Sticky Baked Chicken Thighs is what you make when you need an unplanned, quick and easy recipe for boneless skinless chicken thighs. It’s incredibly simple, made with pantry staples and uses a highly effective method for cooking chicken thighs in the oven.
The sweet-savoury glaze tastes like your favourite country-style rub, and the sauce is so good for drizzling over everything on your plate. Also – see how to use this as a marinade for Sticky GRILLED Chicken!
Boneless skinless chicken thighs in the oven!
We all love chicken thighs that have been cooked so they’re beautifully caramelised on the surface – like with everybody’s favourite pan seared Garlic Chicken Thighs.
But we all have those days when we don’t want to deal with the spitting and splutter of chicken thighs in the pan.
And we all also have those days when we haven’t planned for a particular recipe for that pack of chicken thighs in the fridge.
Enter – Sticky Baked Chicken Thighs.
Boneless skinless chicken thighs cooked in the oven that practically look like they’ve been seared on the stove made with ingredients I bet you already have!
The glaze – pantry staples!
Made with basic pantry staples with plenty of substitutions possible, this country-style sauce is adapted from these Baked Pork Chops. It’s savoury and a bit sweet, with great layers of flavour. Here’s what we’re using:
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Worcestershire sauce – packs a ton of savouriness, plus you can give yourself a pat on the back for using it for something other than Bloody Mary’s 😂;
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Soy sauce – the “better than salt” way of adding salt to anything (more flavour);
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Ketchup – OR Aussie tomato sauce, BBQ sauce or other similar type sauces;
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Brown sugar – or honey or even maple syrup. Corn syrup, golden syrup or other such sweet things in liquid form should work just fine too;
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Garlic – because it makes everything better;
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Vinegar – because where we have sweet, we must balance with tang. Use apple cider vinegar if you have it, otherwise any other clear(ish) vinegar; and
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Oil – just makes the sauce a bit more interesting. You can skip it if you want.
Cooking boneless skinless chicken thighs in the oven
These baked chicken thighs are a mix, drizzle and bake job.
The key here is baking on a high heat to get nice caramelisation – I bake the thighs at 220C/425F.
For the best result, bake it for just over half the time, then finish with a broil/grill. This caramelises the surface really well, and this is my preferred method for baking chicken thighs.
What temperature should boneless chicken thighs be cooked to?
Boneless chicken thighs are cooked when the internal temperature is 75C/165F. However, because thighs are far more juicy than breast, they are more forgiving so don’t fret about exact cooking times.
Can this be made with chicken breast?
Yes, but the caramelisation isn’t as good. Directions in recipe notes!
Plenty of sauce for drizzling!
The other nice thing about this recipe is that there’s plenty of a lovely syrupy sauce to spoon over the chicken and everything else on your plate.
The sauce is the reason why I like to bake AND broil/grill chicken thighs. While you get better caramelisation by just broiling, you don’t get pan juices.
And for this quick meal, I want sauce because then it minimises the effort I have to go to for the sides! Mop all the sauce up with some crusty bread, or for something a little different, try this speedy Garlic Mashed White Beans (pictured below). ~ Nagi x
More quick Chicken Thigh recipes
These are all boneless chicken thigh recipes that don’t require any marinating time.
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Garlic Chicken Thighs – crispy surface, fabulous garlic flavour
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Chicken Stroganoff – everything you love about Beef Stroganoff, but with chicken!
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Bacon Wrapped Chicken – Bacon. Chicken. You know it’s a winner!
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One Pot Chinese Chicken and “Fried Rice” – it’s fried rice and Chinese chicken, all made in one pot
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Honey Garlic Chicken – the 5 ingredient sauce is outrageously good!
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Oven Baked Chicken Breast – dry rubbed then baked, this recipe works 100% perfectly with thigh as well
Sticky Baked Chicken Thighs
Watch how to make it
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Sticky Baked Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 700g / 1.4lb chicken thighs , skinless boneless (5-7 pieces), Note 1
Glaze (Note 2 for subs):
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 3 tbsp brown sugar , lightly packed
- 1.5 tbsp soy sauce , all purpose or light (NOT dark)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 clove garlics , minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220C/420F (standard) or 200C/390F (fan).
- Use a pan large enough to fit the thighs lying flat (not bunched up/folded)
- Line pan with foil (you'll thank me later), place thighs in pan.
- Mix together Glaze. Spoon over about 2/3 of the Glaze on the surface of each (not underside), reserve rest.
- Bake 15 minutes, remove pan.
- Flick to grill/broiler on high, adjust shelf to be 20cm/8" from heat source.
- Spoon pan juices over chicken. Then spoon/dab remaining Glaze onto chicken.
- Broil chicken for 8 to 10 minutes until surface is nicely caramelised.
- Remove and stand for a few minutes (uncovered) before serving with pan juices.
Recipe Notes:
- Cut each breast horizontally to form 2 steaks;
- Oven: Spoon ALL the sauce over one side. Bake for 18 minutes at 425F/220C, do not remove for basting, do not broil.
