And you think your usual roast chicken was good, wait till you try this. Copycat Kenny Rogers Kimcheese Roast is a copycat Chicken recipe from Kenny Rogers made with garlic, ginger and gochujang marinated chicken served with rich cheese sauce infused with Kimchi.
I am having this FOMO again after noticing this new offering from Kenny Rogers in the Philippines. I saw this Kimcheese Roast last year on my Instagram feed—– and was wondering what that dish was, the oozing cheese sauce made me want to investigate further as I am planning to cook them at home. Since there are no Kenny Rogers here in New Zealand the next best thing is recreating them and fix that FOMO. Like many Filipino fast-food items, you cannot find its recipe online but that is not stopping me to make my own version based on different descriptions I found on the web. According to Rappler:
The restaurant chain just released the Kimcheese Roast, a Korean-inspired chicken dish—think sweet, spicy, and sour. It’s still the best-tasting roast chicken you love, only infused with Korean flavors for that unique gastronomic experience. The Kimcheese Roast is marinated in gochujang paste (aka that red ingredient used in bibimbap, Korean stews, and tteokbokki), which makes the meat oh-so flavorful. It also comes with Kenny Rogers’ signature Kimcheese sauce (yes, that’s kimchi and cheese combined. Yum!) that gives a tangy and creamy kick.
Kenny Rogers Roasters has taken inspiration from this global phenomenon to give its customers a truly complete Korean flavor experience with the new Kimcheese Roast! It is marinated with Gochujang paste to give a well-balanced sweet, sour and spicy flavor that’s distinctly found in Korean cuisine. Each chicken comes with Kenny Rogers’ signature Kimcheese sauce that gives a spicy sour kick, cutting no corners on its flavors, richness, and creaminess.
That goes the same with Manila Standard. So, it looks like a Press Release to me as they used the same wordings but that already gave me a good clue on how to prepare them, add the usual ingredients that the Korean’s used then I think I can nail this.
According to several sites the keywords are Gochujang marinated. It also mentioned that the chicken was sweet, spicy and sour, the sweetness can come from honey, the sourness can be gathered from lime or lemon and definitely the spiciness should come from gochujang. We will then pair it with some cooking techniques on how Kenny Rogers prepare their original roast chicken which we tried making the recipe before, so it has to be wood fired or imitate a woodfire for that additional smoky flavour. My only issue is the cheese sauce which was not elaborately described so for this one I will just use the usual store-bought Mexican Nacho Cheese Queso which works really well. So just a disclaimer before heading over to the recipe below, I haven’t tried the real dish yet so I am not sure if it tastes exactly the same but I am happy with the results, it was slightly sweet, mildly spicy and with hints of sourness, it was smoky too. The cheese sauce made it even more special as it added more kick to it at the same time added that creamy cheesy layer that makes you want to go back for more.
Copycat Kenny Rogers Kimcheese Roast is a copycat Chicken recipe from Kenny Rogers made with garlic, ginger and gochujang marinated chicken served with rich cheese sauce infused with Kimchi.
Ingredients
UnitsScale
Chicken
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 kg whole chicken thigh with legs
1 1/2 tbsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
juice from half lemon
1 tbsp honey
2 pcs whole garlic, pounded with mortar and pestle
Clean chicken with running tap water then fully pat it dry with paper towels.
Season chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set it aside for 30 minutes.
In a bowl combine all marinade ingredients then massage this marinade into the chicken. Place in a covered container then let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Remove chicken from the fridge an hour before you cook the chicken.
Place garlic and spring onions at the bottom of your baking tray, lay chicken thighs on top then roast chicken in a 135C preheated oven for 3 hours or until cooked. Baste the chicken with its drippings every hour for the first two hours and every 15 minutes on the last hour.
Remove from oven then combine lemon juice and honey together. Using a pastry brush, brush chicken with honey lemon mixture then let it rest for 10 minutes prior to cutting and serving.
Heat your Nacho cheese sauce, place chicken on serving platter then serve with cheese sauce on top.
What an interesting combination of flavors! I would never have thought about cheese sauce mixed with Kimchi. I don’t think we have any Kenny Rogers here in the States, so I guess I’ll have to do what you do – make it at home! Fun fusion recipe here, Raymund!
Even without trying the original, I love the copycat recipe! That lets me actually try it with plant-based alternatives, and from the comfort of my own home. Thanks for working out the secret formula. 😉
A very creative combination of flavours…the chicken quarters are perfectly roasted and the sauce sounds wonderful too.
Wow! This looks over-the-top good. Really interesting dish — tons of flavor in this. TONS! 🙂 Thanks!
Interesting American-Korean fusion!
Wow, I’m still floored that there’s a Kenny Rogers restaurant! But this chicken looks amazing with all the different flavours!
★★★★★
What an interesting combination of flavors! I would never have thought about cheese sauce mixed with Kimchi. I don’t think we have any Kenny Rogers here in the States, so I guess I’ll have to do what you do – make it at home! Fun fusion recipe here, Raymund!
★★★★★
Even without trying the original, I love the copycat recipe! That lets me actually try it with plant-based alternatives, and from the comfort of my own home. Thanks for working out the secret formula. 😉
My husband and I like anything that has gochujang and boy does that chicken look and sound delicious.
Love it. Great twist of the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Wow, that looks amazing, Raymund. I have become a huge fan of gochujang paste — it adds flavor to so many dishes!