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BBQ Chicken Thighs in Oven Recipe {Paleo, Clean Eating, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free}

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This is a really quick and easy sweet & sticky BBQ chicken thighs in oven recipe. It’s much healthier than using a bottle of store bought BBQ sauce. The chicken recipe I have for you today is a Sweet & Sticky baked chicken thighs. I hope that you enjoy my new recipe.

Paleo baked chicken thighs: Throw the sauce together in five minutes, throw it in the oven and get something done while your healthy, delicious dinner bakes.

My all-time, go-to easy chicken dinner used to be something my kids called “sticky chicken”. I used to just take a bottle of bbq sauce and that cheap maple syrup (that’s probably just made of high fructose corn syrup), mix them together, pour over the chicken and bake. It’s really good but is probably made of little more than high fructose corn syrup, so…not too great for you.

This BBQ chicken thighs in oven recipe is so good, my kids beg for it all the time. It’s really quick and easy to make so it’s a win-win. Basically, all I do is put the chicken in a pan and while the oven is preheating, throw all the ingredients in the saucepan and let them get started warming up.

By the time I get all the ingredients in the pan, I call it good enough and dump it over the chicken and throw it in the oven. I love that I can do anything I want while dinner is cooking. And while the oven is already on, I usually add some things to the oven to finish off the meal, like a baked potato and roasted vegetables.

I thought that if you were looking for quick baked BBQ Chicken Thighs recipes, this would be a good one to do. So I made it completely healthy with a very quick made-from-scratch bbq sauce and real maple syrup.

It’s still super-easy and really just involves taking 5 minutes to make the sauce, pour over the chicken and bake. You will love how the sauce thickens up and gets sticky with a nice, roasted flavor and the chicken gets tender from all the time in the oven.

I love meals like this because I can throw it all in the oven and then do something while dinner is cooking, like clean, help with homework, do the laundry, make breakfast and/or dinner for the next day. You get the idea. Heck, if you’re one of those lucky people with a shorter to-do list than mine, you could relax while dinner cooks. I haven’t tried this in the slow cooker, but I bet it would be SO good.

Here are some tips, tricks, and variations for this easy BBQ chicken thighs in oven Recipe:

  • The tomato paste can be subbed with tomato sauce if you want a sauce that’s not quite as strong and quite a bit runnier.
  • Make sure you use real maple syrup. Not the flavored sugar that some companies like to call maple syrup. The deeper the color and lower the grade, the better.
  • You can also use this same recipe on a grill. Cook the sauce longer in the saucepan until it gets thick and rich. Then just baste the chicken every few minutes when you turn the chicken and serve the remaining sauce with the chicken. Make sure and use a separate sauce for basting than you use for the top to avoid cross-contamination. I especially love it this way when there is skin on the chicken.
  • Someone always asks this, so I’ll just address it now – Yes. You can use chicken breast. It may turn out a bit dry, and they take less time to cook. I can’t tell you exactly how much less cause it totally depends on how thick they are, etc. but maybe 10-20 minutes less. Make sure not to overcook the chicken breasts, because that’s very easy to do.

I think this meal goes particularly well with my Paleo mac and cheese recipe. I hope you like my Baked BBQ Chicken Thighs recipe. Let me know what you think; I’m interested to know if other people like it as much as I do. Let me know if you try these both together and what you think by commenting below!

Sweet & Sticky BBQ Chicken: Throw the sauce together in five minutes, throw it in the oven and get something done while your healthy, delicious dinner bakes.

 

This easy roasted vegetable recipe is my #1 way to cook vegetables. I’m obsessed and you will be too. Try it with this recipe and I think you like it:

Simple, Healthy Roasted Vegetables Recipe

If you like this BBQ chicken thighs in oven recipe, you may also like these:

Paleo Chicken Recipes for Any Meal Anytime, Anywhere!

Clean Eating Recipe Index

The Best Paleo Recipes Index

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BBQ chicken thighs in oven Recipe

Sweet & Sticky BBQ Chicken: Throw the sauce together in five minutes, throw it in the oven and get something done while your healthy, delicious dinner bakes.

