Hawaiian Shoyu chicken is one of the simplest things to make. Seriously. Yet somehow the few, simple ingredients turn into deep flavors, tender meat and an all-around unforgettable meal.
There is a little hole-in-the-wall cafe here in town the serves the BEST Hawaiian plate lunch you can get short of flying to Hawaii. The ribs are probably their claim to fame, but I’m a sucker for their shoyu chicken and macaroni salad. It’s been a while in the making, but I think the recipe I’ve come up with makes for a stinkin’ good substitute when I have a hankering for big plate of sweet meat, rice, and mac– which happens at least twice a week. Today I’m going to focus on the chicken and will share the macaroni salad recipe soon, promise!
Hawaiian Shoyu chicken is one of the simplest things to make. Seriously. Yet somehow the few, simple ingredients turn into deep flavors, tender meat and an all-around unforgettable meal. Shoyu is just another name for soy sauce, so as you might guess, we’re using a lot of soy sauce here. Other ingredients include Worcestershire sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar, water, and a little red pepper.
You’ll need about 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I know I’ll have someone ask if they can use breasts, and the answer it yes, yes you CAN. But try it once with chicken thighs just for me, please? The thighs have so much flavor and really make this shoyu chicken what it’s supposed to be. This recipe can be made on the stove-top or in a slow cooker. Directions for both will be in the recipe below.
You’ll make the sauce by combining all of the ingredients except for the chicken, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the sauce over the chicken in either a pot or slow cooker and give it a little stir.
You’ll end up with something that looks like this:
And then let it cook. That’s it! Once the chicken is nice and tender, I like to shred it up and stir it back into the cooking juices to absorb more flavor before serving. My favorite way of eating it is with lots of rice and a little concoction our local cafe serves with all of its meats: “Da Sauce” (recipe below).
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 1/2 C soy sauce
- 1 1/2 C water
- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 in piece fresh ginger, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
For Da Sauce
- 1/4 C soy sauce
- 1/4 C water
- 1/4 C + 2 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Place chicken in a large pot on the stove top or in a slow-cooker.
- Combine remaining ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over chicken and stir until all chicken is immersed in sauce.
- Bring to a low boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 1 hour at a low simmer until the chicken is tender.
- To Make in a Slow Cooker:
Cook on LOW for up to 8 hours or HIGH for 4. - Remove chicken from cooking liquid, shred and return to pan to soak up some more flavor. Serve over steamed rice with the sauce below.
- To make "Da Sauce": Combine and stir all ingredients until the sugar is dissolved and serve with the chicken and rice.
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I love chicken thighs. They stand up to crock pot cooking way way WAY better then chicken breasts do. this looks wonderful. can’t wait to see the mac salad recipe.
It will be up next week, probably. 🙂
Do you remove the ginger, or is it supposed to cook down enough to eat? I bit into a chunk of ginger once in my shoyu chick and it was horrible (but not enough to make me stop ordering it-still my favorite). but it did scare me off from ever using fresh ginger.
You can take it out at the end but I find it cooks down and is pretty mild in the end.
Would like to try this! But I dnt have a crock pot can a regular pot due?
Yep! The direction for stove-top preparation are in the recipe at the bottom of the post!
Hey! How long can I leave this in the slow cooker if it’s on the “warm” setting?
Once cooked it will keep on the warm setting for about 4 hours. Much longer than that and you’ll lose some quality.
Loved this recipe, made it both in the pan and in the crock pot. I think the pan version turned out better. I may have cooked it too long in the crock pot. I was curious if you had posted the mac salad recipe yet?
Just curious, is the Hawaiian restaurant you’re talking about Local Boyz? From the description is sounds a lot like it.
never use kikkoman….aloha brand better…..
You don’t by any chance live in Corvallis and are talking about Local Boyz are you?
@Lisa and Travis: I sure am talking about Local Boyz! Best, place, ever. We’ve since moved and I miss it!
I don’t like kikkoman either. I take my packets of aloha shoyu with me in my purse for when I eat out and have rice it chow mein 😉
Too bad you moved..I was gonna come over for dinner! Hehehe
I When I read that your local cafe serves a special sauce that they call “da sauce” I was intrigued because my favorite Hawaiian cafe calls their secret sauce “da sauce” as well. So I checked your link and was pleasantly surprised when I saw Local Boys come up. I’m glad that you are attempting to recreate their amazing shoyu chicken. I can’t wait to try your recipe! Remember, don’t steal “da sauce”!
Good time with da sauce!
White sugar or brown sugar better?
Curious what size is slow cooker are you using for this recipe?
What a small world, Local Boyz (while visiting a friend in Corvallis) was what started my love of the plate lunch, now its a weekly trip to Roxy’s in Beaverton.
