Easy Baked BBQ Chicken Thighs

Spoon pouring BBQ sauce over chicken thighs

5 from 2 votes

Baked BBQ Chicken Thighs are a quick and easy recipe resulting in succulent, juicy chicken that can be paired with rice for a simple dinner.

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Total Time35

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: baked BBQ chicken thighs

Servings:

Calories: 389kcal

Author: Adrianne

Equipment

1 Baking dish large enough to fit the chicken thighs in one flat layer
1 Cooking spray to spray the baking dish
1 Glass jug to use to combine the sauce
1 Mini whisk to whisk the BBQ sauce
1 Kitchen Tongs to handle the chicken thighs
2 Oven Mits to remove the oven dish from the oven

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs skinless and boneless, Note 1
1 cup BBQ sauce Note 2
⅓ cup honey
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce Note 3
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5. Note 4
Baking dish: use an oven dish large enough to fit the chicken thighs with them laying flay in one layer, they can touch slightly, but not over lap. Spray this with cooking oil and set aside.
BBQ sauce: add BBQ sauce, honey, dark soy sauce, salt and pepper to a jug, use a mini whisk to combine then set aside.
Chicken thighs: pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towel. Then use kitchen tongs to place each one in a flat layer underside up in the baking dish.
Coat with sauce: use a pastry brush and coat the underside of each chicken thigh with a thick layer of the sauce. Use the kitchen tongs to flip each to the other side and coat this side with a thick layer of the sauce.
Oven bake: place the baking dish into the oven and cook the chicken thighs for 30 mins. Option to recoat with BBQ sauce both sides after 15 mins if desired. After 30 minutes, use an oven mit to remove the baking dish from the oven and place on a heat proof surface. Use kitchen tongs to remove 1 chicken thigh, place on a plate and flip to the underside. Either use a knife and make a cut to visibly see that the chicken meat is white, the juices are running clear and that there is no pink visible. Or use a kitchen thermometer and test to ensure that the internal temperature of the chicken has reached 165°F (74°C).
Serve and enjoy: serve the chicken thighs with cucumber ribbons, lime wedges, chopped herbs and some sliced green onions. Use rice or quinoa to round out the dish.

Notes

Note 1 - Chicken thighs: skinless boneless chicken thighs. I find they are much more tender than chicken breast. We need approximately 6 of these which is around 1 kg, (2.2 pounds) depending on the size of the chicken thighs. Sometimes when you purchase the packaged version it can be hard to tell if they have the bone in or not. A solution to this is to purchase them from the delicatessen, as those ones are almost always skinless and boneless. You will be able to get from Walmart, Safeway, Tesco, Woolies or Coles. I have seen them at Aldi, but cannot be confident on the availability of skinless boneless chicken thighs, something to keep in mind when doing your shopping 😊.
Note 2 - BBQ sauce: as there can be a rather wide variety when it comes to chicken thigh sizes, I have given you enough sauce in the quantities to cover you for all scenarios. I didn't want you to be left short without enough sauce ( 😭 oh no!). I also didn't want you to have to figure out the quantities to combine if you needed more. So you will find you will have more than enough sauce and if you have some over, you can drizzle it over the chicken thighs to serve.
Note 3 - Dark soy sauce: this is a different ingredient to regular soy sauce. You will find it in the same section at the supermarket though. Also in the Asian foods section. It will be labelled 'dark soy sauce'. You may have seen me use this in my Japanese noodle recipes. It brings the lovely golden brown colour to the recipe. Whilst regular soy sauce will work, your chicken won't have the same colour.
Note 4 - Preheated oven: the oven being preheated is important as it allows you to follow my timing instruction in a straightforward manner. If you were to place them into the oven and it is not fully heated, the chicken thighs will take longer to cook and you will wonder why that is. If you ensure that you wait will that light goes off and the oven is good to go, your chicken thighs will also be cooked to go! (❤ ❤).

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