I call this Sticky Pantry Chicken because you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry to make this right now! It’s a chicken thighs recipe that’s sweet, sticky and spicy (optional), with an incredible depth of flavour for such a quick recipe.
Any day chicken thighs recipe
The sauce for this quick chicken thigh recipe tastes like a country style sauce, with a kick of heat if you so desire!
The beauty of this recipe is that it’s made with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Hence why I call it a Sticky PANTRY chicken thigh recipe.
Simple it may be, but the combination of ingredients creates a sauce that’s got terrific depth of flavour, and though I usually make this dish as a quick “OMG what am I going to make with this chicken tonight??!”, I’d proudly serve this up for company as well.
Chicken thighs, breast or tenders!
This recipe is suited to thighs, breast or tenders (aka chicken tenderloins). I usually tend to choose chicken thighs over breast simply because they have more flavour and are far more juicy than breast, and typically better value at the grocery store!
But this will work just fine with breast too – just halve them horizontally to make thin steaks, then cook per the recipe.
What to serve on the side
Make dinner extra fabulous by serving these chicken thighs with this addictive Mushroom Rice! Add this Everyday Cabbage Salad for crunch (a great standby salad) or make a quick garden salad.
Otherwise, try a lovely crisp salad with French Dressing, Italian Dressing or Balsamic Dressing.
Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
More chicken thigh recipes
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Sticky Pantry Chicken Thigh recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil (for frying)
- 6 (1.5-2lb / 750g-1kg) chicken thigh fillets , boneless skinless
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup water
Sauce
- 1/3 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dijon or American mustard
- 2 tbsp hot sauce (optional)
- 2 tbsp vinegar (any)
- 2 1/2 tbsp honey
- 2 garlic cloves , crushed
Instructions
- Whisk Sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a non stick pan over medium high heat.
- Quickly dip chicken in Sauce, shake off excess, then place in pan.
- Cook the first side for 2 to 3 minutes, until it caramelises and is dark golden, then turn and cook the other side for 2 minutes.
- Add remaining Sauce and water.
- Bring to rapid simmer, stirring occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- When the sauce has thickened (around 1 to 2 minutes), remove from heat.
- Turn chicken in Sauce to coat.
- To serve, place chicken on plate and spoon over Sauce.
Recipe Notes:

Nutrition Information:
Left overs make fabulous sandwiches as well.
Wow Nagi – another winner! Made this tonight when I just wanted to get dinner on the table quickly. Served it with brown rice and stir-fried red capsicum, onion and zucchini. The longest part was cooking the rice lol. I only used 1 tbl of hot sauce and it was the right amount of heat for us
Another Nagi winner. Delicious and super easy to cook.
So easy. Literally only had to buy the chicken. Such an easy yummy dish. Definitely one we will bring doing again.