Yes, dinner really can be this easy: 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 Baked Balsamic Chicken that’s savoury, tangy, sweet and very, very sticky!
This is one 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 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!
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
No marinating required, just mix together a simple sauce, pour it over the chicken and bake. You will be amazed how incredible it tastes! It has depth of flavour (it is not flat and boring), it's sticky, sweet, savoury and tangy. The sweet is balanced out by the tang in the balsamic - I am sensitive to overly sweet things. PS If using the recipe scaler (hover over Servings), please read notes. Recipe video below! Serves 4- 5 people.
- 1 kg / 2 lb chicken thighs (5 pieces, bone in, skin on), or drumsticks or wings (any combination) (Note 1)
- 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 / 45 g brown sugar, loosely packed (Note 2)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 1/2 tsp garlic paste from jar)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
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Line a baking dish with foil and baking / parchment paper.
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Mix together Sauce in a bowl.
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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).
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Pour over Sauce. Bake 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, spoon over sauce.
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Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. The Sauce should have thickened.
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Stand for 5 minutes, then spoon Sauce over chicken and serve.
1. You can use any of these cuts of chicken. I used 3 bone in thighs and 3 drumsticks in the photos. Normally I just use one or the other.
If using frozen chicken, ensure it is thoroughly thawed, then pat dry before proceeding with recipe. Otherwise there will too much excess liquid and the sauce may not thicken.
This recipe doesn't work with breast. Trust me, I've tried. Breast cooks in half the time, loads more juices comes out and there's no fat (which helps make the sauce nice and sticky). To make this with breast, you would be better off making the sauce separately. So sprinkle the breast with salt and pepper, baking for 25 minutes, then rest 5 minutes. Then I would double the sauce, place in saucepan over medium high, simmer rapidly until it reduces by over half to a syrup. You should end up with about 3/4 cup of balsamic reduction that you can spoon over the chicken.
2. To do this, just scoop up brown sugar and level it off. Don't pack it down into the cup then top with more sugar - if you do that, you will use about 30% more sugar.
3. SCALING: If you scale down, use a smaller baking dish. If you scale up, you need to use a larger dish. If the chicken is too snug and there's no space between them at all, then it affects how the sauce reduces and thickens. You don't need loads of space, just a bit - watch the video!
4. MARINATING: The sauce is quite intense flavoured (you wouldn't drink it!) so you don't need to marinate the chicken. You can marinate for up to 24 hours if you wish. Or freeze immediately after combining Sauce and chicken, then as it defrosts the chicken will marinate.
5. MAKE AHEAD / STORING / FREEZING: Reheats really well for up to 3 days. Just cool and refrigerate, then microwave to reheat (oven can make glaze burn). Cooked leftovers also freezes really well. See Note 4 for freezing marinated chicken.
6. Baked Balsamic Chicken nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Baked Balsamic Chicken recipe video!
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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We really liked this recipe, ESPECIALLY my teenage daughter. I love watching my family enjoy their meals- Thank you once again for a fast, yummy dinner!
That’s terrific to hear May! Thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
Nagi does the breast comment apply to split chicken breasts(ie bone in skin on)?
Hi Janis! I haven’t tried but I’m afraid I think the same problem would apply because the fat to meat ratio is still far lower so I think too much water-based meat juice would come out of the breast. 🙂
Hello Nagi,
I want to make this tonight however I’m allergic to honey. What do you suggest I substitute in for this?
Would golden syrup work or would it be better to just add more brown sugar?
Yes golden syrup should be great! 🙂 N x
So easy and so good! Paired with a rice pilaf and fresh green beans from the market. Really couldn’t have been easier. Another winner! 😃
What wonderful feedback Sandra, I’m so pleased to hear that, thank you! N xx
This is delicious! I made the sauce on the stove, but it’s wonderful! Thanks, this is definitely an easy upgrade for weeknight dinners!
That’s wonderful to hear Michelle, thank you for letting me know! N xx
Nagi – I can’t imagine responding to all of our questions – thanks for your support and commitment to your followers! Can you come stay with me for a month …we’ll soak up the beautiful Colorado sunshine, cook up a storm …and EAT!
Why both foil and parchment? (my thrifty side leans to parchment only. Does the foil help with heat conduction)? Glass baking dish is okay?? Finally, I saw in comments a desire for your pantry list …I think knowing what you consider ‘common’ pantry items would be great. I’m really drawn to your recipes and having your stuff on hand would help in my attempt to cook rather than purchase processed foods.
Thanks again – you are appreciated! …
Karen
Did you say Colorado? 🙂 Been on my list for ages! Am heading over to the states soon but unfortunately not to Colorado!! I use both because I find with one it gets too soggy, double layer is the go if you want to absolutely minimise leakage. It is not fun scraping that caramelisation off! I have a “common pantry items” blog post on my list of things to do! N xx
Not sure what i did wrong with this one…perfectly spaced drummies in a perfectly sized pan, but there was soooo much liquid i had to pour it off when I turned – twice.
