Recipe | Baked Hoisin Sauce Chicken

I've accumulated quite a bit of hoisin sauce and soy sauce packages over the years from various takeout orders. Now that I'm trying to cook more, I'm also trying to find creative ways to make use of and try different sauce creations. It's like the time I tried to make barbecue sauce from ketchup. The best part about using old sauces is that I get to "try before I buy" a larger size of the sauce. I mean, the last thing I'd want is to be stuck with a big bottle of sauce I hate the taste of!

With a quick Google search, I found a recipe by Rasa Malaysia that was simple and called for the ingredients I already had on hand -- hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chicken. I had black pepper on hand and used that instead of the white pepper in the original recipe. 

Their recipe calls for the following:

• 1 1/2 pounds of chicken drumsticks
• 2 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 3 dashes of ground white pepper

This is the recipe I did based on the eyeball-ed measurements I used:

• 6 chicken drumsticks and 1 random chicken thigh
• 4 packets of Hoisin sauce
• 2 packets of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 3 dashes of finely ground black pepper

To prepare the ingredients, I mixed them all in a bowl with a plain cereal spoon. Then, I dipped each drumstick (and the thigh piece) and made sure each piece was covered (but not overly doused) in sauce. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and baked the chicken for 30 minutes. 

The result was delicious, juicy, and complexly flavorful chicken! My husband devoured the whole tray, and I'm stuck having to make another batch tomorrow (so much for batch cooking!). I think I'd try to step up the flavor profile a notch by adding a packet or two of Sriracha sauce I have in my "extra condiments" bag the next time I bake a tray of these drumsticks.

Curious about other sauce/flavor creations I've made/tried? These are some fun ones I've tried and recommend:

• Buldak sauce  (which you can buy by the bottle or if you buy their ramen)
• Trader Joe's Thai style red curry sauce + Sriracha (My notes:  The sriracha sauce adds a kick to and balances the sweetness of the red curry sauce.)
• Trader Joe's Thai sweet ginger sauce (My notes:  The vinegar base of this sauce adds some acidity to the flavor and helps to tenderize the meat, especially if baking chicken breast, which is lean and tends to be dry!)
• Dark mushroom sauce + Minced garlic seasoning 
• Dry rub with Sapporo Ichiban brand ramen soup base

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I love finding new, simple, easy cooking recipes. What are some of your go-to recipes? What sauce creation(s) have you tried with hoisin sauce? What are your favorite ways to use hoisin sauce in your cooking?

Nicole G.

@nextwithnicole // @nursenicoleg