Balsamic Chicken is a baked chicken dinner that’s incredible quick to prepare: just mix balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sugar and garlic, pour it over chicken and pop it in the oven. And out comes this glorious chicken that’s savoury, tangy, sweet and very, very sticky!
Quick baked chicken recipes are mid week life savers and this balsamic chicken is a back-pocket gem along with simple Honey Mustard Chicken, Juicy Baked Breasts and country-style Baked Thighs.
Sticky Balsamic Chicken
This is a baked chicken recipe for busy weeknights, lazy Sundays, and every other day in between.
When it’s this effortless to make something so lip smackingly good with ingredients that are basic pantry essentials, frozen meals and home delivery aren’t even a passing thought. No matter how nuts your household is at dinner time, no matter how tired you are, no matter how irritating and incompetent your boss is, how bad the commute home was, how miserable the weather is – you got this.💪🏼
2 minutes to make the sauce (and that includes reaching / taking lid off / measuring).
Pour over chicken and bake.
No marinating required – the glaze is so sticky and has enough flavour that you don’t need to marinate. Though you can if you want. I don’t. Don’t think I ever have. This is a quick-unplanned-on-the-fly type recipe, in my books. 🙂
And this is what comes out of the oven.
This baked chicken recipe is effortless – high returns for very little effort!
This Balsamic Chicken is so sticky. You just want to grab it with your hands and suck your fingers clean. Frankly, I’m all for that. I am a huge fan of eating with hands, I just always wonder where that line is where eating with hands becomes unacceptable!
The sugar and honey in the glaze balances out the tartness of the balsamic
When I wrote out this recipe for this Baked Balsamic Chicken with the intention of posting it, I did hesitate for a moment at the amount of honey and sugar in the balsamic glaze. But it needs it. Not only because it’s what makes the sauce reduce down into a sticky glaze, but also because balsamic vinegar is very tangy and needs a decent amount of sweetness to offset it.
Even my anti-overly-sweet-things mother, who happened to be over when I was shooting this (she does tend to drop by at rather convenient times i.e. when there’s a massive pile of washing up to do), declared that it’s not too sweet because of the tanginess of the balsamic.
She really liked it. She hoovered down a drumstick incredibly fast [for a woman of her age😂] then reached for another before I smacked her hand away. I wasn’t finishing photographing!!!! This stuff is hard to photograph – they have a tendency to look like black blobs of coal!!! – Nagi x
More simple baked bone-in chicken thigh recipes
Honey Mustard Chicken – also this version with Potatoes and crispy bacon!
And more popular chicken recipes
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BALSAMIC CHICKEN
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Baked Balsamic Chicken recipe video!
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Baked Balsamic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 kg / 2 lb chicken thighs (5 pieces, bone in, skin on), or drumsticks or wings (any combination) (Note 1)
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup (65 ml) balsamic vinegar
- 2 1/2 tbsp / 50 ml soy sauce , all purpose or light (not dark soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup (85 g / 65 ml) honey
- 1/4 cup (45g) brown sugar , loosely packed (Note 2)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 1/2 tsp garlic paste from jar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Line a baking dish with foil and baking / parchment paper.
- Mix together Sauce in a bowl.
- Place chicken in baking dish, skin side down for thighs and wings. Make sure the pan is big enough so the chicken is squished up next to each other (sauce may not reduce enough), but not so large that there is more than 4″/10 cm between every piece of chicken (sauce may reduce too much).
- Pour over Sauce. Bake 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, spoon over sauce.
- Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. The Sauce should have thickened.
- Stand for 5 minutes, then spoon Sauce over chicken and serve.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Superb display of canine athleticism and sheer determination to ….. well, to be the first to reach a blue rubber duck. 😂
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Love the simple baked method of preparing dinner and all game to start doing so on busy days. Thanks for the wonderful sharing!
I hope you give it a go Chris! 🙂
This looks delicious – i want to try it this week. Since the pan size is important what size pan did you use for the 5-6 pieces of chicken? it looks like a 13 x 9″ pan but i wanted to be sure and couldn’t find it specified in the recipe. I imagine using one that is too big would be just as much of a disaster as too small — the sauce would probably turn into hardened lava…..
Hi Kathleen! It was about 13 x 9 (I’m not at home so I can’t measure) and you are right, size does matter but I didn’t specify in the recipe because chicken sizes differ so much and I gave different cut options! Just make sure the pan is big enough so the chicken isn’t squished up next to each other, that’s all it needs because chicken shrinks about 20% when cooking so it creates more room. 🙂 And as for too large, that would be if there was more than about 4″/10 cm between every piece of chicken. Thanks for the question, I’ll specify more details in the recipe!
Hi Nagi,
You are an inspiration! Can I ask if this recipe would be suitable for beef ribs on the BBQ? Hubby wants beef ribs and I want to try your sauce!
Thank you for evolving my kitchen ?
Hi Michele, I’m so pleased you’re enjoying my recipes, thank you for the lovely message!! I’m afraid this won’t be suitable for a BBQ, it’s too thin and the sugar will cause it to burn if you cook it down. Have you tried the pork ribs? That works great with beef! Started in the oven, fabulous finished on the BBQ https://salesdock.info/oven-baked-barbecue-pork-ribs/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The glaze also works well on salmon.
YES to that!
I’d like to try this one. It reminds me of a similar recipe I make with salmon which is VERY delicious !
AHH YES! Fab with salmon too! N xx
Hi Nagi, this recipe is a definite must! Do you think I could make it in my slow cooker?
Hi Gillian! Unfortunately not, the sauce needs to reduce to become a glaze 🙂 N xx
Tried it tonight on the bbq, as good as you say! Thank you for another foolproof fast delish feast.
