Southern Sticky Chicken
This sweet yet savory sticky chicken recipe is delectable and the perfect easy weeknight dinner the whole family will enjoy.
This sweet and sticky chicken is an old-fashioned Southern recipe that has been around for about as long as folks have been cooking. The recipe has evolved and been tweaked over the years but the flavorful sticky marinade that clings to the chicken is still every bit as good as folks remember from the days when Granny used to make it for Sunday dinner.
Some of the things I love about this sticky chicken recipe is that it’s:
- Easy to make, which means it makes a great weeknight dinner.
- Versatile. Serve your meal with rice, vegetables, or a slew of Southern sides.
- Easy to double the recipe and make leftovers for weekday lunches.
Fortunately, this recipe for sticky chicken is pretty simple. All you have to do is mix up the sticky chicken marinade, which has equal parts sweet and savory ingredients to make a sauce that’s irresistible. Plus, they’re all pantry staples you probably have sitting in your cupboard right now. Then you bring the sauce ingredients to a boil, pour them over the chicken pieces, and bake. The end result is tender and juicy chicken soaked in a deliciously caramelized and sweet Asian-style sauce. It’s a home run with kids as well as adults.
Other Asian-inspired meals I recommend include crockpot cashew chicken, Asian-inspired pot roast, chicken fried rice, and Chinese chicken salad.
Recipe Ingredients
- Brown sugar (dark or light brown sugar, whatever you have)
- Garlic powder
- Ketchup
- Honey
- Soy sauce
- You’re also going to need about 3-5 pounds of bone-in chicken with the skin still on it. For my boneless sticky chicken recipe click here.
Traditionally, folks use legs or chicken thighs for this but my Kroger had bone-in split chicken breasts for buy one get one free – so I have two HUGE chicken breast halves that cost me a few dollars and that is what we’re using!
How to Make Sticky Chicken
Put everything (except the chicken) in a saucepot and stir it up really well. Place over medium-high heat.
You can do medium heat but I like to get things rolling.
See how that’s boiling? Bring the sticky chicken sauce to a boil like this. Then remove from heat.
Place your chicken pieces in a 9×13 baking dish and pour all of the sticky sauce over.
Place this in a 350-degree oven and bake, uncovered, for 90 minutes total.
After 45 minutes, flip all of the chicken over in the dish.
An hour and 15 minutes into cooking, flip pieces again and baste with some of the glaze in the pan. Bake for another 15 minutes.
NOTE: cooking time is the same if you use legs and thighs.
Booyah! Easy sticky chicken!
Storage
This recipe will last up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge. It will also keep in the freezer for up to four months. When it’s time to reheat your leftovers, simply warm them up in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- If you want your marinade to have a bit of a spicy kick, add in a couple of tablespoons of chili garlic sauce, a tablespoon of sriracha hot sauce, or a sprinkle of paprika, , or cayenne pepper. Basically, whatever heat you have on hand!
- If you have a soy allergy, use tamari instead.
- Substitute brown sugar for granulated sugar, maple syrup, or an extra two tablespoons of honey.
Recipe FAQs
What chicken do I use for sticky chicken?
You can use any bone-in chicken, whether that’s chicken legs, chicken wings, drumsticks, chicken thighs, or chicken breasts.
What can I serve the sticky chicken with?
Whatever you like! You can go for an Asian takeout-style meal and serve it with rice, sliced green onion, broccoli, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Otherwise, here are some Southern side suggestions:
Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Rice Casserole
Broccoli with Homemade Cheese Sauce
Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Salad
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Ingredients
- 3 -5 pounds bone-in chicken with skin folks usually use legs and/or thighs
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a saucepot, combine ketchup, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic powder over medium to medium-high heat.1 cup ketchup, 1 cup honey, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Bring it just to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat.
- Arrange chicken pieces in a 9x13 baking dish. Pour the entire amount of sauce over the chicken, turning pieces with tongs to coat.3 -5 pounds bone-in chicken with skin
- Place in oven, uncovered, for 90 minutes, turning after 45 minutes.
- 15 minutes before cooking time is up, flip pieces once more and baste with sauce.
Video
Nutrition
You may also like these chicken recipes:
Best Barbecue Sauce and Boneless Sticky Chicken
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap,
but by the seeds you plant.
~Robert Louis Stevenson
Submitted by Diane. Submit your quote by clicking here.
I’ll be trying this sticky chicken!
My husband grew up in Clear Lake, Iowa where Buddy Holly’s plane went down and ended his life with some other band members. Waylen Jennings didn’t get on the plane that early morning, he was in the concert at the Surf Ballroom with Buddy Holly.
They still have a yearly dance every Febuary in honor of Buddy and his fellow band members that were with him at the Surf. We moved out of state and haven’t been the Surf for 20 some odd years.
Mixed up the sauce and it is waiting on the stove until supper time. I like the rock n roll “oldies” too. Aaahh, the memories…
Christy, I have been making this recipe for years and my favorite is using thighs or the flas of chicken wings. My neighbor tried it a few weeks ago when she didn’t know what to do with chicken breasts someone had given her. She had to borrow the brown sugar from me, but tried it and her husband went crazy for it. The next two days, she came over and borrowed brown sugar again and again, and had to make it for him two more times. I thin he liked it. . . . . . . I,like you, also grew up with parents that appreciated music and we always had our small record player going with Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Dinah Washington, Brooke Benton, Johnny Mathis, Elvis Presley, Leonard Bernstein, Pat Boone, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the list goes on. Love all types of music now and I’m better at naming that tune from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s than the 90’s and the 2000-2010’s. Hey and I can still remember every word from Abba Dabba Honeymoon, which I sang to all my children and grand-children. Did I mention I was born in 1947? Love your recipes and stories. Don’t stop being yourself.
OOPS….
ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY!!!
Sticky Chicken really sounds good but it has to much sugar for my liking. 🙁
ROCK AND IS HERE TO STAY!!!
I guess you can tell what music I like to listen to. LOL
Going to try that sticky chicken recipe this week, thanks! When I was a kid, my mom was in love with Robert Goulet. She had a big photograph framed on the “hifi,” that came with one of his albums. One day she pointed to the photo and said to me, “If Robert Goulet came to the door, I would leave your father for him.” I was horrified, and after two frightening weeks, I pulled my dad aside and told him the terrible truth of his future. He laughed and told me he would take the gamble that Robert Goulet would never be knocking on our door.
I know you aren’t a big fan of seafood, but I am wondering how this would be on salmon….hmmm.. May have to experiment a little.