky’ in colour. The family loved the flavour, so I would like to attempt it again. Any suggestions! Thanks.
I’m not sure, as that happened for myself too. I bounced up the servings to “6” because of a number of mouths to feed (little ones usually don’t account for the same count, but it is relative), and the chicken was a bit more of a soup than anything. It still tasted good, never the less. It may have also been white sugar instead of brown — I was out of the brown.
Nevertheless, this one is going to be in rotation – it is that tasty, and that simple.
This was really great! It’s in the rotation! Thanks for the recipe!
I LOVE this recipe! You are my favorite chef and I will always look to your recipes before anyone else.
I’ve made this a couple times and will get hard, sticky bits in the sauce by the end. Should I turn the heat to low? Even so, a great recipe but I have to avoid accidentally biting into those as it is quite unpleasant
How do you double this recipe? Need to make thighs. Do I double the sauce and then cook chicken in two batches?
We love this recipe! I did try to double it the second time I made it and it didn’t turn out as well, so I’ll be sticking with the standard original recipe. Served it with coconut rice and steamed carrots. My husband said he would eat it every day if he could. I also love that I can just walk away from it for a good 20 minutes at a time, and get other stuff done. Cleaning the pan is horrendous but well worth the work. A fabulous recipe! Thank you!!
Soooooo delicious!! Served with jasmine rice and slaw with your Asian sesame dressing. I don’t think my end sauce was quite the correct consistency, but still super delicious. Looking forward to making again!
I can’t wait to try several of your recipes! They all look super easy and amazing. I LOVE your Dozer section, just fantastic and a great looking boy! BTW, he sports the mole better than Cindy 🙂
Hi Nagi! Must say you are amazing, enjoying sometimes even just reading your recipes, which all just rightly detailed and easy to follow!
Thank you very much from a crazy Hungarian living in the even crazier USA..😵💫😵💫😵💫