Home / All Recipes / Indonesian / Ayam Goreng Mentega - Fried Chicken in Buttery Sweet Soy Sauce
Ayam Goreng Mentega - Fried Chicken in Buttery Sweet Soy Sauce
My easy recipe will give you a juicy, tender fried chicken, coated in buttery kecap manis glaze. You will understand why this is Indonesia's top favorite food.
What’s your childhood favorite food? To most Indonesian around my age, ahem, the top spot is probably reserved for ayam goreng mentega - fried chicken in buttery sweet soy sauce.
Crispy fried chicken pieces, coated with sweet sticky buttery sauce that is finger licking good, you just know you are in for a good time with this dish. Just give me this and a bowl of rice and I won’t need anything else for a great meal.
Ingredients to prepare ayam goreng mentega
There are two parts to this lovely dish, ayam goreng (fried chicken), and saus mentega (buttery sweet soy sauce). And we will go through what ingredients are needed for each part.
I. Fried chicken
We will need boneless skinless chicken thigh, garlic, lime juice, all-purpose flour, tapioca starch (or cornstarch), salt, pepper, and oil.
II. Buttery sweet soy sauce
We will need unsalted butter, onion, garlic, kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce), Worcestershire sauce, salt, sugar, and pepper.
Part I: Frying chicken
1. Marinate the chicken
Mix together chicken thigh pieces with bruised garlic, lime juice, and salt. Set aside to rest for 15 minutes.
2. Coat the chicken
Whisk together all-purpose flour, tapioca starch, and salt. Toss the chicken into the flour mixture to fully coat. There shouldn’t be any standing liquid at all at this point.
3. Fry the chicken
Heat enough oil in a wok/pot for deep-frying. Once the oil is hot enough (it should looks shimmering and runnier), add the coated chicken pieces, in batches if needed, and fry until golden brown. Set aside over a wire rack while we prepare the sauce.
Part II: Preparing the sauce
First, melt butter in a wok over medium high heat. Sauté onion and garlic until fragrant and onion is translucent.
Next, season with salt, ground pepper, sugar, and mix well.
Then add kecap manis and Worcestershire sauce, mix and wait until the sauce bubbles.
Quickly return fried chicken pieces into the wok and toss gently to coat with sauce.
Turn off the heat, and transfer to a serving plate. Serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Using whole chicken vs. boneless skinless chicken thigh
Those who are familiar with this dish will know that almost all restaurants that serve this dish use one whole chicken cut into roughly 20 pieces of chicken, with skin and bone intact.
If you have a friendly butcher that is willing to help you chop up your chicken, by all mean do give the traditional method a try since the bone and the skin does improve the dish, but be ready to get messy comes chow time.
For everyone else, I guarantee that using skinless boneless chicken thigh is delicious enough without taking away too many points from the traditional method.
Ayam Goreng Mentega - Fried Chicken in Buttery Sweet Soy Sauce
Ingredients
- Fried chicken
- 600 gram boneless skinless chicken thigh, cut into strips
- 4 cloves garlic, bruised
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 100 gram all purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon tapioca starch (or corn starch)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper (or ground black pepper)
- enough oil for deep frying
- Buttery sweet soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 onion (~200 gram), thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 3 tablespoon Indonesian sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Fried chicken
- Mix together chicken with bruised garlic, lime juice, and salt. Then let rest for 15 minutes.
- Whisk together all purpose flour, tapioca starch, and salt. Toss the chicken into flour mixture to fully coat. There shouldn't be any standing liquid at all at this point.
- Heat enough oil in a wok/pot for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough (it should looks shimmering and runnier), add the coated chicken pieces, in batches if needed, and fry until golden brown. Set aside over a wire rack while we prepare the sauce.
- Buttery sweet soy sauce
- Melt butter in a frying pan over medium high heat. Sauté onion and garlic until fragrant and onion is translucent.
- Season with salt, ground pepper, and sugar. Mix well.
- Add Indonesian sweet soy sauce and worcestershire sauce. Mix well.
- Once the sauce bubbles, quickly return fried chicken pieces to the frying pan and toss gently to coat.
- Turn off the heat, and transfer to a serving plate. Serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Comments
wah makasih banyak mbak resepnya, makan ini nih yg sering ngabisin nasi
Iya banget :)
Hi kak, i've been following your website for quite a while now. I am a student and been trying out several of your recipes. Can you please share affordable, healthy recipes for student/ anak kos? That would be so helpful
Hi Andrea, thanks for trying out my recipes. Most of my recipes should be pretty affordable, even by student standard :) If you stick to my tofu/chicken/vegetarian dishes, those should be very affordable, healthy, and hopefully quite easy to prepare even in a super minimalist kitchen. Some of my suggestions: - steamed tofu - simple braised tofu - mun tahu - semur ayam - ayam sisit - opor ayam
This was soooo good, will definitely make more of this in the future!
It's a favorite in my home too Jennifer. I'm so glad you like it :)
tried and love it! :)
Yay, glad you love it, Dewi. :)
Hi Mba Anita, saya sudah recook resep ini dan enak banget! Makasih sudah share resepnya yaaa.
Sama-sama, Savitri. Happy deh udah coba di recook lagi, dan hasilnya enak dan memuaskan. :)
My mom suggested that I made this dish, and she dictated a very rough recipe to me as most Indonesian moms would. Since it was my first time making it, I came here and followed your recipe. It came out great! The amount of butter scared me a little but it's so fragrant, so worth it! Thanks for sharing the recipe 😄
Sweet Buttey Soy Sauce sounds delicious. I am going to try this sauce soon.
Love trying new international dishes! I wouldn't have thought this recipe would be so easy, but your detailed instructions were a huge help! Delicious for the whole family!
Yum, this is definitely my kind of food!
That sauce looks and sounds so good! Yum! :)
Well, I cannot hold myself: I am mouthwatering looking at your pictures. Love this chicken meal: something new for me to try. Juicy, tasty and delicious.
The deep fried chicken was already good without the sauce too! It takes quite long to do the deep fried step, but it's worth it! Thank you for this recipe, Anita!
Your ayam goreng mentega receipe is the best! My kids loves it so much, had to be on our weekly menu. Thanks!
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