My Best Asian Marinade Recipe

Today I want to share a favorite Asian-style marinade that we love on our BBQ around here. My husband’s Cambodian family does a lot of cooking and Cambodian BBQ s are their specialty. These are not hamburger and hot dog BBQ s. If you are lucky enough to attend one you will have delicious, thinly sliced, marinated beef on skewers with lots of white rice and papaya salad and other yummy Cambodian foods. While I have the recipe for their Asian marinade my husband is boycotting one of the key ingredients in theirs. My husband is not a boycotter by nature, but when he does, he means business, so I came up with a different recipe that didn’t need the offending ingredient. After years of experimenting and trying various ingredients I present to you my best Asian marinade which my husband LOVES, and that is a compliment.

Like most things I make this recipe is easy and is also great to prep ahead of time. Just add meat into your marinade and throw on the grill after work. Use it with beef or chicken and while I haven’t tried it yet I bet it would work with Salmon as well. This recipe will most likely require a trip to your local Asian grocer which is always a fun experience. I have spent many hours there looking at the wide variety of exotic ingredients and bringing new things home. And while you are there you can get some good soy sauce- the real stuff- for this marinade as well. Additionally, I strongly recommend fresh ginger in any Asian cooking. Ginger powder is great for ginger cake or bread, but it just falls short in Asian cuisine. That sharp, sweet, and spicy flavor just shines through perfectly in so many recipes. Powdered ginger is an insult. And now, here is today’s recipe.

Best Asian Marinade

1/2 cup good soy sauce (from an Asian store)*

1/2 cup of organic cane sugar (white sugar fine)

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 tbsp. of minced, fresh ginger or ginger paste**

1/4 cup of sesame oil

1 heaping tbsp. of Vietnamese caramel cooking sauce

A few splashes of Tamari

2-3 lbs. of meat of choice

Combine all ingredients and add 2 to 3 lbs. of beef or chicken. Marinade for 6 hours or overnight. In the featured pictures I marinated chicken thighs and grilled for noodle bowls. You can also thinly sliced beef and marinate for kabobs.

*Note on soy sauce: I learned a long time ago that authentic Asian soy sauce tastes far better than the Americanized versions. This recipe is made with the authentic Asian soy sauce.

**Some stores carry herb “pastes” that make it easy to add fresh herbs such as ginger.