Sweet, salty, sticky chicken – dinner just got real easy! Just throw it all in a pan and bake, then be a rockstar when you serve up this incredible Sticky Honey Soy Baked Chicken that kids and grown ups will go nuts over!
I’ve tried quite a number of honey soy chicken recipes over the years but never found a keeper. Until my friend Claire from Sprinkles and Sprouts, a fellow Australian food blogger, posted her Oven Baked Sticky Honey Soy Sesame Chicken.
I tried this recipe the day after it landed in my inbox. As soon as I took it out of the oven, I knew it was the recipe I’d been waiting for.
The glaze was perfect. Strong flavour, but there’s not an overwhelming amout of it – just enough to coat the chicken which is all you need. And it’s because the glaze has such great flavour that you don’t even need to marinate the chicken.
Just throw a handful of ingredients in a pan, bake it, and this is what you get.
One key tip that she emphasises that I made the mistake of ignoring the first time – line the baking dish with foil AND baking paper (parchment paper)! This is a jammy glaze we have here, and if you just use baking paper, you’ll be suffering through a serious scrubbing session like I did!
I learnt my lesson the hard way – never again! 🙂
Before I sign off, I want to share some of my favorites from Sprinkles & Sprouts. Claire’s food is very similar to mine – fuss free food with big flavours, everyday ingredients, with a focus on dinners. We both agree that potatoes are one of the greatest foods on this planet and are yet to come across a way with potatoes we don’t like. In fact, Claire is so obsessed with potatoes that she’s created an entire Potato recipe collection! (Psst! Her Smashed Crispy Potatoes are so good I included them in my latest feature in Super Food Ideas magazine!)
MY PICKS FROM SPRINKLES & SPROUTS
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- Peri Peri Portuguese Chicken – On my “must try” list, it will beat bottled sauce hands down!
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- Homemade Ricotta – I’ve lost the recipe I used to use! I’m using this the next time I make it, so crazy easy!
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- Hollandaise in 2 minutes, from scratch. Genius! Changed my life – Eggs Benedict is now so easy to make at home!
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- One (maybe 2) bite potatoes with salmon. Yes please!
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- Baked Pancake Bites – Love this idea!
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- Smashed Crispy Thyme Potatoes – I am obsessed with these. They are SO crispy!
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- Cheesy Garlic Butter Potatoes – nothing else needed to be said about this!
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- Garlic Chicken Parcels – I can’t WAIT to try these!!!
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- Homemade Tater Tots – I have to try these asap!!!
This Sticky Honey Soy chicken tops the list. 🙂 – Nagi x
- 6 bone in , skin on chicken thighs, about 2 lb/1kg
- 1 red onion , cut into wedges
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or ordinary white vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
- Sesame seeds
- Fresh coriander/cilantro leaves
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Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan forced) or 200C/390F for conventional.
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Line a baking dish with foil then baking paper. The baking tray should fit the chicken comfortably, not too spaced apart (glaze will dry out), not too snug (glaze won't thicken enough). (Note 2)
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Mix the Glaze ingredients together.
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Place onion and chicken in the baking dish skin side down, then pour the Glaze over.
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Bake for 25 minutes, then turn and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the glaze is sticky. If the glaze is not syrupy, remove the chicken onto a plate and put the pan back in for a few minutes.
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Tilt baking dish and spoon out excess fat. Turn chicken skin side down and squidge around in the glaze to coat it.
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Serve with rice and steamed greens, sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh cilantro/coriander leaves.
1. This recipe requires ordinary, all purpose soy sauce. Not light or dark or sweet soy sauce (check the label, if it has any of these words on it, it's not suited to this recipe!). I use Kikkoman soy sauce.
2. I've made this recipe quite a number of times using various cuts of chicken and using different baking dishes. Using a baking tray didn't work because the glaze dried out too much because there is too much space between the chicken. Using a very small baking dish where I had to squeeze the chicken in didn't work either because there was not enough space between the chicken to allow the Glaze to reduce and thicken.
It is safer to make this in a smaller rather than large pan, then if the Glaze hasn't reduced enough at the end, take the chicken out and put the pan back in the oven, it should thicken very quickly. Then return the chicken to the pan and roll in the Glaze.
