Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken
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The best and easiest chicken ever, baked to crisp-tender perfection along with the most amazing sweet garlic sauce!
So I’ve been on a major chicken-thigh-kick lately. It’s weird because I never even thought I liked chicken thighs until I used it in this slow cooker honey sesame chicken. From there, I was hooked. But then I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for the very first time in this pan roasted lemon chicken and I was in heaven.
From the honey mustard chicken to the chicken and mushroom skillet, I’m just loving the whole sear-first-then-roast method since it makes the most crisp-tender chicken thighs ever. It’s unbelievably juicy and yet you still have that amazing crust on top too.
And this sweet brown sugar, garlicky crust is to die for. I seriously wanted to guzzle it down. Or triple the sauce so I can serve it over everything and anything. I’m actually bummed that I didn’t because there was absolutely no sauce leftover here. I licked the plate clean and a single drop wasn’t left at all!
Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.
- Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir in brown sugar, honey, oregano, thyme and basil until well combined. Return chicken to the skillet.
- Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 175 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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What is the nutritional info of this recipe (calories, protein, sodium etc)? Looks delicious but I need to know before making it. Thanks!
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
I made this yesterday for my fam of 3. I used breasts and just seared them in the pan a little longer before putting them in the oven (mainly because I was already planning to cook them). I’m sure it would have been just as devine with the thighs.
The breasts were so juicy and full of flavor! I periodically basted them with the sauce.
My husband and 13-yr-old daughter LOVED them! They raved about this recipe! We had yellow rice and mixed veggies for the sides.
Like someone said earlier, the only downside was only 1 piece remained for leftovers the next day! DELICIOUS!!! Definitely easy. Will make this again and again!
I turn this into Keto. I used Truvia brown sugar.. I also sauteed bacon to the garlic sauce and added a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Came out delicious.
Awesome!
Unfortunately for this bomb recipe, I’ve got lots of vegetarian friends (cool people though) and I was wondering if you can do this recipe with a substitute … Instead of chicken? Dinner parties these days, amiright?
Thanks
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
This is one of my family’s favorite recipes. I’ve been making it ever since it was posted. My daughter requests this for her birthday every year now. I triple the sauce and we serve it as a bowl with mashed potatoes on the bottom, this chicken, and then corn on top. Use the extra sauce as a gravy over the whole thing. So. Damn. Delicious I love all your recipes. Your blog is one of my go to’s for dinner ideas❤️
This has become a go-to recipe in my house. My kids call it “the good chicken,” and I think I have to make a huge batch of it every couple weeks for 3 seasons of the year! The only change I made (because the husband complained it was too sweet the first time when I followed the directions exactly) is that I now season the thighs with salt, pepper, and cayenne before searing them. Gives a nice bite, and I love the sweet with the heat. We always serve it from the pan, with a gravy ladle, because the pan juices are great over rice!
The good chicken! That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing, Patti! 🙂
My husband and I really enjoyed this. I used boneless, skinless thighs and it was delicious. I added crushed red pepper and I tripled the sauce so there was extra to put over the chicken and the rice. I made Nishiki rice on the side. Next time I will make veggies on the side and serve it as a stir fry. I will also spice it up a little more.
This was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you!!
That sounds so yummy! Here are all of our side dish recipes for some veggie inspiration https://damndelicious.net/category/side-dish/
Yum! Made this tonight and it was a hit. It looked and tasted like $20 restaurant chicken. 🙂 I took the skin off of my thighs to cut the fat a bit, and they were still great.
Very delicious! The sauce went very well with sliced baked potatoes. Thanks for another delicious recipe!
mmm yum! Love that caramelized flavour on meat! (:
I haven’t made this yet, I want to try, the only thing I got confused at is once it says return chicken to the skillet, how long?
Cherri, the skillet is placed into the oven immediately after the chicken is returned.
This is one of my family’s all time favorite chicken dishes! Thank you for perfecting the sweet & savory flavors we crave sometimes. I make it exactly as the recipe is written and it turns out perfect every time. I’ve had to start making a double batch so everyone gets as much as they want. Fantastic!
Just so, so. Way too greasy; will not make again.
I don’t have an oven friendly pan, could I cook this on the stove in a covered pan? How long would you suggest for this? And what heat?
Yes, you can certainly try and cook this on the stovetop but without further recipe testing, I cannot advise exact cooking time/heat for substitutions and modifications.
I trasferred it to a pyrex baking dish, put some of the mix on bottom, then chicken, then topped the chicken with the rest of the mix. Didn’t cover it, turned the chicken once to get both sides cooked in the mix, yum!!
Excellent! Made exactly as recipe stated. Will be making this again and again.
This was sooo delicious! I couldn’t stop licking up the leftover sauce. I did mess it up a little because I left the heat on when I poured in the sugar and spices. Will need to pay closer attention next time. Thank you!!
This tastes pretty good except I was expecting a more garlicky flavour. Would you suggest adding more garlic or using some garlic powder?
Yes, absolutely.
my brown sugar keeps almost caramelizing when i mix it in, is my heat too high? I love this, I’ve made it a lot, but my sugar has hardened the last two times.
Yes, the heat may be too high!
My family loves this sauce. I have made this ‘as is’ at least a dozen times since you first posted it. It is always a big hit. I have also made the sauce on wings, in the crockpot for shredded chicken sliders, I have drizzled the sauce over veggies as a side, etc. this is a family favorite, even my picky eaters have seconds.
I made this today. The brown sugar sauce ended up burning and the bottom of the thighs were burnt. Either the temperature is too high or time cooked is to long. Sounded good. Might try again at a lower temperature.
My kids call this “the good chicken” when I make it. I have a very large skillet and usually make between 10 & 12 thighs. The only change I made was that in addition to the salt & pepper, I also spindly cayenne on the thighs before searing. Otherwise I follow the (scaled for more chicken) recipe as written. I serve it with rice and my family uses a gravy ladle to put the sauce from the pan on their rice, too). This is a regular in our house now, and my teenage son who is starting college has learned to make it as well.
I made this tonight with chicken quarters–thighs and drumstick attached.
It was delicious!