Today I have a super simple and tasty baked firecracker chicken recipe for you! that is so nice and easy to make and just packed with flavour! This recipe starts with boneless and skinless chicken that is seared in a pan to lightly brown it, which adds flavour, before being roasted in the oven, all basted up in a sweet, spicy and tangy firecracker sauce! The firecracker sauce is a simple mixture of hot sauce (or chili sauce) and brown sugar (or honey) along with a touch of cider vinegar and garlic! Once the chicken is transferred to the oven to roast it is basted with the sauce a few times before being served smothered in the remaining sauce! This baked firecracker chicken is great by itself or served over rice, pasta, quinoa, etc!
Baked Firecracker Chicken
Sweet and spicy baked chicken that is both packed with flavour and nice and light!
ingredients
- 1/2 cup hot/chili sauce (such as Frank’s Red Hot or Sriracha)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (gluten-free for gluten-free)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Heat the hot sauce, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and chili pepper flakes in a small sauce pan until the sugar has melted into the sauce.
- Heat the oil in a large oven safe skillet over medium-high heat, season the chicken with the salt and pepper, add to the pan and brown, about 3-5 minutes per side.
- Transfer to a preheated 400F/200C oven and bake until the chicken is cooked, about 10-15 minutes, basting with the sauce every 5 minutes.
- Enjoy with the remaining sauce!
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This is the perfect way to kick up an otherwise boring chicken breast. It looks so flavorful!
Sues
Your sodium count is wrong it's way higher then what you have listed, not only that but if you think 1100mg in one meal is good when a person's whole daily Intake is 1200mg is crazy
Thanks for looking out for us grandma! I believe we can take it from here.
My thoughts exactly. 🙂
Cant wait to try this. I’m going to see if a keto version with chicken thighs will work.
Will update with my results
Who put a penny in your mouth>
I'm drawn to any recipe with the word firecracker in the title ~ this looks amazing!
Love the sauce on this chicken!
Josh will love the heat from this sauce!
This looks fantastic!!
Making this NOW! This has been saved in my Pinterest for awhile and I thought it would be a great night to have it!
Hoping to try this on the grill.
any ideas for low calorie substitutes to the honey/sugar?
Yes…Truvia complete brown sugar. 0 calories
If its too much sodium for you then dont make it! Your negativity is what's crazy!!!
I made this chicken tonight, and it was awful! The Frank's made it so vinegary that I found it completely inedible. I wish I had gone with my instinct, and used sriracha, instead. What a waste of my time and ingredients.
Hi Kevin! I made this recipe last night. I was worried about the amount of chili sauce (I used Sriracha) so I cut back to 1/4 cup. I will make again but I think I'll cut the Sriracha back to 1/8 cup. We enjoyed it. I will make again but will try it on rice and broccoli (like your photo). The flavors will compliment those foods. Also, I think it would be great on shrimp too. Thanks for the recipe.
It’s awesome on shrimp!!
Such a great recipe and amazing pictures of the steps! Definitely on my to-do list now Kevin!
Greetings from Germany. I tried your recipe and i was amazed by how easy you can make such a delicious meal with so few ingredients.
My family loved this. I used sambal chile paste. This would be great on shrimp, fish and pork.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was quick and easy and tasted great.
Nice! Amazing photos and a power pack name for your dish!
I guess I will double up the spice level as I am a big fan of spicyness!
Delicious chicken! I used a sweet chili sauce with just a couple teaspoons of Sriracha and brown sugar plus the other ingredients. I cut my breasts in half lengthwise so they didn't need to go in the oven. Can't wait to make again, I served with brown rice and broccoli!
I modified the recipe a pinch, I use 1/4 cup of sweet chili sauce & 1/4 cup of Frank's i put 1 Tablespoon of cayenne in the chicken cubes I only had 2 boneless skinless chicken breast so I added some shrimp. It turned out great.
I made this the other night. Fabulous recipe. Very easy and yummy
So good! I use chili garlic sauce instead of the hot sauce for extra spiciness. I’m gonna make it again today with half the chili garlic and half hot sauce, can’t wait to see how it turns out!
I also just made this. Like some others I cut the sriracha to 1/4 cup and I’m glad I did. For us it was the perfect amount of bite blended beautifully with sweet.( I used honey). Served with sticky rice, it was a great meal.
I used chicken Maryland’s for this and it was delicious. Maybe a tad spicy for us so I’ll add a bit less chilli sauce next time but will definitely make again!
I am going to try this Recipe, I have a question about what type of. Cider vinegar to use? Are we talking about Apple Cider?
Yes, that is apple cider vinegar, enjoy!
Over the holiday I made a lot of Mulled, Hard Apple Cider. Do you believe that adding a few tbl would ruin the consistency or hurt the flavor in any way? I have so much I’m looking for ways to use it.
That would definitely be worth testing! 🙂
Kevin, do you think this can be made a day ahead and reheated without drying it out?
Yes it can! I would reserve some of the sauce in separate container to spread over the reheated chicken.
If you say that something is gluten free, make sure people know that they must use all gluten free items. Example: Many brands of oy sauce are not gluten free. THe normal person would not know this. Thanks.
Since less than 1% of the population is gluten intolerant, they must already have it down to a science. If you eat gluten free and don’t need to, you are robbing yourself of vital minerals and vitamins . Not to mention the loss of flavor. Madison Ave propaganda at it’s finest!
I made this the other night for my boyfriend and myself, I used Frank’s hot sauce and brown sugar but omitted the vinigar because I didn’t have any and the sauce was AMAZING, we both thought it was restuarant quality. Will definitely be making this again but also going to make the same and try on chicken wings, the boyfriend’s idea 🙂
Thanks so much for your recipes, Kevin. This recipe was fabulous. My partner wants me to incorporate it in a Hunan Beef recipe. If you have any ideas, for this dish, I would love to hear about them. Keep them coming, loving the fresh ideas.
