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:
This was seriously a quick and easy, and delicious, supper on a bed of rice.
This was so tasty & easy to make. Loved that I had everything I needed in the pantry. It took longer to cook than the recipe said, but some things are worth waiting for.
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.
Great taste, spicy, had it with garlic zucchini. Wife loved it and so did I.
Fantastic recipe – I make this almost every week. So easy and oh so tasty.
You’ve done it again Nagi! Thanks 😋
I made this tonight. Mine didn’t look as good as yours Nagi but it was quick, easy and delicious! I served it with herbed rice, steamed broccoli, and loads of the sauce Yum! You were right I had everything I needed in the pantry – perfect 👌🏻
Another family favourite! Simple, packed with flavour and super easy!!!
I have skinless, bone-in thighs. Please tell me how to bake them – temperature and for how long please?
I made this dish for dinner tonight-amazing!!! This was so delicious!!! This recipe is a keeper!!
I love a dish with plenty of sauce and this chicken dish does just that. Man, it’s so simple and is super duper easy to make and so delish.
I sure added the hot sauce…. We bought it online “Sh%t the Bed” which packs a punch.
This chicken recipe is fantastic, you’ve done it again Nagi.
Hello! If I have bone in thighs with skin can I sear the meat first then pop it in the oven (how long?) then finish it in the stove simmering in the sauce?
Hi Carmela, yes you can definitely do that although the caramelising of the sauce in the oven gives the great flavour. N x
Nagi!! This was amazing! It came together quickly and easily. I served it with green beans and a soft dinner roll. Delicious! Thank you!
I swear this site never fails me, this was so freaking good! I made the mistake of using bone-in chicken thighs (read it wrong) but I just popped them in the oven separately for a few more minutes and they still turned out great
My husband loved this so much that he asked me to print the recipe, he rarely asks me to print a recipe lol. It was soooo quick and easy too. This recipe needs more love!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear! N x
This very was very good. It’s like making wild rice from scratchy. It went great with the Chicken.
The chicken was great. It was quick, easy and the sauce was thick. I made it with the mushroom rice. It’s a keeper.
Hello Nagi. Can this recipe be used with bone in chicken thighs? If so, how would the cooking time change?
Thank you!
Hi Charles, you can use bone in however I would bake them as they’d take too long in the pan and you might find the marinade starting to burn. They will take about 50 minutes in a 180C/350F oven 🙂 N x
Enjoyed the recipe. Chicken was even better as a leftover after sitting in the sauce in the refrigerator. I had sauce left over after finishing the chicken and could not bear to throw it out. Ended up adding it to ground beef and making hamburgers. Made really good hamburgers with diced onion in them. Try it; don’t throw away the sauce.