The reign of sriracha is not over yet. The price for a bottle of this magic sauce remains stable at my local grocery store, so panic is averted for now.
I fell in love with chicken thighs a while back when I made the Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs. They’re super easy to cook, usually quite inexpensive, and always juicy and tender. For boneless, skinless chicken thighs all you have to do is add some sauce and pop them in the oven. A little while later you have an easy to eat and very delicious meat. That’s all I want—easy, delicious, inexpensive.
For this honey sriracha version, I’ve mixed up a marinade/sauce of the basic goodies: garlic, ginger, soy sauce, honey, and brown sugar. I used half brown sugar and half honey to cut costs, but if cost is not your concern, use all honey and no brown sugar. The end product is sweet, spicy, and full of flavor. Plus the thighs are tender and juicy as always. I’ve been eating this all week over a bed of jasmine rice with a few florets of broccoli. When I’m leaving for work in the morning I add all three to a container (the broccoli is frozen, from a bag in the freezer) and then they all reheat together in the microwave at lunch time. It’s the perfect little inexpensive and filling lunch!
Honey Sriracha Chicken Thighs
Honey Sriracha Chicken Thighs
Servings 6 1 thigh eachIngredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (2 lbs) ($5.98)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 inch fresh ginger ($0.11)
- 2 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce ($0.17)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.15)
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.11)
- 2 Tbsp honey ($0.24)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.03)
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup water ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp corn starch ($0.12)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro or green onions ($0.20)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and grate the ginger into a bowl. Add the sriracha, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and water. Stir to combine. Add the corn starch and stir until dissolved.
- Add the chicken thighs to a large zip top bag or a shallow dish. Add half of the marinade/sauce mixture to the chicken and toss to coat (be sure to stir the sauce before adding it to the chicken. The garlic, ginger, and corn starch tend to settle to the bottom.) Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Save the unused portion of the marinade for later.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the chicken and its marinade to a 8×8 inch casserole dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, basting the chicken with the juices half way through.
- While the chicken is baking, add the second reserved marinade (the half that wasn’t used with the chicken) to a small sauce pot. Bring it up to a simmer over medium heat while stirring. As soon as it reaches a simmer it will thicken into a nice glaze. Set the sauce aside.
- When the chicken is finished baking, spread the thickened sauce over each piece of chicken. Add fresh cilantro or sliced green onions and serve.
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Nutrition
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I like to add a few spears of broccoli to this dish to make a complete meal!
Step by Step Photos
Mince two cloves of garlic and grate one inch of fresh ginger on a small holed cheese grater. Add them to a bowl along with 2 Tbsp sriracha, 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp honey, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, and 1/2 cup water. Stir to combine.
Add 2 Tbsp corn starch and stir until dissolved.
Add half of the marinade mixture to a large zip top bag (or shallow dish) along with 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Toss to coat and then marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Be sure to stir the marinade mixture well before pouring it into the bag because the garlic, ginger, and corn starch tend to settle to the bottom. Save the second half of the marinade for later.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the marinated chicken thighs to a small casserole dish, along with all of the marinade from the bag. Bake for 30 minutes and baste the chicken half way through (either spoon the juices over top of each thigh or use a baster to squirt the liquid over top).
Meanwhile, add the reserved half of the marinade (the half not used on the chicken) to a small sauce pot and bring it up to a simmer over medium heat. As soon as it reaches a simmer, the corn starch will begin to thicken the sauce until it becomes a nice glaze. Set the thickened sauce aside until the chicken is finished baking.
When they’re finished baking they look like this. Kind of naked, huh? That’s why we saved half of the sauce! :D
Sauce them thighs up! (Just use a spoon to spread some of the sauce over each thigh.)
Add a little greenery to freshen it up (cilantro or sliced green onions) and you’re ready to serve! Like I said earlier, I’ve been eating this in a bowl with jasmine rice and a little broccoli. So good—So easy.
Thank you for this recipe!! My picky 11 year old son loved it when I tried this a week ago. Today I bought chicken thighs and he said “Yes!! You’re making that chicken from last week!!” He even sent dad a text about dinner tonight. He has NEVER been excited about a recipe like this before! A big hit in our home.
Could one use EV olive oil instead?
Yep!
I love you site! We have tried alot of your recipes and they have all been delicious and affordable. Just wanted to say Thanks!
Do you think this recipe could be adapted into a slow-cooker version?
Personally, I think slow cookers hold in too much moisture for this type of sauce. It needs that dry heat to get nice and thick and glossy. My guess is that with a slow cooker it will end up kind of watery.
This is one of the best chicken recipes ever. Adding to my favorite dinner board on Pinterest.
Tried the recipe this evening. Absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing.
I was wanting to make this for a get together about 20 people do you think it would be ok to grill the chicken?
I’m not quite sure without trying it first, but it seems like it would work.
Hi! Really want to make this recipe but time’s tight. Is it possible to leave the chicken thighs in the marinade overnight? Or will that cause an issue?
I think that should be okay. :)
Oh my goodness! This receipe is so good! Thank you so much. I will be adding this to my repertoire.
I’ve made this several times now, and it is still so good! Last night I didn’t really have time for it to marinade so just made the sauce, dumped it in and put it in the oven. It was still really good! I’m thinking this could be a great freezer meal–put half the sauce in with chicken and stick it in the freezer, then put the other half of the sauce in a baggie. It would already be marinaded when it thaws.
Awesome! Made it tonight and my family declared the recipe a keeper.
I just noticed that there is NO salt in this recipe.
Good for you, you know the power of the adjacent ingredients.
thanks!
Well, no table salt but it does have sodium thanks to the soy sauce and sriracha. :)
Even before it’s finished and tasted I’m rating 5 stars! Smells great. I used 8 chicken thighs and I doubled the sauce except the oil and water. Cut back a little on Sriracha since I’m bringing it for a group. Halfway through to baste they were still pretty raw so I’m checking at about 36 minutes. Going to bring for a picnic so they will be cold. Even though I bet they are best hot, who doesn’t like a chilled piece of tasty thighs! Thanks for the recipe.
This was amazing! I made chicken breasts instead of thighs, but the sauce, oh the sauce – it’s just so good. The sweetness of the honey with that little kick of sriracha. I served it with jasmine rice & the cumin lime slaw (another great recipe)
This was really good! I did increase the water and the brown sugar and it was just the right balance. I also used bone in chicken thighs and pulled the skills off. I think the bones gives it more flavor. I increased the cooking time by ten minutes as well.
Making this tonight…the marinade smells HEAVENLY!
I’m between ovens now :-) so i’m going to put this on a slow flame and make it a stew. Should be good! Can’t wait!!