Last updated on May 15th, 2018 at 03:21 pm
If you’re looking for more flavor in your chicken, stop right there. These Grilled Harissa Sesame Chicken Thighs are super flavourful, easy to put together and grilled to perfection.
Not to toot my own horn here, but I am better at grilling than my husband. He will grill any piece of meat to death, they get so dry and hard, especially chicken breast, that you have a hard time cutting into it with a knife. He’s just that afraid of eating raw chicken. The one thing he doesn’t really screw up are good old beef steaks and that’s mostly because I time them for him. Anyway, needless to say I’ve learned my lesson now. Pretty much every time we grill chicken, I do it, and it always ends up nice and juicy.
He does have many other talents, which I won’t go into here, but he’s a keeper. Let’s talk about this chicken though because it’s worth talking about, when it comes to flavor this chicken is loaded with it. I’ve had this harissa paste in the fridge for quite a while now and have been meaning to use it but was trying to think of how.
So I came up with the idea to make this marinade with it, plus some other great ingredients like garlic and ginger, soy sauce, a bit of brown sugar to balance the spiciness from the harissa paste and some sesame seeds and sesame oil. You should know that I’m crazy about sesame oil, I absolutely love the smell, the taste, everything about it.
All you need to do is combine all those great ingredients together and marinate your chicken in it for at least 30 minutes for up to 4 hours. I decided to use chicken thighs boneless and skinless because the meat ends up juicier but you could definitely use chicken breasts, or drumsticks, whatever you prefer.
Serve this with a great salad, which you can find plenty on this blog, and you’ve got yourself some great summer eating.
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Grilled Harissa Sesame Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 3 green onions cleaned and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 2 tsp harissa paste *
- 3 tbsp soy sauce low sodium
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 8 chicken thighs skinless and boneless
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the chopped green onions, garlic, ginger, harissa, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Remove about 1/4 of the mixture to a small bowl or cup and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Add the chicken thighs to the large bowl and toss making sure all the chicken is covered in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to 4 hours.
- Preheat your grill, over medium heat.
- Grill the chicken thighs for about 4 to 5 minutes per side or until cooked through and they start to char a bit.
- Transfer the chicken to a platter and drizzle with the remaining harissa mixture.
- Garnish with fresh parsley if preferred and sesame seeds.
Notes
Nutrition
This was delicious! I made it tonight along with the Jalapeno-Garlic grilled corn and some grilled zucchini. The thighs were flavorful and moist, and the marinade was delicious!
Made these tonight, using breasts and Trader Joe’s harissa paste. So fantastic! Leftovers will go on a romaine and kale Asian salad later this week. Thanks so much!
Do you think I could bake this in the oven? I only have a charcoal grill and sometimes that’s too much to mess with, haha
Sure I don’t see why not!
My husband and yours must be grill clones……I only let him grill steaks and burgers….I have have harissa but I do not keep it in the fridge….am I wrong?
I think it’s one of those things where if you open it you have to keep it refrigerated, I might be wrong though but that’s what I usually do, just to be safe.
I bought harissa, but have not used it yet, so this marinade sounds perfect. I don’t like thighs, so I’ll try it on chicken breasts, fish and steak.
Steak would be awesome with this marinade!
When do you use the sesame oil?
It’s in the marinade Betty! 🙂
Oh ok thanks? Also it says rose harissa. Is rose the kind of harissa?
Thanks ?
From my understanding rose harissa has rose petals in it, so I mentioned rose harissa because that’s what mine says on the jar. 🙂
Awesome, thanks! I am definitely going to try this!