I’ve been wanting to ask. Is there anywhere on here with a list of your pantry (incl freezer/fridge) essentials, if not wuld you consider doing one for a post very soon, i would be so grateful and I think many others would too 🙂
Thanks again
FANTASTIC to hear Rebecca!!! Really? You want to know my pantry essentials?????? I mean, I’d be happy to! I just didn’t think people would want to know!!
Yes I really would find it so helpful!
Hi Nagi!
I am making this balsamic goodness for dinner tonight, and I would LOVE to see your list of pantry/kitchen essentials.
You are my kitchen goddess kindred spirit!!! ?
❤
*BLUSHING!* (And smiling!)
Would love to hear your pantry staples too!
I would love to know your pantry essentials also! Coming from a newbie cook, I think it would be inspiring to know what you keep on hand on a daily basis!
Another delicious dish to try, thanks Nagi was wondering though, why not dark soy sauce?
Hi Yvonne! The flavour is so much stronger the soy sauce flavour would really dominate in the sauce 🙂 N xx
Ahhh, I see, that makes sense. Thank you Nagi x
I hope Dozer got the duck. I’d hate it if he let our side down. 🙂
Your chicken looks so sticky and delicious!
He DIDN’T!!!! ?
Thanks for telling us that it won’t work as written with breasts. I’d already been thinking of adapting it as a glaze for the grilled boneless breasts, and with your recommendation to reduce the sauce, it should be perfect! I’ll report back this weekend.
Love the look of sheer determination on Dozer’s mug.
I know, right!!! To think that a rubber duck creates such fierce determination!!
This sweet sticky chicken has got me drooling and wishing I was eating it for dinner now! Holy winner winner chicken dinner!
OMG I love that saying, it is so Aussie!
would caramelized balsamic vinegar work?
Hi Jain! Unfortunately not, it’s already been sweetened and thickened so will overpower this recipe. As different brands are so different, I don’t know how to convert this recipe using caramelised balsamic. 🙂 N xx
Just three things: 1) thumbs up for the vid music, 2) balsamic is delicious on anything, let alone on fatty chicken thighs and 3) blue rubber ducks are totally worth to race for.
YOU CRACK ME UP!!!!!!
Another simple winner!!!
I happen to have collected a few, vacuum packed, pieces of bone in chicken in the freezer..
A perfect recipe for using them… :O)
Oh I think I subconsciously knew that…. yep. That’s why I shared this! 😉
Just finished having this for today’s dinner… Major goodness…
It will be a regular on our meal rotation… :O)
FIST PUMP! ? N xx
What perfect timing! I was just starting my grocery list, and wondering what to make, and thought I’d check my inbox to see what new recipe you had up. Guess what we’re having for dinner tonight? lol
By the way, love that recipe slider thingy! I never noticed that before until you pointed it out. 🙂
It’s pretty cool, isn’t it! 🙂 I haven’t publicised it or got a big arrow pointing towards it because every recipe is different so as I convert recipes into this new format, I’m having to consider whether they can be scaled up. Don’t want people to be disappointed with recipes not working because of they scale it!!
Completely understandable – it can be a huge challenge to see if portions can be increased/decreased and how it would affect the finished dish. I imagine baking/pastry could be especially difficult? (Or maybe it’s just me due to those ‘eyeful’ measurements I tend to do at times – gaaah, such a bad habit lol).
I had never noticed the slider either and as I live on my own it is very useful. Has it only just been included?
Hi Margaret! It exists for recipes from the last month or so because I moved to a new recipe card. However, the reason I haven’t publicised it is because not all recipes can be scaled without making little adjustments, like with this recipe. If you scale it up, you really have to make sure to use a larger pan, and vice versa for scaling down, otherwise the sauce doesn’t reduce / reduces too quickly. So as I go through old recipes and convert them, I am adding tips of using the scaler. N xx
Recipe slider? What? Where?
Where it says “Servings 5”
hover your mouse over the “5” and a slider will appear. Drag it to the left to decrease quantities, Drag to the right to increase them.
If you are using a touch screen, touch the “5” to see slider.
Thanks, David! I never noticed it before.
Nagi! this chicken looks delicious!! Does Dozer have a fun life! my gosh, can you adopt me?
Do you chase blue rubber ducks too? 😉
YESSSSSSS this is soooooooo our dinner every Friday! When I am lazy and need to plop SOMETHING in the oven for our last minute friends gathering… I love the combo of balsamic and soy…its like the ultimate Italian Asian fusion right?!
You are so good at “getting” the right combo of simple ingredients that make magic Mila!!! I saw a Skype message from you, bear with me! So many messages lately, everyone wants to talk about their blog 🙂
I know I know… You are Ms. Busy bee…. its cool i just miss you!
This looks so delicious! And even better–easy!!
That they are! EASY and DELICIOUS!!!! ❤️
I am 52 and have never learned, nor cared about cooking until I accidentally stumbled on your blog. I’m hooked. I am sad when I can’t cook. Thank you for helping me learn.
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me reading a message like this Justie! N xx
Will it work as well with boneless skinless drumsticks?
Hi Mimi! Hmm, I didn’t think of that! You know what, I think they will work pretty well. They take about 40 minutes to bake, so an extra 10 minutes if required to reduce the glaze will be ok, they are fatty enough to take it and in fact, they just get extra tender as opposed to drying out. 🙂
I’m wondering the same thing – if it will work with boneless, skinless thighs. My family won’t eat chicken with bones OR skin.
Hi Lisa! With boneless skinless thighs, they cook in around 20 – 25 minutes. So what I would do is cook them in the sauce, then take the chicken out and pop the dish back in the oven for 5 – 10 minutes (while the chicken is resting) so the sauce reduces. Then when you take it out, squidge the chicken in the sauce. 🙂