This is seriously my favorite meal. It’s the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten, so I’m particularly fond of it during the winter months when my sinuses are blocked up. Clears me right out. I make this recipe at least twice a month. Thanks for sharing it!
This chicken was wonderful. I did take a few liberties. I used bone-in thighs with the skin, and I used half sriracha and half garlic crunch chili sauce (because I can’t get enough of the stuff). Loved it, and so did the hubby!
This was delicious! Everyone loved it. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I plan on making it many more times. Julia
Hi. Quick question, do I pour the sauce in with the chicken at the beginning of cooking or before it goes into the oven?
Yes! Brush the sauce onto the chicken before baking and brush more on every 5 minutes while it bakes. Enjoy!
I made the firecracker Chicken this evening. I cut the chicken up in chunks and let it marinade in the sauce. I ended up grilling it and it was fantastic!
Very, very good. I also used sweet chili sauce with a couple of shakes of Texas Pete (because I didn’t have the hot sauce on hand). I couldn’t decide between brown sugar and honey, so I used 1/4 cup of each. Otherwise followed the recipe to a t. Wouldn’t change a thing!
I made this tonight. Oh.My.Goodness! Flavor to die for! I used a Thai sweet chili sauce for my hot sauce. I’m a wimp, so sriracha would kill me and I wanted to go more to the Asian flavor wheel than Frank’s. It was so good I had to have seconds! I’ll be adding this recipe to my favorites collection!
Would this still be good without adding the spicey? My husband cant eat spicey foods. I’d love to try it.
You could try it with ‘less’ hot sauce but the hot sauce is part of the flavour…
This recipe is extraordinary!!!!!! The sweet/ spicy combo is so flavorful and the flavor is out of this world. Thank you for an absolute keeper of a recipe!
Very good recipe and easy to make – loved the sauce.
I just made the firecracker chicken. My house is full of hungry men… eager to indulge in good food. I accompanied the dish with stir-fry brocolli & rice (as in your picure).
So fast and delicious.
I just replaced the sauce wirh thai hot chilli sauce instead.
Thank you so much for sharing your receipe.
I made this last night. GONE! The family loved it!
So good ! So easy. I diced up some fresh red peppers and let them cook on the pan in over as a little extra topper & it turned out perfect ! Definitely making again!
So don’t use salt
I made this and I’m not sure what I did wrong but the sauce fell completely off the chicken was all in the pan not even on the chicken at all. I basted every 5 mins like it said and every time the sauce just slid right off.
I air fry wings (drumettes and flats) then toss them in this sauce. I won first place in my a family cook off. Love this!
This is a great recipe. If you’re a person who knows there’s a million ways to cook chicken but you just don’t know them, add this to the list.
I choose to marinate the chicken ahead of time in some of the sauce, just because I am obsessed with flavor. But basting is still important though.
Just made this for dinner and it was delicious! I didn’t have enough brown sugar so I used honey. Like many others said, I used 1/4 of sriracha hot sauce and it was the perfect amount. Served the chicken with arroz yellow rice and steamed broccoli.
I used this on baked cauliflower. Used the siracha and honey, added some fresh ginger and it didn’t need salt or pepper. New name for it with cauliflower is cauliflower crack since it is so addicting and I hate cauliflower.
Cooked this entire dinner in my Foodie Grill, looks and smells delicious. Very easy weeknight recipe.
The sauce on this chicken looks so yummy.
This chicken has so much taste and I love it. It’s the star of the show, for sure. I just stuck to the recipe and everything turned out pretty good.
The dish I baked it on was annoying to clean, because anywhere the sauce had contact with the pan, it burnt onto the pan. The chicken was in good condition, just not the pan.
The Firecracker Chicken was delicious. I always read the comments before I try a new recipe so I decided to cut back on the Frank’s Hot Sauce to a generous 1/3 cup and increase the honey by a bit so my husband would be happy with the dish. He loved it and I had been tasting the sauce all through the cooking process so I already knew it was delicious. I used chicken leg quarters just because we like the meat more moist. I will definitely make this again because it was soooo good. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Made this for dinner tonite after going thru my pins looking for chicken recipes-it was a hit when I first made it months ago and didn’t disappoint tonite. Went by the book first time and it was great-added 1/2cup bbq sauce this time-still great.
The recipe says to baste the chicken every 5 minutes with the sauce. So do you put some on it to start and just baste with that same bit of sauce, or add new every 5 minutes?
There is plenty of sauce! Brush some on when you put the chicken into the oven, brush some more on every 5 minutes, and and serve the rest of the sauce on the side for dipping. Enjoy!
I made this recipe earlier this week, and still have some left. I used sriracha sauce, and brown sugar instead of honey. I made angel hair pasta instead of rice. Surprisingly spicy, and I like it.
hi Kevin, I hope you are well.
can I. cook this on the top of the stove instead of in the oven.
there are so many types of vinegars and I’m not going to buy them all. can you recommend a vinegar that would be almost OK for other recipes?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Judy.
Hi Judy! You can cook this on the stovetop! Pan sear the chicken until cooked through and then add the sauce, along with some water or chicken broth, about 1/2 cup, and simmer for a minute to let the sauce thicken. Apple cider vinegar is a staple that I use in a lot of recipes; you could also use a rice vinegar, or white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, etc. Enjoy!
I made this for dinner last night, as written, and it was wonderful! Flavorful and juicy with just the right amount of spice. Thank you for an easy, delicious recipe.
Kevin, you knocked it out of the park with this recipe!! This was awesome, made exactly as written. Husband LOVED it!! Thank you…..