As bad as it sounds, I have not seasoned and cooked fresh chicken very much in my life. 99% of the time, I cook frozen, pre-cooked chicken like tenders or something like that. Trying to recreate Soy Sauce Chicken from one of my favorite influencers (I LOVE TiffyCooks, go follow her!) was the first time I voluntarily messed with fresh chicken, not counting the very few times my mother made me cut it and/or touch it.
It’s correct to say that once I saw Tiffy’s Reel on Soy Sauce Chicken, I knew I had to make it myself! And needless to say, I did. Did it come out as appetizing as her version? No, but it was still a great thing to attempt! Especially since I had never done something like that from start to finish in my nearly 18 years of life.
Speaking of start to finish, it’s a good time to talk about my Soy Sauce Chicken process. You may have seen the Reel I posted of my own remake, but there’s nothing that enhances visual content more than seeing the written details of the process.
The first thing I did was place two pieces of chicken thighs inside a Tupperware bowl. Then I poured in some soy sauce and a dark soy sauce substitute. One thing is that the real recipe called for dark soy sauce, but I didn’t have any soy sauce, and we saw no bottles at the local stores. So what I labeled as “dark soy sauce” actually consisted of 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of molasses, and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar. That’s it, that’s the substitute.
Then came the spices by the names of five-spice powder and white pepper, followed by some pure white sugar. Am I trying too hard to be poetic here? Maybe I am, but anyways, moving on.
Next, I chopped three cloves of garlic. And I didn’t use a butter knife, but instead a sharp knife. I’m really growing up from the kiddie stage, am I? The garlic went into the chicken, and then I “tossed” the chicken around to make sure all the flavors seep into it. What the Reel didn’t show is that I placed more chicken into the Tupperware bowl at my mother’s discretion. And then it marinated for two days. The original recipe said to marinate it for 30 minutes, which is okay if you don’t want to wait long to try soy sauce chicken. However, I marinated it for two days to get extra flavor.
And here’s a tip! If you marinate chicken for a couple of days or more, be sure to shake the chicken twice a day to make sure that the marinade seeps into the chicken on all parts. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a flavor imbalance.
Though after two days of marinating, it was time for the air-frying stage. After pre-heating my air-fryer at 380°F, the chicken sat in the air-fryer for around 26 minutes. And here’s another thing that the Reel didn’t show. Even though the three thighs cooked for 20 minutes, they were still not ready after that time. That is thanks to my mother checking the chicken and recognizing that it wasn’t fully cooked. We were about to dig into our dinner too, but of course, you can’t eat undercooked chicken. Unless you want to lay in your bed in agony the next day.
But on the positive side, it was finally time for dinner after a few extra minutes of cooking. White rice and asparagus made nice complementary sides (though I’ll admit that my rice could’ve tasted better). The chicken itself was juicy and had a mild, yet satisfying flavor. While putting more of the ingredients in proportion to the number of chicken thighs probably would’ve made an improvement, this is only my first attempt. And I’m a cooking novice anyway, so my cooking will only get better as time goes on. To credit myself, at least I prepared the dinner and planned it in my mind ahead of time.
Recipe: https://tiffycooks.com/the-best-air-fryer-soy-sauce-chicken/
Original Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CIhGX2dH4sC/?igshid=bdu90c6ce7mq
My Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CJcdZB7pnmv/?igshid=4djw6wqoesx5
