Let’s eat colorfully today!

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

I mean, this Thai Lemongrass Chicken is not even close to a salad, but yet it’s so beyond colorful. I LOVE it! I love color in the dead of colorless winter. Oddly, I also love winter white, but not when it comes to my food. Ok wait, I take that back, give me white cheese + carbs and I’d be pretty happy.

Monday though, Monday needs color! Healthy, colorful and EASY, but I think we had the easy recipes discussion last Monday.

This Monday can we discuss something a little more off topic? Oh boy, oh boy, here I go…

Let me tell you how I procrastinate, because right now, after writing all day long, that’s pretty much all I want to do. First, I totally check social media. Snapchat and Instagram are my go-to’s. If nothing there is interesting, I float off and check my emails. I know, that’s so fun, right? Well, I look at the junk emails, you know, the ones I should really un-subscribe from. Some of those junky emails can lead me to all the celebrity gossip, which yes, I secretly kind of love. I try not to admit it, but it’s true. Sometimes the mind just needs to be taken away from serious thoughts and on to brainless material, you know?

Today for example, I was checking some things on my YouTube Channel and saw the video for Selena Gomez’s new music video. I can’t say I’m a serious Selena Gomez fan, but yet I still watched the video. Weirdly that video somehow lead me to the new Fuller House trailer. I was just all kinds of happy after that… can’t wait for that series to start on Netflix!

Sooo yeah, now do you see why a desk job would be horrible for me? Any tips for focusing while sitting at the computer would be very much welcomed at this time. Please and thank you. 🙂

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

And now that I got that all out of my system I can tell you all about this Thai lemongrass chicken braised in coconut milk and how much I stickin LOVE it. First, let me explain about the whole chicken in milk thing. I’m sure you guys are probably familiar with Jamie Oliver, right? If you aren’t head here and prepare to be amazed. He does incredibly delicious things with food. One of them is braising a whole chicken in milk. I’ve been seeing this recipe around the internet for the last year and telling myself I have to try it soon.

Well, me being me, I have still yet to try that exact recipe. I really had every intention to, but then me being me, I kept thinking about it. You all know I have a serious love for coconut milk, so when the thought of swapping the cow’s milk for coconut milk popped into my head, there was really no looking back from there, I just had to explore the idea. For a while I wasn’t that sure about it, but then the day finally came to actually test the recipe. I knew from the moment the coconut milk hit the chicken that it was going to be SO good.

SO. DANG. GOOD.

There are almost not even words to describe the deliciousness, but then of course… you know I have some.

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Instead of using a whole chicken I kept things simple and went for skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs. You can certainly use chicken breasts too, but lately I am loving all the flavor the thighs give. You must use canned coconut milk for this chicken, as the refrigerated varieties are not nearly thick enough. Lite canned coconut milk works, but I prefer full-fat and all its yumminess.

The whole meal is made in one pot in about an hour. It could not be simpler. It’s full of lite Thai flavors, moist and tender chicken and my favorite green at the moment, bok choy. There’s also large amounts of lemongrass, ginger and lime. YESSS – take that all you winter colds!

Also, I could not decide between black rice (aka forbidden rice) and rice noodles, so I did what I do best. I decided not to choose and just used both. A little noodles with my rice, chicken and coconut broth please. Obviously you do not HAVE to use both, but I cannot deny that both where equally delicious and I was super happy with the combo.

Like party in my stomach happy.

Man, I think I get cheesier with every passing day. Oh well, it’s food, to me there is no other way of explaining it!

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

I also have to mention that this dinner was a hit with all. Well, not the two pickiest brothers Kai and Red… and certainly not Creighton because he was not here, but everyone else that was in my parent’s house at the time (friends included) fell hard for this chicken. I even got an “I think this is my favorite recipe yet” statement. So you see, this is what a really, really awesome chicken dinner looks like.

And yes, I do think it’s all because of the coconut milk. It keeps the chicken moist and makes for THE BEST creamy broth/sauce that chicken can be paired with! Bold statement, but true.

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvestThai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest
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4.27 from 30 votes

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

The Recipe

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk.

By halfbakedharvest

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, thai
Keyword: chicken, coconut milk, lemongrass

Let's eat colorfully today!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 4 Servings
Calories 403 kcal

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
  • 3 pounds bone in skin on chicken thighs (may also use breast)
  • salt + pepper to taste
  • 1 small sweet onion finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic minced or grated
  • 1 inch piece fresh ginger grated
  • 1-2 red fresno chiles or jalapenos seeds removed + chopped (I use 2, but use 1 for less spice)
  • 1-2 lemons grass stalk sliced
  • 3-3 1/2 cups canned coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 baby bok choy halved
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped + more fore serving
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • steam black or white rice for serving
  • rice noodles for serving

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Heat a large dutch oven or oven safe pot over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil. Season the chicken with salt + pepper. Once hot, add the chicken and sear on both sides until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pot and place on a plate.
  3. To the same pot, add another drizzle of oil. Add the onion and cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, ginger, fresno peppers and lemon grass. Season with salt + pepper. Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes minutes. Remove from the heat.
  4. Add the chicken back to the pot. Pour in the coconut milk (starting with 3 cups and fish sauce. Add the cinnamon sick and position the bok choy around the chicken. Sprinkle over the cilantro.
  5. Place the pot in the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the chicken is tender and cooked through. If the coconut milk sauce starts getting too thick towards the end of cooking, add in the remain 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Check the chicken 1-2 times throughout cooking, spooning the sauce over the chick to help keep it moist.
  6. Remove from the oven. Drizzle the lime juice over the chicken. Divide the chicken among bowls or plate and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Top with fresh cilantro and green onions. Serve with black rice and or rice noodles. EAT!

Recipe Notes

*Adapted from [The Kitchn | http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-chicken-in-coconut-milk-with-lemongrass-recipes-from-the-kitchn-81026].

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Now if you will excuse me, I need some one-on-one time with that bowl there… it’s calling my name.

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest