Juicy and tender baked sweet & spicy chicken that comes together in 30 minutes with loads of flavor.
After you’re hooked on this Baked Sweet and Spicy Chicken, you’ll wanna try Instant Pot Parmesan Chicken and Rice with Mushrooms, Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots, and Asparagus Stuffed Chicken.
Sometimes time gets away from me. It seems like every year my birthday sneaks up on me and suddenly I’m a year older and hardly even noticed. Quick disclaimer: It’s not my birthday. BUT….
It is this blog’s birthday. WOOT WOOT! That’s right, today is Creme de la Crumb’s birthday.
I won’t get all sentimental on you and tell you what this blog means to me (no but really, you have no idea what this blog means and YOU make it all possible so, THANK YOU) but we’re gonna celebrate with flavors I love so much. I love sweet things, and I really really love spicy things, but even more than that I border on obsessed with a good sweet + spicy combo – bring those two flavor nuances together and it’s pure magic in my mouth.
This chicken is quickly browned on the stove, then brushed with sauce and transferred to the oven to be baked to juicy perfection. After that it’s just another smothering of that sweet and spicy sauce and then straight to the dinner table!
Happy Birthday Creme de la Crumb and thank you for sticking around to indulge in all this yummy goodness with me, you guys really are the BEST.
What people are saying about this Baked Sweet & Spicy Chicken
“K just made this tonight for dinner and HOLY WOW! My husband dubbed this his new favorite sauce ever. It’s so good. I made it with Sriracha (the only hot sauce I had) and added red peppers for more spice and it was hot but sooo tasty!” – Tiffany
“This may be our new family favorite. The sauce also caught the attention of my picky 10-year-old and has encouraged her to try new recipes. Super excited to taste more. Thanks a million!” – Tracy
“I made this for my entire family last night and they ALL LOVED IT! My husband told me it might be one of the best meals I’ve ever made him (And I’m a pretty good cook!) My mother in law told me to make sure i save the recipe. It was so easy to make, i put it over some rice and it was a total hit!!” – Sarah
“Best sauce EVERRRRR!! My son could not get enough!!! Thanks for sharing this!” – Nicole
Hungry for more? Try my Best Baked Chicken Breasts recipe next!
Baked Sweet & Spicy Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts - pounded to even thickness
- salt and pepper to taste
Sauce
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 2-4 tablespoons hot sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - (you could substitute white vinegar)
- ⅓ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a large baking sheet (with a raised side) or casserole dish.
- In a medium sauce pan whisk together all sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 3-4 minutes. While sauce is boiling, season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides, grease a skillet and cook chicken on both sides 1-2 minutes over medium heat, just enough to brown the very outside.
- Arrange chicken in a single layer (not overlapping) on prepared baking sheet. Brush with sauce. (there should still be plenty of sauce leftover – reserve for later). Bake for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Pour remaining sauce over the chicken and serve hot.
I made this and it was delicious. It is a little watery in the beginning but if you take it off the heat it will thicken as it sets. Hope that helps. Definitely a keeper
Made this tonight and I am hooked! Thank you for an amazing recipe! My usual meals were getting boring! I put this sauce on broccoli and cauliflower as well and cannot get enough! The sauce is perfection and the chicken was fabulous! I am looking forward to making more from your blog!
Tried this tonight and it came out pretty decent. all the previous reviews are correct when they say the sauce is not as thick as it is in the picture. I tried adding extra sugar and boiling it down as low as possible and then i even let it sit to cool off but the sauce remained very thin. so when i coated the chicken with the sauce of course it did not stick at all, at this point I was gonna call it a fail because I knew if the sauce didn’t stick the chicken wouldn’t get that great dark color like in the pics and i really wasn’t in the mood to eat pasty white chicken breast with watery sauce. What saved the dish is that the sauce caramelizes in the oven a bit and burnt sugar is a great way to incorporate deep colors into meat so half way through i took a spoon and scooped up a lot of the thicker caramelized sauce and really rubbed it into the chicken and then put it back in the oven. like I said, it was decent. too much work for such a simple flavor profile though. If i make it again i’ll try it in a small casserole dish that would allow the chicken to be almost submerged in the sauce so that when it caramelizes it does so while its on the chicken as opposed to the far corners of the baking sheet that the liquid sauce spreads out to.
This was so good and loved by the whole fam!
I added a touch of cornstarch to thicken the sauce a touch and it was great!
Served on top of rice noodles. YUM!!!
Thanks for posting!
Made this tonight with Sriracha sauce, and garlic powder instead of minced. It was INCREDIBLE!!