Could it be the chicken I bought? Too much water in the flesh?
Was so excited for sticky but they were essentially poached 🙁 Still demolished, I should say…
Hi Eloise, I’m sorry to hear that didn’t work out for you. Did you use frozen drumsticks that were thawed?? I added an extra note about this, ensuring it is properly thawed and patted dry to remove excess liquid.
Thank you! No, fresh as fresh can be…not to worry, will try again, I’m sure it was operator error but they were delicious all the same 🙂
Still concerns me 🙂 The only thing I can think is that I heard that some chicken can be injected with brine to plump them up and add flavour. This would also cause problems with the glaze because the chicken would release so much extra liquid.
Is it better to keep the skin on or remove it? I’m making 30 chicken thighs for a party tomorrow. Can I cook them in two big foil containers?
On! Yes foil containers will work fine, you’ll probably need to take the thighs out and return just the sauce to the oven to thicken. I’d probably cook both trays at the same time (even on different shelves) then at the end when the chicken is cooked, pile them all into one tray and return the other to the oven for sauce to thicken, then switch 🙂
I found a lot of grease from the thighs mixed in with sauce how should I deal with this?
Hi Brian! Yes the chicken fat forms part of the sauce, I don’t find it greasy though, it mixes in with it and it’s what helps make it thicker 🙂
Nagi this is a seriously delicious recipe, although I used a lot less sugar and added a squeeze of lemon juice .
I popped some large slices of unpeeled pumpkin in with the chicken. It was sooooo incredibly yummy!!
My partner who usually won’t eat pumpkin with the skin on devoured everything. The pumpkin and skin baked up to tender, sweet deliciousness….Thank you for sharing.
WHOOT! That’s so fantastic to hear Karen, thank you for letting me know! N xx
Hi Nagi
What fabulous flavour from so few ingredients. The recommended cooking time makes the thighs very tender. Using thighs with the bone in and skin on makes the meal very economical. Another winner!
Lyn and David
That’s terrific to hear Lyn and David! Thank you for letting me know! N xx
tried this last night — it was delicious. i did have a few issues with the finish — i used 6 thighs in a 9 x 13″ pan and the sauce didn’t cook down as it should have. the thighs were very large and i think the pan was just a titch too crowded. i had to run the thighs under the broiler to crisp up the skin a bit (i didn’t want to leave them in the oven longer as they were done….). i also poured the sauce into a saucepan and cooked it down. in the end everything was wonderful – it just took a couple extra steps and an extra dirty pan. i will definitely do this one again as it was very easy and oh, so tasty!!!!
I had the same minor problem as Kathleen. No browning at the point
in time some should have been seen (5 minutes left). This has been pretty typical for me when making
sticky chicken- better to under cook a bit until the last 10 minutes and then turn up the heat.
I think the ratio of sauce to mass of chicken .vs. pan dimensions is difficult to judge – I usually have to tweak it at the end.
I ended up cranking the heat up to 400F/200C for last 10 minutes (5 included in the recipe time and 5 more added)
and got my usual good crust before
using the gravy over smashed potatoes with herbs (some thyme, parsley, black pepper, salt and scallions
seemed to have fallen into the mix). Way, way yummy. The sauce was perfect and required no reduction-
the sauce (unlike the skin which must be browned and almost blackened and wonderfully sticky) should be a bit thin- it works better with any starchy sides and leftovers (you aren’t looking for a thick gravy).
This is a great basic sauce and technique- I am looking forward to using the chicken and sauce in leftovers.
I wasn’t so sure about using foil and parchment (new idea for me) but the cleanup (fold and dump in the trash…) was
way, way easier than my usual sticky chicken cleanup. NO (NONE!) baking pan cleanup!
WHOOT! I hear you on the sticky chicken front – it is tough to provide an exact guide, that’s why I like making videos, so people can see how much space I have around the chicken. 🙂 However, at least with this one it’s easy to adjust at the end if required – just take the chicken out and pop the pan back in the oven for a few minutes. And SO HAPPY to hear there was less clean up!! N xx
Hi Kathleen! So pleased to hear it worked out for you 🙂 I do imagine 6 thighs would be a tad crowded in that pan!! Next time, try taking the chicken out and sticking the pan back in the oven to thicken the sauce. Without the chicken in it, it will reduce quickly – in a few minutes. 🙂
Hi Nagi, I made this recipe yesterday, although with chicken breast and separate sauce as you said. OMG it was delicious. Everyone said, not once but several times, that it was so good.
I also served mrs Brodie’s bacon potato salad with it. That too got soo many praise for its delicious taste. I’ll make them again for sure.
That’s fantastic to hear Yves! Thanks for letting me know!! ?
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!