Pandan Chicken is a perfect Thai party appetizer. These marinated bites of chicken are wrapped in pandan leaves and deep fried until golden brown. Serve them with a sweet soy sauce dip for a delicious finger food at your next get-together!
These delicious appetizers are made by marinating chicken in a traditional Thai marinade and then wrapping them in pandan leaves before deep frying. The marinade provides a garlicky, slightly spicy flavor, while the pandan leaves impart their delicate, inviting aroma to the chicken. Perhaps more important than fragrance, the pandan leaves also keep the chicken moist while it's cooking so that you wind up with succulent bites of deep fried chicken.
They make for a great party food, mid day snack, or even part of a meal served with jasmine rice. However you enjoy them, Pandan Chicken is sure to be a hit!
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Traditional Thai Marinade
This Pandan Chicken appetizer relies on the traditional Thai marinade of garlic, white pepper, and cilantro roots for its base flavor. These three ingredients are pounded together to form a paste, then oyster sauce is added to provide a sweet saltiness. The chicken can be marinated for just a few minutes while you prepare the hot oil, or up to overnight for a stronger flavor.
Of the three Thai marinade ingredients, cilantro roots are usually the hardest to find. They are most often available at markets catering to the Southeast Asian population. If you are able to find them, be sure to stock up as they freeze well. If you are not able to find them, the stems of the cilantro plant can be substituted, or they can be left out. Likewise, if you don't have whole white peppercorns, ground white pepper can be used in its place in this marinade.
Pandan Leaves
Pandan is a verdant green bush with many long, narrow leaves belonging to the screw pine family. It is prevalent across Southeast Asia and is used in Thai cooking in many different ways. In Thai, pandan is known as Bai Tuey (ใบเตย). Please see this article for more information about Pandan leaves.
In this dish, pandan leaves work in three very important ways. First, they provide a wonderful inviting aroma and subtle flavor to the chicken. They also help keep the chicken moist while it's being deep fried. And finally, the pandan leaves wrapped around the chicken make for a beautiful and intriguing presentation.
Ingredients
- Chicken: Chicken thighs work best in this recipe, as they will stay more tender while cooking. Cut against the grain into bite-sized pieces and allow to marinate for about 15 minutes or up to overnight.
- Cilantro Roots: Cilantro roots add a subtle earthy flavor to the marinade. They are often available at Southeast Asian markets or local farmer's markets. If you are not able to find them, you can substitute cilantro stems or just leave them out.
- Garlic: Garlic is a key ingredient in the marinade. Peel and pound together with the other marinade ingredients.
- Whole White Peppercorns: Whole white peppercorns add a subtle spice to the chicken marinade. Pound together with the other marinade ingredients. Ground white pepper also works, although you'll want to use slightly less than a teaspoon as it is more potent than peppercorns you grind yourself.
- Oyster sauce: Oyster sauce adds a sweet saltiness to the marinade.
- Pandan Leaves: Fresh or frozen pandan leaves should be used to wrap the marinated chicken. Fresh leaves can be difficult to find, but frozen leaves are much more readily available at Asian markets. See below for detailed instructions of how to wrap them around the chicken.
- Oil for Deep Frying: Vegetable, peanut, or canola oil all work well for deep frying.
Instructions
Marinate the Chicken: Cut the cilantro roots and garlic into small pieces. Pound them together with the white pepper until a paste is formed. Add the oyster sauce. Cut the chicken into medium-sized chunks, approximately 2 inches square, and combine with the marinade paste.1
Wrap the Chicken: Wash your pandan leaves and cut them into approximately 10-12 inch lengths. Wrap the marinated chicken in the leaves as demonstrated in the pictures below.
Fry the Chicken: Heat oil in a pan over medium heat until the oil shimmers.2 Add the pandan-wrapped chicken and allow to cook for about three minutes, depending on the size of your chicken pieces.3 The exposed chicken should be golden brown and the pandan leaves crisp and more golden than green.
Serve with Dipping Sauce: Add the sauce ingredients to a small saucepan and allow to cook until slightly thickened. Add toasted sesame seeds and allow to cool. Serve with the deep fried Pandan Chicken.
NOTES:
1: The chicken can marinate while you prepare the pandan leaves and heat the oil. This short amount of time is still enough for the chicken to be flavorful. However, if you'd like to prepare the chicken ahead of time, it can marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
2: The temperature of the oil is critical to the success of this dish. If your oil is too hot, the pandan leaves will burn before the chicken cooks through. If it's not hot enough, the pandan leaves will not get crispy.