This works very well with skinless boneless chicken thigh fillets, though I like my glaze really thick so I took the chicken out at about 40 minutes then returned the dish to the oven for 5 or so minutes to reduce the glaze.
It doesn't work as well with drumsticks because the shape of them restricts the ability to coat into the Glaze, and also they aren't as juicy as thigh so the glaze dried out too much.
3. This recipe doesn't make stacks of sauce, which is the way it is supposed to be because it is quite strong in flavour. It reduce to a jammy sticky glaze, enough to coat the chicken. That's all you need!
My husband made this last night. Such an easy dinner to throw together and chicken thighs make it nearly fool proof! Thanks to our butcher (sarcasm), I did have to trim a great deal of extra skin from the thighs prior to cooking. Although we enjoyed this recipe and will definitely prepare it again, we found the flavor of the sauce to be quite mild. I don’t want to mess with the balanced flavor of the sauce by doctoring it, so will probably try marinating the chicken next time. REALLY appreciate these recipes!
Love hearing that May! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N xx
Fantastic recipe – kids loved it and it was a struggle to stop them licking the baking paper!
Will definitely be making this one again.
I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this Richard, thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
My first time and it turned out rather well. Very good guide with the notes included. Definitely looking to try more of your recipes. Thanks!
I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this Noobster, thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
Thanks for the delicious chicken!! This is my favourite recipe and a family favourite too! Xxx
I’m so pleased to hear that Lauren! Thank you for letting me know! N xx ❤️
can u use chicken legs
You sure can!
Your recipes are fantastic.
Do you have teraki chicken recipe?
James Linsey
Hi James! Here is the real deal Japanese way of making Teriyaki on my mother’s website! http://japan.recipetineats.com/teriyaki-chicken/
Made this last night. OMG I it’s soooo good. Thank you. We live in Trenton, Ontario,Canada. Love your blog and always look to see if momma writes or has comments. Have made several of your recipes – all good.
Thanks for trying my recipe Sherry! I’m so glad you liked it, thank you for the kind words. 🙂 Have a lovely weekend! N x
I tried this yesterday, but cooked it stove-top in a big cast iron frying pan. I also tenderized the thighs with my new Jaccard gadget before the marinade. Perfect results! I was a bit surprised by your nutrition facts, though, as the cholesterol content seems on the high side (69%), but there is no skin and minimal fat. Thanks for sharing these recipes with all of us, you bring so much pleasure to our lives.
My nutrition is always on the conservative side, I counted all the skin and it’s what came up 🙂 I love that you tenderised before marinading, fantastic! N xx
Nagi! I just flew in from Winnipeg (-36 C when I was there) & made this for the family. I know you know this but, there is a really great feeling about making a delicious dinner in almost no time, especially after a 5 hour airline delay. Thank you again for being awesome!
You simply ROCK Josie. Seriously, what a wonderful mother / wife you are, and an all round beautiful person. I’m sorry to hear about the airline delay but I’m glad you’re now home and safe (and hopefully WARM!!!) N xx
The flavor of the chicken was great but my sauce didn’t turn out jammy. I don’t think it was the pan that was the culprit: the chicken thighs gave off so much juice that I am pretty sure they were ‘injected with brine’ which some places do when they put the chicken on sale. I didn’t have time to reduce the (almost 2 cups!) liquid from the sauce but next time I will allow a little extra time to reduce the sauce either in the oven or on the stove in case I get the same overly juicy thighs.
BTW – my DH looked at the parchment paper and aluminum foil lining in the pan and asked in an astonished voice where I’d BOUGHT it!
Woah – 2 cups of liquid??!!! Hmm, I think you are right, it sounds like the chicken may have been injected with brine. N x
Can this be done in a slow cooker?
Sorry Carly, it needs to be done in an oven to get the caramelisation 🙂 N x
THIS WAS AMAZING. My fiance and I devoured it after I made it and its now been added to our “short-list” of favorite recipes. We used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and the glaze wasn’t quite as jammy as I had hoped (probably a pan size issue), but we were able to pour it over the chicken and it soaked into the rice, making that even more delicious. Thank you so much! I can’t wait to explore what other recipes you have.
