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.
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Christy,
This sounds like the “barbeque” sauce my mama made all the time when I was much younger. She just put catsup, brown sugar, worchestershire sauce, vinegar and a little mustard in a pan, brought it to a boil, poured it over chicken, baked it and called it “barbeque chicken” Loved it! Don’t know that she ever measured anything and always liked to make it when the catsup bottle was less that half full and she put a bit of water in it and washed out every last drop! I was certainly taught not to waste ANYTHING!!!
As for music, I was a 70s girl so I listened to Chicago, Roberta Flack and Carole King and others. But last night I went to see Jersey Boys. It’s about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Their music, a wee bit before the 70s was so awesome. Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man, My Eyes Adored You and Oh, What a Night!!! I enjoy all those oldies, but now listen mostly to contemporary Christian music.
Then and now, huge disco fan! Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Barry White, KC and the Sunshine Band, just to name a few.
We loved Disco Duck! My poor grandparents were so sweet, they would put that record on over and over and dance with us.
pinned it and shared it on Facebook….
I’ve seen recently that the USDA has changed some of it’s minimum safe temps for meats. They lowered the chicken temp to 165 degrees. Do you go by the USDA temps or do you still cook your chicken to 180 degrees, which was the original suggestion?
Also, do you know which cooks faster, bone-in or boneless chicken?
I don’t ever measure temperature of my meat, I just make sure my cooking times are on point and leave it at that :). The USDA will continue to change depending on how the wind blows or whichever group is lobbying it the most for their current campaign and I keep an eye on it as far as common sense goes – but that’s about it. I generally overcook my meat ever so slightly to avoid undercooking:). The only time I check temperature is when I’m smoking meat.
I believe boneless cooks faster as it is usually a smaller cut of meat. Hope this helps!
Gratefully,
Christy
thanks for the reply, I’ve seen lots of recipes that say to cook chicken like 25-30 minutes or so and I don’t think that’s long enough, but I probably overcook all the meat I cook, because I don’t want it undercooked, on average, when you bake chicken in the oven, about how long do you cook yours and what oven temp do you usually use?
Generally, 350 for 30 minutes if the chicken is just refrigerated and just enough for four people or so 🙂
The Sticky Chicken looks good!11 Music I listened to growing up The Grand Ole Opry from Nashville, I still love the older country music and sing in a band here in Newton, Iowa called The Country Classics. I also write some songs and have made a CD a couple years ago. Now i guess I need to get down off my band wagon and say have a great day!
For me, it was Lawrence Welk! My grandmother was a huge fan of his. We also listened a lot to Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, and Pat Boone. If someone happened to turn the radio to a country station, then we were listening to “alternative style” music!
Fixing the sticky chicken for supper tonight….can’t wait!