This sweet chili chicken is a quick and consistently delicious meal. Tender bites of chicken are smothered in a homemade sweet chili sauce and baked to perfectionโeach savory mouthful explodes with sweet, spicy, and garlic-packed flavors.
For this recipe, I channeled my pineapple teriyaki chickenโtheyโre essentially the same recipe but with different homemade sauces. I also switch the oven to broil for the last few minutes to give it all a little more color. You will LOVE this one.
Tell Me About this Sweet Chili Chicken
- Texture: You have tender, juicy pieces of chicken baked in a smooth sauce. A garnish of sesame adds an element of crunch.
- Flavor: This chicken is sweet and spicy with hits of garlic throughout.
- Ease: I consider this an easy dinner recipe. You make the sweet chili sauce on the stove, pour it over the chicken, then bake.
- Time: This simple dish requires about 40 minutes to prepare from start to finish. Like these recipes for cilantro lime chicken and creamy garlic chicken and vegetables, today’s meal is a quick dinner solution when youโre short on time.
Iโm a fan of store-bought sweet chili sauce, which I often use as an accompaniment to coconut shrimp. But itโs really easy to make at home. You need water, honey, rice vinegar, cornstarch, garlic, crushed red pepper, Sriracha, and salt.
Best Ingredients in Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce
- Honey. Traditional sweet chili sauce is made with granulated sugar, but honey is an unrefined sugar and tastes wonderful with garlic and spice. As an alternative, you can use agave or pure maple syrup (or just granulated sugar) if youโd like.
- Rice vinegar adds a little sharpness.
- Cornstarch thickens the sauce for that perfect consistency.
- Garlic. Fragrant and aromatic, youโll need a lot of it in this sauce.
- Crushed red pepper brings heat to the sauce. You can adjust the amount to your desired taste. Add more if you want it super spicy.
- Sriracha gives you heat and zing at once! Itโs a wonderful cooking ingredient for a stocked kitchen.
Overview: How to Make Sweet Chili Chicken
The full printable recipe is below, but letโs walk through it so you understand each step before you get started.
- Make the sauce. In a small saucepan, combine all the sauce ingredients and simmer until thickened. Turn off the heat and set it aside.
- Pour over chicken. Place chicken in a greased casserole dish. You can leave the chicken breasts whole, but cutting them up reduces the cooking time. Plus, it helps infuse the sweet chili sauce into every bite. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Bake. Bake uncovered until chicken is cooked through. For extra color, you can change the oven setting to broil for the last few minutes.
- Optional while it bakes: The chicken takes about 30 minutes in the oven, so you can use this time to prepare side dishes such as wild rice and a side salad.
Instead of sides, you can add some fresh broccoli in the pan with the chicken and bake everything together in the sauce. Thereโs a TON of sauce, so make sure you have some good stuff like dinner rolls or cornbread muffins to soak up any extra!
More Dinner Recipes
- Cilantro Lime Chicken (we love serving this with corn black bean & avocado salsa as a side salad)
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili & Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
- Pesto Shrimp
- Honey Garlic Soy Glazed Salmon
- Baked Chicken Meatballs
- Lemon Thyme Chicken
Easy Sweet Chili Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Asian
Description
Easy sweet chili chicken is your answer to a quick weeknight dinner. Makes incredible leftovers and the homemade sweet chili sauce is so versatile!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120ml) warm water
- 1/2 cup (170g) honey
- 1/4 cup (60ml) rice vinegar
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (12g) cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
- sesame seeds and green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ยฐF (204ยฐC). Lightly spray a baking pan with nonstick sprayโI use a 10-inch casserole dish. Anything around this size works.
- Combine the water, honey, rice vinegar, cornstarch, garlic, crushed red pepper, Sriracha, and salt together in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer while whisking occasionally. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes. It will begin to rapidly thicken. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Arrange chicken in the prepared baking pan. Spreadย sauce on top, then turn the chicken over to make sure every inch is coated in the sauce.
- Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through. For extra color, I switch the oven to broil for the last few minutes. That is optional.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onion on top and serve the chicken with sauce from the pan. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: The sweet chili sauce, prepared in step 2, can be made up to 5 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. You can even prepare the dish through step 3, cover the pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. Then bake as directed.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 10-inch Baking Dish | Small Saucepan | Whisk
- Slow Cooker: I imagine you can prepare this in the slow cooker, but I haven’t attempted it yet. Let me know if you give it a try!
