Sticky Grilled Chicken with Savory-Sweet Marinade Recipe
Sticky Grilled Chicken features tender, juicy boneless, skinless chicken thighs marinated overnight in a savory-sweet country-style glaze. This recipe balances flavors of ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce to create a caramelized, finger-licking dish perfect for BBQs or stovetop cooking. The chicken is grilled to perfection and layered with a sticky glaze for maximum flavor.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 day 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 – 5 servings
- Category: Mains
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: Western
Ingredients
Chicken
- 700g (1.4lb) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Marinade / Glaze
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (all purpose or light, NOT dark)
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions
- Prepare the Marinade: In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and minced garlic until well combined.
- Marinate the Chicken: Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade for basting later as the glaze. Add the chicken thighs to the remaining marinade, turning to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate overnight for best flavor; marinate a minimum of 3 hours or up to 48 hours. Optionally, freeze the marinated chicken at this stage.
- Preheat the Grill: Brush the barbecue grill grates with vegetable or canola oil to prevent sticking. Preheat the grill to medium heat for proper caramelization.
- Grill the Chicken: Remove chicken from the marinade allowing excess to drip off. Place on the preheated grill and cook for 4 minutes on the first side until caramelized.
- Glaze and Turn: Flip the chicken, brush generously with reserved glaze, and cook another 4 minutes. Flip again, brush with more glaze, then flip and brush once more to build sticky layers of flavor.
- Rest the Chicken: Remove chicken from the grill, transfer to a plate, and cover loosely with foil. Let rest for 3 minutes to redistribute juices.
- Serve: Serve the sticky grilled chicken warm, optionally garnished with chopped parsley. It pairs perfectly with sides like macaroni salad.
- Alternative Cooking Methods: For stovetop cooking, heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, cook chicken in batches, following the same glazing steps. For oven-baking, follow a similar sticky baked chicken recipe for best results.
Notes
- Use boneless chicken thighs for best caramelization and cooking time; bone-in pieces require longer cooking and may darken the marinade.
- Chicken breast can be used if pounded to even thickness; cook about 3 minutes per side and baste liberally with glaze.
- The marinade is flexible: ketchup can be substituted with Aussie tomato sauce or BBQ sauce; brown sugar can be swapped with white sugar, honey, or maple syrup.
- Soy sauce should be light or all-purpose, not dark; fish sauce can be used but reduce quantity to 1 tbsp.
- Try different vinegars such as white vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar, or champagne vinegar as alternatives to apple cider vinegar.
- Add black pepper, onion or garlic powder before coating, or hot sauce, herbs, and spices like cayenne, paprika, cumin, or coriander to personalize flavor.