Easy and Delicious Sticky Chicken
This dinner recipe for sticky-sweet chicken is made with bone-in chicken breasts(or chicken thighs). It’s coated in a flavorful blend of Russian or Thousand Island dressing, jarred apricot jam, and onion soup mix. Bake until golden brown and bubbling! Serve with rice to soak up every bit of the dish’s yummy sauce.
You’re in the right place if you’re looking for quick and easy chicken dinners. I LOVE sharing recipes like this. Old school, family tradition, and oh-so delicious.
I know there are a million thousand island chicken recipes out there like this one, but this is how my mom made it, and she called it Sticky Chicken, so Sticky Chicken it will forever be.
If you were worried about it being difficult, don’t be. It literally couldn’t be any easier if I tried. Get some chicken breasts, or thighs, or both and slather them in the sauce. Bake and eat. Yep, it’s THAT easy.
It’s actually very similar to my Apricot Glazed Baked Chicken Breasts, so if you like that, you’ll love this.
I like to use bone in chicken breasts, and I just remove the skin before baking. Cooking them on the bone creates the juiciest meat and makes it really hard to dry out. It’s easy to take it off the bone when you’re done so don’t worry about that either.
Make this recipe a staple in your family. It’s a crowd pleaser for sure and I hope you love it as much as I do!
- Bone-in chicken breasts – you can also use thighs.
- Russian Salad Dressing – can also use Catalina or Thousand Island
- Apricot jam – makes it sweet and sticky
- Onion soup mix – makes it easy!
- Garlic powder & pepper
It’s so easy to make
- In a large bowl or baking dish mix together the dressing, jam, onion soup mix, garlic powder and pepper until well combined.
- Add the chicken and toss to coat. If you have time to marinate the chicken do it! Cover and marinate for up to 12 hours. If not, pour chicken and sauce into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Every 30 minutes or so, brush the sauce over the chicken.
- If after 90 minutes you want the sauce a little “stickier” cook it for another 10-15 minutes. Otherwise serve immediately and enjoy!
It’s so nostalgic and comforting, my absolute favorite way to eat. You can easily make it ahead of time and warm it up when ready. It would be fabulous with my Coconut Rice!
Can you freeze it?
Totally! Make sure to cool the chicken completely, then cover and freeze for up to 3 months.
Sticky-Sweet Thousand Island Chicken
- Prep Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 90 minutes
- Total Time: 9 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
This dinner recipe for sticky-sweet chicken is made with bone-in chicken breasts(or chicken thighs). It’s coated in a flavorful blend of Russian or Thousand Island dressing, jarred apricot jam, and onion soup mix. Bake until golden brown and bubbling! Serve with rice to soak up every bit of the dish’s yummy sauce.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken breasts on the bone (can also use thighs) (if breasts are large, buy 3 and cut them in half)
- 1 (8 ounce) bottle Russian Salad Dressing (can also use Catalina or Thousand Island)
- 1/2 cup apricot jam
- 1 packet onion soup mix
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Remove the skin from the chicken. In a large bowl or baking dish mix together the dressing, jam, onion soup mix, garlic powder and pepper until well combined.
- Add the chicken and toss to coat. If you have time to marinate the chicken do it! Cover and marinate for up to 12 hours. If not, pour chicken and sauce into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Every 30 minutes or so, brush the sauce over the chicken.
- If after 90 minutes you want the sauce a little “stickier” cook it for another 10-15 minutes. Otherwise serve immediately and enjoy! I love serving this over rice to help soak up all the sauce.
Easy, delicious, even pleases the picky husband! 5 minute prep. And I want to DRINK the sauce! Thanks for A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 star recipe!
Thank you so much Lori!
Can you make it with boneless chicken breast
You can but then you can’t cook it for as long so the sauce won’t get as sticky.
Great chicken recipe that gives a different flavor profile but is just as easy as your usual weekday chicken dinner. My family really likes this one and I have some picky eaters.
Love that we can appease your picky eaters!
My sons and husband love this recipe! It is in our monthly rotation and everyone is always happy when it’s ‘Sticky Chicken Night!
I need to start a sticky chicken night!
I’ve been making this for 40+ years. Try it on oven roasted brisket wrapped in foil of course.
DELISH
Thank you for the 5 star review!
If I make this recipe without the bone-in chicken breasts – just boneless, skinless – is the cooking time changed? Ninety minutes seems like a long time for chicken.
Thank you!!
I’ve done it with boneless breasts and it works well!
So delish with the funniest combo of ingredients 😉
Right? So simple but so delish!
I make this every month or so for when the guys come over to hang out with my hubby. Never any leftovers, simple and delicious.
Love that so much!
I learned of this recipe when I purchased one of Laneys “stressed out to superstar “ guides (which I highly recommend!). This recipe is now a family staple. I have 4 grandchildren and my grandson is autistic and on a strict gluten free dairy free diet. While the only change I do is make my own Russian dressing and use a gluten free onion soup mix it is just so easy! Everyone loves it! My oldest granddaughter (9 years old) has requested this for our Xmas gathering this year so I now have my menu already together! All of Laneys recipes I have tried are big hits for our Sunday family dinners which I have pretty much every Sunday😀. This is a great easy dish!
Thank you so much for this review, Laura! I’m so happy your family loves my recipes and I love how your granddaughter requests it!!
I love how easy this recipe is! The hardest part is remembering to put it in early enough that we aren’t eating dinner too late since it takes a bit longer to cook. Otherwise, it is so simple and so tasty. I like to do a mix of chicken breasts and thighs. Have you ever tried freezing this recipe?
SO glad you liked it! I haven’t ever frozen it but I think it would work well!
Does it have to be bone in chicken breasts? How do I adjust cook temp/time for without bones? Thank you!
If you use boneless it just might dry out more and the sauce won’t thicken as much, but you can! I would bake for about 40-45 min
Hi, could you do this in the slow cooker?
And if so, what could you recommend? Thank you!
Soo good and simple! It is now on our weekly dinner rotation!
This is so yummy! I used creamy French dressing because that was the closest option at my store and it was delicious.
Isn’t 90 minutes too long?..I would think it would be so dry
Bake covered or uncovered?
Uncovered!
Can you use Thousand Island dressing or does Catalina taste better?
You can use either!
Is Russian dressing Catalina or Thousand Island? Thanks!
Trying this tonight! All I could find at the store was Catalina dressing so I’m hoping it turns out!
That works great!
I’ve been making this for 30 years. Its called Russian chicken
Yep, it’s great recipe! And we all call it different things. Sticky Chicken is what we called it in mu family 🙂
Will this turn out nice and sticky in a crock pot too? Sounds delish!
I haven’t tried it but I get it would!
Trader Joe’s linked your Instagram from their stories. I followed you and that same day you talked about the sticky-chicken recipe. I just made it tonight and holy flip-walls, it’s freaking AMAZING. Definitely keeping these supplies (lol ingredients) on hand for the next time….maybe even next weekend. I wonder if it could be created in a slow-cooker too? Cause I definitely had a late supper tonight since I forgot how long it took to cook. Oopsie.
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Sticky chicken is one of my favourite dinners to cook, but I’ve never tried making it with jam before. I usually use honey in mine, but I’ll definitely be trying this recipe out 🙂
I hope you love it!