A basting sauce of Sriracha, apricot preserves, hot chili sauce, rice vinegar and fish sauce gives grilled chicken a tangy, slightly spicy kick. Recipe below.
LOOKING OVER MY MOST RECENT POSTS, I realized I’d done two vegetarian dishes, a peach-centric roundup of mostly vegetarian and/or fruititarian dishes and last week’s boozitarian cocktail. It was time to get meaty again.
Flipping through Bon Appétit magazine’s July grilling issue, I came across some spicy chicken skewers basted with an interesting mix of flavors. I played with those flavors considerably, keeping the Sriracha, hot chili paste, rice vinegar and fish sauce of the original, but tweaking amounts and using apricot preserves instead of brown sugar for the sweetness and adding chopped chives for a wild green note.
And instead of skinless, skewered bites of chicken, I opted for meaty bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks and thighs. Much of the skin’s fat cooks off during grilling, but not without naturally basting the flesh as it does. The end result is moist, tender and juicy.
The recipe that inspired this one involved cooking the basting sauce to reduce it a bit. Other recipes I consulted either included this step or didn’t. I chose not to, even though it was less thick and clingy as a basting sauce. Next time I make it, I might reduce it—or I might not.
Grilled Sriracha Apricot Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 each, bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks and thighs
- 1/2 cup apricot preserves
- 3 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (see Kitchen Notes)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 5 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil for the grill
Instructions
- Prepare your grill for both indirect and direct grilling. Remove chicken from fridge about 1/2 hour before you're ready to cook and trim excess skin and fat. Set aside on counter. If you're using charcoal, you can do this when you start the coals.
- Combine preserves, Sriracha, chili sauce, rice vinegar and fish sauce in a medium bowl, mashing out any lumps in the preserves with the tines of a fork. Stir in the chives.
- When the grill is ready, pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Brush the grill rack lightly with oil and place chicken skin side up on the side of the grill away from the heat source. Cover the grill and cook chicken for about 5 minutes; this will render some of the fat. Move chicken directly over the coals skin side down, cover grill and cook until skin begins to crisp and brown, about 5 minutes (or longer, if needed).
- Move chicken away from heat and turn skin side up. Brush with basting sauce, cover grill and cook, turning every few minutes and basting, until chicken is cooked through, another 10 to 15 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should register 165ºF when inserted in the thickest part. Transfer chicken to platter and let it rest for 5 minutes or so, then serve.
I used to cook down basting sauces, but decided it was a waste of time: you don’t improve the flavor all that much, and the sauce actually cooks down a bit on the meat anyway (not as much as when you reduce it on the stove, but somewhat). This looks spectacular! I love fruit with grilled chicken. I’ve made a similar sauce in the paste with ginger preserves, which was also quite good (I didn’t include fish sauce though — my loss). Good stuff — thanks.
I love the idea of using apricot preserves both as sweetener and thickener. Time to root around in the pantry and see if I have some preserves there.
This looks and sounds absolutely mahvalous. And rooting around in my pantry, I see all I’m lacking is:
chicken
apricot preserves
rice vinegar
fish sauce
chives
a grill
But I did find some salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Score!
I also marked that recipe in the magazine to try, but I think your version made it considerably better…
great job!
Kitchenriffs, I hadn’t thought of ginger preserves. That sounds good too. The thing that cooking it down would do is make the sauce a little thicker and more clingy.
Lydia, could you give Altadenahiker some tips on stocking a pantry, please?
Thanks, SallyBR!
I have never heard of apricot chicken! I’ll definitely be trying this soon. Thanks for the great idea.
Looks fantastic and perfect for summer!! Will certainly be trying this
This sounds absolutely amazing. This is going to be my next cook out meal. I’m excited. I like that it is both sweet and spicy. 😉