Thank you Katherine! And YES, I should probably add the recipe that if the sauce doesn’t reduce down as much then it’s FAB to pour over rice!!! 🙂
Let me just say how thrilled I was to find this recipe. It was after a Google search that I discovered it, and my goodness it did not disappoint! Now I will admit that like others, I was unable to achieve the sticky texture desired for the sauce in my initial baking process. However, it was a simple fix at the end to remove the fluid, place it in a small saute pan and reduce for about 5 minutes. I then rolled the cooked chicken in the sauce and voila. It was a major hit. I served it alongside steamed rice, and par steamed bean sprouts and sugar snap peas. NAGI, thank you so much for a beautiful dish that is now destined to become the latest entry into my repertoire of successful, healthy and flavor packed recipes!
Hi Lisa! Thank you so much for your feedback! I’ve added a little tip about the sticky sauce – it’s all about the pan size and ensuring there is enough space around the chicken for it to evaporate 🙂 When I made this at a friends in a smaller baking pan, what I did at the end was take the chicken out and stick the pan back in for 5 minutes which did the trick perfectly while the chicken was resting. Thank you again for your feedback!!! N x
Hi Nagi! Unfortunately my sauce didn’t turn out “jammy”. Broiling the sauce afterwards doesn’t work either.
I was able to reduce the sauce by putting the sauce in a large skillet over high heat and scraping it off the pan with a spatula. 🙂
Hi Lisa! I’m sorry to hear that. I had that problem when I jammed everything into a small baking dish. Did you use a small one??
I have made these before and they come out so delicious and unbelievable but was just wondering if you have tried marinating them overnight and if it makes a difference. I’m serving this for a big dinner and I want most of my prep done the night before.
Hi Maddy! I haven’t tried marinating these but it would need a slight recipe adjustment because juices from the chicken will thin the marinade so it will take longer to thicken and become sticky. 🙂
Can I make this sauce ahead of time and then just pour it on when I cook? How long can I keep the sauce out you think? I’m assuming it will be fine at room temp since all ingredients are room temp but I don’t know if it changes when the garlic gets minced and they are all mixed together. Thanks! It looks amazing though. Cant wait to try it.
Hi Nina! Yes you can make the sauce ahead. Even refrigerate it overnight, though bring it back to room temperature before using. Up to 24 hours should be fine! The only thing is the garlic – you don’t want to keep raw minced garlic for too long, but a day is perfectly fine! N x
Hi,
Another fab recipe. You are my go to for delicious, delicious food. I am spreading the word round all my friends! Can I just ask when you show oven temp in Celsius, is that fan oven or conventional please
Aww Jenny, you made MY DAY!!! I use a fan forced oven, I will update the recipe to make note of that. Thanks for the question! N x
Hello Nagi! I am ready to cook this dish, but what’s about chicken breasts? Do you think I can actually use them instead the thighs? thanks in advance!
Sorry Masha! It won’t work with breast, needs SKIN to get the jammy result!
Now I know it for sure. Tried beasts, but there was no licky jam, just liquid sauce (
thanks anyway!
Now I know it for sure! Tried breasts, but there was no sticky jam just liquid sauce. Thanks anyway!!
I used chicken thighs and I thought pan was big enough…perhaps it wasn’t??? I know you were pretty specific….I will try again with larger pan? Since others tried recipe with success perhaps my thighs were too close together???
I made this last night & it turned out great! I put a tablespoon of molasses in the glaze because my boyfriend loves it in everything. I wish I had used 2 onions because the sticky sweet glaze was so good with it.
I love the jammy onions, it’s great, isn’t it?? I actually tried it with 2 onions but found there was less glaze for the chicken 🙂 Still yum!
I am not one to post comments on recipes but this was one of the best if not THE BESF chicken recipe I’ve ever made. I have a hard time sticking to measurements for recipes but for this I did and oh god did it ever come out delicious. Thank you 🙂
YAY!!! So glad you enjoyed it Maddy!! 🙂 N x