Old-Fashioned Southern Sticky Chicken
This Southern Sticky Chicken is a classic, bone-in dinner that delivers tender, juicy meat coated in a thick, caramelized glaze. With just ketchup, honey, and soy sauce, this family-favorite recipe transforms 3 to 5 pounds of chicken into a sweet and savory masterpiece in about 90 minutes!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Old-Fashioned Southern Sticky Chicken
- Ready In: 100 minutes
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: 3 -5 pounds bone-in chicken with skin, 1 cup ketchup, 1 cup honey, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Why You'll Love It: This Southern Sticky Chicken is an oven classic! Simmering a simple honey-soy glaze and baking the chicken low and slow gives you tender meat and a thick, caramelized coating that no one can resist!
The Sunday Dinner Staple You Can Make on a Tuesday
This sweet and sticky chicken is an old-fashioned Southern recipe that has been around for about as long as folks have been cookin’! 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.
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. Then you bring the sauce ingredients to a boil, pour them over the chicken pieces, and bake. The result is tender and juicy chicken soaked in a deliciously caramelized and sweet Asian-style sauce!
I love this sticky chicken recipe because it’s easy to make, which means it makes a great weeknight dinner, plus, it’s even easier to double for leftovers and lunches. You can serve your meal with rice, vegetables, or a slew of other Southern sides.
Other Asian-inspired meals I recommend include crockpot cashew chicken, Asian-inspired pot roast, chicken fried rice, and Chinese chicken salad.
Recipe Ingredients
- Bone-in chicken with skin
- Ketchup
- Honey
- Brown sugar
- Soy sauce
- Garlic powder
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.
How to Make Sticky Chicken
1. Simmer the Sauce
In a medium saucepot, whisk together your ketchup, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic powder. Place it over medium-high heat. You aren’t looking to cook it down for long, just bring it to a rolling boil so all those sugars melt together into one smooth, glossy marinade!
2. Prep the Chicken
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Arrange your chicken pieces in a 9×13 baking dish. I find it easiest to use tongs here so I can tuck everything in neatly. Pour that hot, sticky sauce right over the top, making sure every piece gets a good coating!
3. The First Bake
Slide the dish into the oven, uncovered. Let it bake for 45 minutes. At this point, the sauce will be starting to thin out and bubble. Use your tongs to flip every piece of chicken over so the underside can take a turn soaking in that liquid gold.
4. Flip and Baste
Bake for another 30 minutes. Flip the chicken one last time so the skin side is back on top. Use a spoon to scoop up the sauce from the bottom of the pan and pour it over the top of each piece.
NOTE: Cooking time is the same if you use legs and thighs.
5. The Grand Finale
Bake for the final 15 minutes. This is when the magic happens: the sauce will thicken up significantly and “stick” to the chicken. Once it’s out, let it rest for a few minutes so the glaze sets.
Booyah! Easy sticky chicken!
What To Serve With Southern Sticky Chicken
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. More traditional Southern pairings include Fresh Green Beans, Broccoli with Homemade Cheese Sauce, Broccoli Salad with Bacon, or Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Salad.
Storage
This recipe will last up to 5 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!
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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.
- Bring it just to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat.
- Arrange chicken pieces in a 9×13 baking dish. Pour the entire amount of sauce over the chicken, turning pieces with tongs to coat.
- 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
I’ll be trying this sticky chicken!
My husband grew up in Clear Lake, Iowa where Buddy Holly’s plane went down and ended his life with some other band members. Waylen Jennings didn’t get on the plane that early morning, he was in the concert at the Surf Ballroom with Buddy Holly.
They still have a yearly dance every Febuary in honor of Buddy and his fellow band members that were with him at the Surf. We moved out of state and haven’t been the Surf for 20 some odd years.
Mixed up the sauce and it is waiting on the stove until supper time. I like the rock n roll “oldies” too. Aaahh, the memories…
Christy, I have been making this recipe for years and my favorite is using thighs or the flas of chicken wings. My neighbor tried it a few weeks ago when she didn’t know what to do with chicken breasts someone had given her. She had to borrow the brown sugar from me, but tried it and her husband went crazy for it. The next two days, she came over and borrowed brown sugar again and again, and had to make it for him two more times. I thin he liked it. . . . . . . I,like you, also grew up with parents that appreciated music and we always had our small record player going with Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Dinah Washington, Brooke Benton, Johnny Mathis, Elvis Presley, Leonard Bernstein, Pat Boone, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the list goes on. Love all types of music now and I’m better at naming that tune from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s than the 90’s and the 2000-2010’s. Hey and I can still remember every word from Abba Dabba Honeymoon, which I sang to all my children and grand-children. Did I mention I was born in 1947? Love your recipes and stories. Don’t stop being yourself.
OOPS….
ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY!!!
Sticky Chicken really sounds good but it has to much sugar for my liking. 🙁
ROCK AND IS HERE TO STAY!!!
I guess you can tell what music I like to listen to. LOL
Going to try that sticky chicken recipe this week, thanks! When I was a kid, my mom was in love with Robert Goulet. She had a big photograph framed on the “hifi,” that came with one of his albums. One day she pointed to the photo and said to me, “If Robert Goulet came to the door, I would leave your father for him.” I was horrified, and after two frightening weeks, I pulled my dad aside and told him the terrible truth of his future. He laughed and told me he would take the gamble that Robert Goulet would never be knocking on our door.
I know you aren’t a big fan of seafood, but I am wondering how this would be on salmon….hmmm.. May have to experiment a little.