- Broil: Spoon bit of sauce on one side. Broil on high 3 minutes. Flip, spoon over remaining sauce. Broil 6-8 min, watch carefully to ensure it doesn't burn too much.
- Ketchup - Aussie tomato sauce, BBQ sauce or other similar sauces
- Brown Sugar - white sugar, or 2 tbsp honey, maple syrup, or any other sweet thing in similar liquid form
- Soy Sauce - light or all purpose soy sauce, don't use dark it will be too intense. Fish sauce would also work but reduce to 1 tbsp.
- Apple Cider Vinegar - sub with any clear(ish) plain vinegars eg plain white vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar, champagne vinegar etc.
- Worcestershire sauce - add 1/4 tsp black pepper then add an extra dash of all the other ingredients. A sprinkle of onion and/or garlic powder on the chicken before coating in sauce would also help.
- Add ins - dash if your favourite hot sauce wouldn't go astray! Pinch of herbs (mixed, oregano, thyme), cayenne pepper for heat, sprinkle of paprika for warmth, cumin or coriander for South-West edge.
- Foil - Sauce will caramelise on edges and adhere firmly to pan. Takes intense scrubbing to remove, so use foil. DO NOT use parchment paper (will catch fire under grill).
- No point putting glaze on underside, it doesn't stay on. Underside gets flavoured because it ends up cooked in the sauce. Also want upper side exposed to heat the whole time for best caramelisation.
- Pictured in post with speedy Garlic White Bean Mash
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
One of his best features 😂
This is our family’s go-to meal when we’re short on time but still want something delicious and filling! Can be served with almost anything but we often pair it with a Caesar salad or pasta pesto salad.
This worked out perfectly! I am kind of over boneless chicken thighs, but this gave them a new life and the glaze was delish over rice! Thanks!
This dish is AMAZING!!! My family absolutely loved it! I made with jasmine rice and had a little sauce left over to spoon on the rice. YUM!!!!
I cooked this first time for my family and they were asking for more. So delicious. I have recommended you to my friends
Thank you Nagi
Loved this! Quick, easy, & delicious. Nagi, you’re the best!
Fantastic recipe. So easy, moist and tasty. Added sesame seeds at end and that added some glamour!
I forgot to add 5 stars with my comment
Delicious recipe exactly as written
I don’t know why I bother googling a recipe when I should just come to ‘old faithful’.
Nagi, you did it again! I was feeling sick from the gym and so I was looking for something for defrosted thighs, it had to be quick and easy.
It’s only me, I had two thighs and made the entirety of the sauce (using maple syrup rather than sugar).
I did the oven method.
My goodness! What a DELICIOUS meal! I can sometimes be afraid of cooking chicken but this was so simple and the end result… So good!👌👌👌
Thank you so much. (Adding thighs to my shopping list so I can make this again after work!).
Our dinner guest asked for seconds and my husband gave it 10/10- I will definitely make again. I used double the sauce, marinated teh chicken and sprinkled sesame seeds on top. Thanks for the recipe!
Yummmmm, this is amazing!!! Second time I made it, added a pinch of chilli flakes 😋 will definitely be gig on my list of must makes. Thanks Nagi x
Aw man, this is the ultimate week night (skin off) chicken recipe. It’s delicious and QUICK! Five stars
My husband made this last week ,it was a massive hit. The kids were disappointed there wasn’t left overs. Tonight I’m making it again. Thanks so much for sharing
Used this for meal prep. It was delicious!
Excellent. Absolutely excellent.
Was looking for a glaze similar to the one I’ve been using for years, but without honey (my 11 month old granddaughter can’t have honey).
This one is absolutely perfect.
Used whiskey barrel aged maple syrup instead of brown sugar, added a few drops of Tabasco.
Used bone in thighs and drumsticks and doubled the glaze recipe. Marinated with the glaze overnight (and yes, left about a quarter of the glaze aside).
Followed the cooking directions in the notes exactly.
Served over plain white basmati rice with a lot of the pan juices.
My family asked me to make this our “regular” chicken…
Thank you, Nagi, for another excellent and easy recipe.
Hi Nagi,
I have NEVER posted to a cooking website. I have to tell you the recipe works! Do to not having your ingredients in-house, but, due to your suggestions, I used peach preserves, no sugar and white wine vinegar along with a splash of Hoisin sauce. The chicken came out wonderful! Thank you!
I make this recipe practically every week. It is soooo delicious especially with some mashed potatoes. You never miss!!!
Whole family of 6 loved it, even my super fussy 10yr old went back for seconds.
Three kids with different tastes loved this recipe unanamously.
WIN!!
Another delicious recipe, and so quick and easy to make. I had all the ingredients on hand, which was a bonus.
Thank you Nagi. 🙂
AMAZING! Easy and quick and sooooooo good, even with my limited skills and tempermental oven. Bless you, Nagi!
Loved this recipe super easy and uses basic pantry ingredients. My toddler loved it. Winner!