3: Fresh pandan leaves will cause quite a few splatters when first added to the hot oil. Be sure to add one at a time, stepping back to ensure your safety.
To Wrap the Pandan Leaves
To wrap the chicken in the pandan leaves, follow the diagram above. First, fold the pandan leaf like you would to make a yellow ribbon, leaving one side longer than the other (image 2). Place the chicken in the middle of the ribbon (image 3) and fold the longer pandan length back over the chicken, securing it by threading it through the other pandan length (image 4). Turn the chicken over (image 5) and do the same thing with the longer pandan length on this side (image 6). When you turn the chicken back over to its front, it should be wrapped fairly securely in the pandan leaf, with a little tip peeking out through the top.
If this seems too complicated, an easier way to make a Pandan Chicken parcel would be to simply wrap the leaf around the chicken until it's mostly covered, and secure it with a toothpick.
Serving Suggestions
Pandan chicken is typically served with a sweet soy sauce dip which complements the the chicken beautifully. The sweetness provides a nice counterbalance to the garlicky chicken. However, if you're a devoted sweet chili dipping sauce (nam jim gai) fan, please feel free to use this as well. And if you are serving these fantastic pandan chicken bites for a party, giving your guests a choice in dipping sauces would make eating them even more fun!
Recipe
Pandan Chicken | Gai Bai Tuey | ไก่ใบเตย
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- ½ pound chicken thighs
- 1 Tablespoon cilantro root
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
- 2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
- 16 pandan leaves
For the dipping sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon black soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons thin soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Prepare the Marinade: Wash the cilantro roots and cut into small pieces. Peel the garlic. Add both to mortar and pestle and pound until broken down. Add the white peppercorns and continue to pound until a smooth paste is formed. Add the oyster sauce and mix until well incorporated.
- Marinate the Chicken: Cut the chicken into medium-sized chunks, approximately 2 inches square. Combine with the marinade paste, ensuring the chicken is coated evenly. The chicken can be marinated for as short (just until the oil is hot) or as long (overnight in the refrigerator) as you like. The longer it marinates, the stronger the flavors will be.
- Wrap the Chicken: Wash your pandan leaves and cut them into approximately 12 inch lengths. Wrap the marinated chicken in the leaves as demonstrated in the pictures above.
- Fry the Chicken: Heat canola or another mild-flavored oil in a pot over medium heat until the oil shimmers. It is ready when you stick a chopstick in and bubbles appear around it. Add the pandan-wrapped chicken, one piece at a time, allowing the oil to retain its heat after each addition. Allow the chicken to cook for two to four minutes, depending on the size of your chicken pieces. The exposed chicken should be golden brown, and the pandan leaves crisp and more golden than green.1
- Make the Dipping Sauce: Combine all dipping sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sauce has become slightly thicker. Allow to cool, then add the toasted sesame seeds.
- Serve Pandan Chicken: Serve the Pandan Chicken with the sweet soy sauce dip, or with Nam Jim Gai if you prefer. To eat the chicken, unwrap the pandan leaf and then dip the bare chicken into the dipping sauce.2
Rachel
Thanks, I appreciate that, Em 🙂
em
Rachel, if i'm a man, i'll marry you 🙂
Rachel
Thanks, I appreciate that, Em 🙂
Jessica
Beautiful presentation with pandan leaves. Those are flavorful little things- i would imagine they add flavor to the chicken wrapped like that? I use them a lot in my Sri Lankan dishes. Anyway, I practically grew up on Thai food, so I am glad I stumbled upon your site today. Cheers!
Rachel
Thanks for commenting Jessica! I love pandan leaves -- they add such a wonderful subtle flavor to so many dishes!
Rachel
Thanks for commenting Deborah! I'm always happy to meet other couples like us 🙂 I hope that at least some of the recipes here are helpful in creating some of the dishes that your husband craves...
Deborah
I happened upon your blog because, after being married to a Thai man for 32 years, I need to finally expand my repertoire of Thai dishes beyond the handful I now make. What took me so long? We're retiring to Tucson, AZ and Tucson is a real black hole when it comes to good Thai restaurants. There are good Thai restaurants in Fort Collins, CO where we've lived throughout our marriage, with one of those being an absolute knock-out, and I feel terribly guilty that he's not going to have those options here, since he was happy to stay in the Fort but I was desperate to escape the cold. I'm looking forward to becoming more intuitive about combining flavors with your help and am thrilled to have this resource.
And now I just can't help but ask: With how thoroughly you've embraced and perfected his cuisine, how on earth is it that your boyfriend hasn't married you after ten years?! For shame, sir! 😉