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.
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When I made this I was under the influence, and in a weakened state, I added a blanket of thick cut bacon over the top. The reault was an awful, wonderful experience. As a teenager I was fond of peanut butter and bacon on toast. Tonight I felt young again until the chest pains. Lovely your recipe. 10,000 Thanks!
Spotted your Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken on Pinterest last week and was determined to try out the recipe as soon as I could. WOW, what a great dish! And the sauce—AWESOME!!! My husband wanted to double up on the chicken while I was searing it. Both he and my son loved it and like others have stated—no leftovers! My picky 20 yr. old son loved it so much, he said I should make it often and even requested the recipe so he can take it with him when he leaves home (NOT ANYTIME SOON
We loved this. I forgot the honey, but it was still great. Thanks for a quick easy recipe.
Hello 🙂 Currently this recipe is cooking in the oven.. I came back to read all the comments because I am a bit nervous this wont turn out :/ When I poured the garlic/brown sugar mix over the chicken it literally was so hot it started to cook the chicken and then as it cooled it hardened. So I could literally pull it all off the chicken in a nice intact hard piece of brown sugar mass. So I left it on there and put it all in the oven to continue. I’m hoping it will turn out but I am not so sure 🙁 I am thinking maybe I over cooked it…
Pulled it out of the oven and the topping of brownsugar and garlic are black. O_O But under it the chicken is fully cooked and looks fine. Oh my….. I think I messed it up somehow 🙁 But.. it smells fabulous in my house! 😛 Well I am glad it worked out for everyone else here that posted.
Avei, yes, it seems that something went terribly wrong. And I am confused as to why you “poured” the garlic/brown sugar mix over the chicken. The chicken thighs are first cooked, then set aside, then the sauce is made and the chicken is returned to the skillet. There should be no pouring of any kind happening here.
Well I have read a few recipes for this and after I came upon yours I think I mixed it all up. There are other recipes out there that say to pour it over the chicken and then bake. Yours was the only one that was a bit different. So no fault at all to your recipe! 🙂 I will do this again and follow only your recipe because I printed it out finally. Overall….. the chicken was good once we scraped everything off of it 😛 Thank you for your time! Surprisingly everyone I cooked for ate it all without complaint so I am thankful for that. * Im learning to cook *
No worries on mixing up recipes. I have definitely done that before! But I do hope you get a chance to try this again as written – it’s truly one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had!
Tried this without the bone and it was GREAT!!
This is hands down the best recipe I’ve grabbed from Pinterest so far. The cost, ease of preparation, time invested, and end result (DELICIOUS) cannot be beat. I’ve made it three times now, and it has become my go-to chicken sauce. Thank you!
Made this for dinner tonight. I thought it was excellent. Kids thought it was good. Husband thought the skin wasn’t crispy enough, but that it had good flavor. I will definitely make it again and try a little harder to get the skin crispier.
How do you cook this without an oven?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise how to best cook this on the stovetop. Please use your best judgment to ensure that the chicken is completely cooked through without baking.
I saw this on a weight watchers board. Do you know the Points Plus value for this?
I try my very best to provide nutritional information for my recipes. However, if they are not available, it is best that you use free online resources at your discretion (you can gooogle “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
My 4 yr old daughter loves crispy chicken skin so I decided to make this for her tonight and the skin turned out super crispy! The chicken rendered some fat while searing so I didn’t add the second round of butter. It turned out great! I made roasted mustard potatoes and onion in the oven at the same time, so dinner was such a breeze. Thanks for sharing! The technique was spot on for crispy skin which is a must for chicken. ☺️
Made this tonight and it was great! Family of 3 devoured it. Only change, I removed the skin. Thanks for sharing
I made this recipe tonight, but used chicken beasts instead of thighs. It was great! My family loved it and I had ZERO leftovers. 😉
This was awesome! The only thing I did different was instead of cooking the chicken in butter, I cooked it in coconut oil, that helped cut down on some fat. Thanks too for your suggestions on what to serve with it.
This sounds delicious! I have a huge pack of pork chops in the fridge that I feel obligated to cook tonight – gonna try this on pork! *fingers crossed* Thanks!
we used the chicken thighs. Was truly amazing! Thighs were 99c a pound. What a great budget meal with carrots and baked potatoes. I can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow
Can I use cast iron? If so, what modifications do I need to make, if any?
Yes, it is fine to use a cast iron without any changes.
Where is the Amazing Sweet Garlic Sauce??? Did I miss it?
Bob, the garlic sauce is listed in the recipe. It is made from scratch with the butter, garlic, brown sugar, etc.
Oh my goodness! This was stunningly delicious. I couldn’t even save the leftovers, I was sucking the chicken off the bone after dinner! Thank you.
I tried this one tonight with 5 split breast and cook for 30 minutes. It was DELICIOUS!
Thank you for this addition to my family’s regular menu!!
Would this be ok to cook in a Dutch oven? I want to try this tonight!
Yes, that should work just fine!