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

This is a BBQ chicken thighs in oven recipe. It is chicken with a sweet and sticky BBQ sauce on top.

  • Author: My Natural Family
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 100 minutes
  • Total Time: 120 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Paleo
Scale

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a saucepan. Add the tomato paste, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and ground mustard to the oil and sauté for 30 seconds.
  3. Add the pineapple concentrate, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and salt to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and Let the sauce cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
  4. Place the chicken in a 9×13 baking dish. Pour the sauce over the chicken, making sure all surfaces are coated. Bake on the center rack of preheated oven for 90-105 minutes, or until chicken is very tender.

Keywords: tomato paste, pineapple juice, chicken thighs, maple syrup, Paleo bbq chicken

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Rebecca

      I’m so glad you like the recipe. I sure like how easy it is to throw everything in the pan and walk away until it’s done.

      Reply

  3. Aubree

    Hi,
    I see you suggest using bone-in chicken legs OR boneless thighs. Why is this? Would bone-in thighs work? Boneless breasts? I want to make this but using a variety of chicken pieces. Would anything change regarding time and temperature using boneless vs. bone-in? I know usually bone-in cooks longer. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Rebecca

      Correct. Bone-in takes a little longer. Chicken breasts also cook faster and can dry out quickly when overcooked so I don’t like cooking them with chicken thighs. Although, if you are like my husband and like dry meat, then it could work out perfect for you. Plus, the sauce will help make the chicken breasts not dry.

      Reply

  6. Brittany

    So I just made this, and it’s delicious but the sauce got watery when I baked it. I covered the dish with tin foil, should I have cooked it uncovered?

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Rebecca

      It will give the dish a little bit of flavor, I haven’t tried it but it might work out well. I don’t see why you couldn’t. Go ahead and give it a try if you want and let us know how it works for you! We would love to hear!

      Reply

  12. Cathy Kennedy

    This looks really good and simple to make. I’m saving your recipe. I think cole slaw and potato salad would be a great sides, but the first thing I thought of was steamed rice. Yeah, I know you don’t think of rice with BBQ, but that’s what popped in my head. lol Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  15. Ummytomany

    I made this last night. It was very tasty, everyone loved it. I’m only upset that I didn’t make more.

    Thanks a bunch. I love bbq and haven’t eaten it much because of the sugars and artificial ingredients etc, this just save my bbq love !

    Reply

  17. Lindsay

    If I wanted to make this but put it in the crockpot instead with boneless skinless chicken breast, how would I go about doing that? Just throw everything in the crockpot and let it cook? How long and on which setting? Or would you suggest not making this in the crockpot?

    Reply

    • Rebecca

      You would place the chicken in the crock pot, pour the sauce over it, and cook it on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours, checking for done-ness 1/2 way through, as all crock pots cook at different heats and speeds.

      Reply

  18. Laura

    I am super exited to make this chicken tonight, but I do have one question. In the ingredients list you have a small jar of tomato paste, but adding that is not in the instructions. I assume I should add it with the juice, cider vinegar, and syrup when making the BBQ sauce?? Also, I don’t have any pineapple juice, so I’m subbing OJ… Hoping that will work ok. What do you think? Thanks!!

    Just pinned your chocolate cake as well! Saving it for the next family party!

    Reply

    • Rebecca

      Sorry about that I just updated it, you add it with the pineapple juice, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar.

      The Oj sounds interesting, I think that could taste good it will change the flavor a lot but I think it would work. Let me know how it turns out!

      Reply

      • Laura

        Ok so the OJ made the sauce a little more tangy than sweet, which I expected, but it was still super good. We like a little more kick in our BBQ, so I’ll add a touch of cayenne next time. This will become a staple in our home, I’m sure! Thanks!!

        Reply

  21. Stephanie

    In your directions, you don’t say when to add the tomato paste. I’m guessing it’s along with when you add the pineapple juice, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar. Is that right?

    Reply

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