Tried this out with friends this Weekend, was fantastic, very similar to what I get at Roxy’s. I only had chicken breast on hand, and I could tell the difference, will be using thighs next time.
You just made my day with two words “Local Boyz”. Since we are stationed in Yokosuka Japan I’m craving some good Hawaiian food. This will be made for dinner tomorrow.
So happy I found this…I can’t wait to try your shoyu! My husband and I went to OSU and LOVE Local Boyz!! When we moved to Beaverton we started going to Roxy’s, like the person above mentioned, and it definitely rivals Local Boyz. I actually like Roxy’s mac salad better, and recently found a recipe that’s pretty similar. I’ve shared the link below – (my recommendation though would be to use less apple cider vinegar, maybe half; it was a little potent for our taste.). It would go great with the shoyu.
http://thewanderlustkitchen.com/hawaiian-style-macaroni-salad/
I haven’t been to Roxy’s yet but plan on it! Thanks for the recipe.:)
I had a feeling you’d be somewhere in the Pac Northwest. Might I suggest adding star anise to your shoyu chicken. 1-2 pieces. It gives it that something special 🙂
Ooh good idea! Thanks!
I’ve been looking for a recipe to replicate the Shoyu chicken at Local Boyz. So lucky I found this one! My hubby and I both graduated from OSU but now we’re in Alaska. Can’t wait to try this!
Yay, OSU folk! Glad you found it!
I didn’t use regular sugar because I didn’t have any. I use brown sugar and it made it sweeter compared to what I think yours tasted like. It was in perfect harmony to the ginger.
My name Is actually Kay-Jaysons. That is my first name cool right
It is totally awesome
It is a really unique name! Thanks for stopping by!
Way too much ginger. I’m a decent cook and my fiance typically loves my meals but the amount of ginger this recipe calls for is so off putting that we both decided taco bell was a better option. I will try the recipe again but will definitely use less than a quarter the amount of ginger this one calls for.
Made this today and used your recipe. So good! Had never made shoyu chicken before and was impressed with how good it was (compared to the spots I’d visited in Portland) and how easy it was to make. Thanks so much!
It’s definitely a go-to meal for me– so easy and tastes great! Glad you liked it!
Small world. Preparing to try this and read comments for “tips”. Local Boyz used to be the go to joint for me before moving to Eugene. Was surprised to see but “da sauce” was indeed a good hint at local connection.
I’ve been so surprised by the amount of people that have emailed or commented that they are familiar with Local Boyz. Small world! Hope you love the chicken.
Made this the other day. It was really good. Your advice was correct about my slow cooker, it was cooking to hot. Turning it to low and cooking it for a shorter time worked well. I also thickened the liquid on the stove with corn starch. Yum
I have a son who loves Local Boyz in Corvallis and wants to go there weekly for the Shoyu chicken. After searching through recipes online, I came across this one as it sounded good and easy to make. Well you have made my day! Thank you a million times over for this! Although I love Local Boyz, this saves me trips and money to go there! So cool that everyone else has heard of this place and raves about it… Now do you have their ribs recipe mastered? I found a mac salad recipe on here (thank you for that one too whoever posted it) This turned out great by the way!!!
How can you adapt this recipe for pressure cooker?
Went to the store today for ingredients and going to try tomorrow! Can’t wait! Quick question… Do you put the chicken thigh meat into the slow cooker frozen? Or did you thaw first?
P.S. I googled a recipe for “shoyu chicken” and decided yours looked the best… But how funny that I am an OSU alum and I love Local Boys!
since it sounds like this is a forum for mostly oregon people. I highly suggest going to Ate oh Ate on East Burnside for the best hawaiian food in Oregon. I have been to both Local Boyz and Roxys and truly neither compared to Ate Oh Ate
Boo, local Boyz cannot be beat
I agree, Ate oh Ate is the best! They catered my cousin’s wedding and everything was amazing. I don’t want to admit how much shoyu chicken I ate.
I came across your recipe on Pinterest. I’m planning on making it for my family, but I never did come across the recipe for “da sauce” or for the macaroni salad. Did you ever post those? (It wasn’t at the end of this post.)
Sorry about that! I just changed some of the formatting on the site and it didn’t translate over well. The recipe for Da Sauce is there now and here’s the recipe for the mac salad– http://heatherlikesfood.com/hawaiian-style-macaroni-salad/
best plate lunch since spam!!!!!!
Had to comment as I found this recipe on Pinterest… as I TOO am a Local Boyz fan (Go Beavs!) and was craving some tasty shoyu. This recipe was so delicious that I am making it again tonight! Reminds me of some good times….
Small world! I knew exactly which hole-in-the-wall you were talking about even before I clicked the link! HA! I miss Local Boyz (moved from Oregon to NM a few years ago) and was looking for something similar to what they have, and here you are! Thank you! I can’t wait to try this!!