- Spiciness: This is a spicy dish! If you don’t like tons of heat, feel free to leave out the Sriracha or reduce to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper.
- The sweet chili sauce gets super thick after being stored in the fridge for a few days, but melts right down when spooned over warm food. Or heat it up if using it as a dip.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Sally,
I can’t wait to try this recipe. We love sweet chili sauce but I just buy the bottled kind and I’m excited to try making my own. But I do have a general question about vinegar which comes up as I read this recipe.
At this moment I have in my pantry, plain “white” vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, raspberry blush balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar. Now comes a recipe that will send me off to buy rice vinegar. Is this array really necessary? Or are there substitutions among this list that wouldn’t harm a recipe if they were used in place of the one called for in this recipe? or in other recipes that include vinegar? Thanks.
Hi Alice, while you could use a different vinegar here, like apple cider vinegar, we do love the flavor that rice vinegar gives this dish. You can generally swap vinegars, but the flavor won’t be as intended.
delicious!!! i loved it but im wondering how i managed to make it watery when my sauce looked perfect before going into the oven, any way i can adjust anything?
Hello, you have mentioned crushed red pepper, I’m in the UK. Would Chilli flakes be the same thing
Hi Hannah, that should work well here, yes!
The sauce was like thin soupy water. No idea what went wrong. I checked and rechecked the directions and amounts!
Iโll definitely make this again, but thereโs something that needs tweaking: the sauce is nice and thick stovetop, but becomes much too runny once over the chicken (and based on other reviews, I did precook the chicken stovetop to eliminate some of the liquidโฆ not enough). I think Iโll try simmering the sauce longer, because I donโt want to cook the chicken any more than I did. I also think itโd be a bit tastier if it was seasoned. โฆ. Now, my personal changes: I cut the pieces about 1โx1โ and I think that allowed the sauce to cover more. I also used only 1 t of red pepper flakes and that was plenty of heat for us, along with the siracha โฆ. Next time Iโll make more of the sauce for dipping and over rice. As I said initially, weโll definitely be having this again!
Boy this was good ! Chicken was juicy and tender and the sauce had just enough heat. I did put it under the broiler for 3 minutes and I also pre cooked it by sauteing it in butter for a couple minutes. Thanks for the recipe!
I love your recipes and really appreciate the fact thst i can quickly zoom to the ingredients list (that’s what tells me if my interest is peaked enough to save the recipe). Sp many recipes to try, so little time.
We had this last night for dinner and it was delicious. It took me one hour and five minutes from start to finish. I only used one teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes and it was perfect. I did broil it for four minutes at the end. Yummo!
Great sauce I didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I substituted half and half apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. Also didn’t have red pepper flake so I used a couple of dashes of red cayenne pepper. My husband loves it. Also, used agave instead of honey.
Can I use apple cider instead of rice vinegar
Hi Sharon, yes, that will work in a pinch.
for the rice vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar or plain?
Hi Barbara, we typically use plain, but feel free to use either.
Loved it! The only thing I did different is partially precook the cut chicken pieces in a skillet to release some of the natural moisture in the meat. I then drained off the watery liquid before putting the chicken in the baking dish so the sauce wouldnโt be watery. Worked great!
If i use sweet chilli sauce from.a bottle how much should i use?
Hi Angie, we’re unsure of the exact amount. Use enough to spread sauce on top of the chicken, then turn the chicken over to make sure every inch is coated in the sauce.
Can you use bottled sweet chilli sauce? I know it is cheating, so asking for a friend, lol.
Hi Elaine, That should be fine!
This was absolutely delicious! Served it over sticky rice. Very easy & quick as promised. Iโm gluten, dairy, & soy free so was so happy to find a recipe for homemade sweet chili sauce. Just the right amount of heat.
I loved this recipe, but as other commenters said, the sauce got watery. My friend and I made the sauce as directed. Any thoughts?
Hi Amanda! It thickens up as it cools. You can always strain some of the sauce, re-heat it on the stove and add a little cornstarch. Thanks for giving this one a try!
Hi Sally, the recipe sounds delicious and canโt wait to try it this week! I was wondering if you think this would work with chicken Thighs instead of breasts? Do you think the flavors would go okay with the deeper flavors of thighs?
Hi Susan, chicken thighs should work perfectly here. Let us know if you give it a try!