Southern Sticky Chicken
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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!
Helpful Kitchen Tools
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.
Hi Christy, The chicken looks ready to eat. My store also had chicken breats on sale, now I have my weekend menu. And I have the same complete set of the green Corelle dishes. They were my grandmother’s dishes and now they are mine. We use them everyday. The dishes are about 30/35 years old. I love them.
I’m giving this a go tonight. It sounds wonderful and with the cool Pac. NW weather, I think will taste heavenly.
As for music, it was mostly country & western in our household,though I wasn’t a particular fan. I lloved going to my aunts to listen to her play classical on the piano. Music from the 50’s always makes me happy though, so it’s a plus!
Hey Christy and the rest of y’all!
I read with excitement the Sticky Chicken recipe to see if it sounded remotely like my Granny’s-Well let me tell y’all, Christy and I have the same Granny!! This recipe is amazing and my Granny used to make it with mashed potatoes and some kind of greens-Thanks for a little memory of my childhood in the 50’s and 60’s!!
I am 42 and listened to a variety of music. Including Elvis, Buddy Holly, lots of disco, Eagles, Jazz, classic country, blue grass, Anything on the radio. We didn’t get alot of cassette tapes until we were teenagers. Mostly records. Some Beatles and Bay City Rollers. 🙂 List is too long to write here. LOL! Lots of good stuff. Usually listened to while making dinners with our mother.
Growing up my mom played Johnny Mathis and Roberta Flack; dad listened to jazz; Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie… and my aunt listened to opera, Bach, Beethoven…! What an eclectic mix!! But you my dear, have just solved my Sunday dinner dilema. Thank you ever so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely sounds yummy, but I, too, LOVE the plate. Had them growing up. 🙂 Brings back memoires.
Hi Christy,
Thanks for sharing this great looking recipe. I listened to Three Dog Night, The Carpenters, Bread (My Favorite!), Loretta Lynn and the other country stars of the 70’s. I graduate from High School in 1976, so I loved the late 60’s and 70’s music, with the exception of Disco, although I loved the Bee Gees-Rest in Peace Robin Gibb, Maurice and Andy Gibb.