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 country-style 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:
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 😂;
Soy sauce – the “better than salt” way of adding salt to anything (more flavour);
Ketchup – OR Aussie tomato sauce, BBQ sauce or other similar type sauces;
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;
Garlic – because it makes everything better;
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
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.
Garlic Chicken Thighs – crispy surface, fabulous garlic flavour
Chicken Stroganoff – everything you love about Beef Stroganoff, but with chicken!
Bacon Wrapped Chicken – Bacon. Chicken. You know it’s a winner!
One Pot Chinese Chicken and “Fried Rice” – it’s fried rice and Chinese chicken, all made in one pot
Honey Garlic Chicken – the 5 ingredient sauce is outrageously good!
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 220°C/420°F (200°C fan).
- Pan – 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.
- Glaze 1 – Mix Glaze ingredients together. 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.
- Glaze 2 – Spoon pan juices over chicken. Then spoon/dab remaining Glaze onto chicken.
- Broil chicken for 8 to 10 minutes until surface is nicely caramelised.
- Rest – 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 😂
Can’t imagine opening the fridge door and not finding boneless, skinless chicken thighs there 🙂 ! No way to get this simple delight wrong – add brown rice and a salad and enjoy . . .And have been known to slice anything left over for my open breakfast sandwich or enjoy as a midnight munchie whilst watching European cycling until 2am !!!
So THAT’s your sport of choice!! 2 am!
Dinner sorted….but my oh my that face and that nose- just perfect!
Mostly just NOSE in that photo…😂
I’m trying your recipe with bone in thighs. Going to try adjusting for the bone.
Hi Nicki! Just popped directions for bone in thighs in Note 1 🙂 N x
OMG! That photo of Dozer made my day! FOTFLOL!
You’re the best Nagi! Love your recipes!
Glad you love a giant photo of his schnoz!😂
That is a super pic.
Even a close up of his schnoz is appealing.
His nose follows the enticing smell of delicious food, then eats whatever is on offer. (If he can)
I think he fell asleep waiting for me to give him a nibble of whatever I was eating on the couch!!
Hi Nagi! You always come through with the right recipe at the right time! I just bought a big package of chicken thighs on sale and was wonderning what to do with them. I have all the other ingredients on hand so I’m go to go! And I have rice and sugar snap peas to go with this! Happy me!!
Perfect! Now – what to do with all the rest of the thighs?? 😇
Delicious on all cuts of chicken!
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
This is yet another amazing recipe created by Nagi!
I have made this with chicken at least 10 different times, and with pork a few times. I made the recipe as stated, no modifications.
It is so simple, I always have the ingredients on hand, clean-up is a cinch, and it turns out downright delicious.
I’ve been making Nagi’s recipes for the past few years and my fiance couldn’t be happier! 😁
Your recipetin is ALWAYS the one I check first when looking to make something new, which is quite often.
Thank you for helping me feed my little family!
P.s. Dozer has stolen my heart. What a cool guy! Xoxo
Oh I love hearing that! I’m so glad you already figured out that the sauce works great with chicken! N xx
What a nice and tasty way to fix my favorite cut of chicken. I’m thinking I’ll toss this one in the sous vide bucket and on to the BBQ.
Now, I think a sleeping Mr. Dozer is a good Dozer.
You’re making my simple recipe fancy Ron! 😂
I have been adding “Bai” coconut water to my Chicken Sauces and after Browning the chicken, I just Blanch it. The Coconut flavor if great.
What a terrific idea!! N xx
Hi, can I use bone-in thighs or chicken drumsticks in this recipe? Thanks x
Hi Helen! I haven’t tried this exact recipe with bone in or drum sticks but I am sure it will work, I’ve made those cuts plenty of times with similar sauces. Here is how I’d do it (I will pop directions in the notes too): Toss the chicken in the sauce then place in foil lined pan skin side up. Spoon over a bit of extra sauce onto the skin but keep about 1/4 of the sauce. Then bake at 180C/350F for 45 to 50 minutes. Baste at 30 minutes with pan juices then spoon over remaining sauce, and then baste towards end of cooking time as well. YUM! The skin caramelisation with this sauce will be amazing! (PS I’ll post this recipe with skin on bone in thighs and drumsticks as well, next month or so 🙂 It’s a good standby recipe!) N x
I have the same question – how about using bone in, skin on chicken thighs?
Hi Carol! Just popped directions in Note 1 for bone in skin on! Will caramelise even better because they cook for longer 🙂 YUM!
That’s exactly what I buy all of the time and I’m wondering if this recipe, which looks DELICIOUS would work with bone in/skin on chicken thighs!
Absolutely will work and will taste even more amazing!! Popped directions in Note 1! N x
I can’t tell you how much I love your newsletter. I’m really not a confident cook but your simple and tasty ideas get me in the kitchen each week trying something new to great reviews from my partner! He especially likes my pork Sunday roast and chicken cashew, all thanks to you xx
Love hearing that, thank you Charlotte! N xx
That picture of dozer is hilarious!! I love it!!
😂 When we love the warping of iPhones!
Chicken legs?
Yup – note 1 directions! N x