Recipes / Chicken
Spiced chicken thighs with tomato basting sauce
Bone-in chicken thighs rubbed with paprika and cumin, braaied over a two-zone fire and basted with a sweet-sour tomato and vinegar sauce.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 35 min
- Serves
- 4
- Done at
- 165°F (74°C)
Ingredients
Chicken
Basting sauce
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with the burners on high and the lid closed for 10 minutes, then turn them down to medium so the lid thermometer settles at 175 to 200°C (350 to 400°F). Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Close the lid between turns. It cooks a little faster than an open braai, so start checking about 5 minutes early.
- Keep one burner off or on low as a cooler zone. If fat flares up, move the food there. Never use water on a gas grill flare-up.
- For a smoky taste, put a handful of wood chips in a smoker box, or a foil parcel pierced with a few holes, over a lit burner while the grill preheats.
- Put all the basting sauce ingredients in a small pot, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour half into a bowl to serve at the table. Thin the rest with 60 ml (1/4 cup) water for basting.
- Pat the thighs dry. Mix the salt, pepper, cumin and paprika and rub it all over the chicken with the oil.
- Rake the coals into a two-zone fire: a hot side and a cooler side with only a few coals.
- Start the thighs skin side down over the hot side for 10 to 15 minutes, turning every 3 to 4 minutes and basting after each turn. Move pieces away from any flare-ups.
- Move the thighs to the cooler side and cook for another 15 minutes, turning now and then.
- Finish over the hot side for 2 to 3 minutes, basting and turning, until the sauce is sticky.
- Rest for 5 minutes and serve with the sauce you set aside.
Done when: the juices run clear and a thermometer next to the bone reads at least 74°C (165°F). Thighs are juicier and more tender at 80°C (175°F) to 85°C (185°F).
Tips
- Never brush raw chicken with the sauce you will serve. Keep the two bowls separate from the start.
- Sugar in the baste burns. Do most of the basting on the cooler side, and keep the hot side for colour.
- Bone-in thighs forgive a few extra minutes far better than breasts do.
Chicken thighs are the most forgiving piece of chicken to braai: they stay juicy over a fire that is a little too hot and taste better cooked past the minimum safe temperature. A basting sauce of tomato, vinegar and sugar is a South African farm classic. The trick is a two-zone fire and a meat thermometer.
Source
Adapted from How to braai chicken at Farmer's Weekly and Lemon Chicken Thighs at MegaMaster.