Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs are covered in an orange marmalade sweet and sour sauce and baked with sweet peppers. This baked chicken thigh recipe is super easy to prepare and perfect for a busy weeknight dinner.
The orange marmalade sauce is one the kids are sure to love. Don't worry, even though this recipe calls for cayenne pepper, it is not spicy at all. Of course, you can always adjust the heat to your family's taste.
The beautiful yellow, orange, and red peppers baked next to these orange-glazed chicken thighs make for an absolutely stunning dish.
Serve this simple chicken recipe with some white rice, Rice Pilaf, or mashed potatoes. The kids will love it, and the recipe is easy enough for beginner cooks.
This recipe for chicken with orange marmalade sauce has been adapted from one I found in Food Network magazine years ago. I simplified the cooking process and made the clean-up a lot easier. Who needs more dirty dishes?
Ingredients
The ingredients you need to make these delicious Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken Thighs are...
- Chicken Thighs - I use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe. It would probably work just fine with boneless, skinless chicken, but remember to adjust the cooking time.
- Peppers - Using a combination of red, orange, and yellow peppers add so much beautiful color to this dish. Feel free also to add green bell pepper if you like.
- Green Onions - You will be using the white and most of the green parts of the green onions during baking. Save some of the green parts for topping off the dish before serving.
- Ketchup - Ketchup is used in the sweet and sour sauce.
- Orange Marmalade - This is the sweetness for the orange marmalade sweet and sour sauce.
- Balsamic Vinegar - And this is sour for the sauce.
- Soy Sauce - Soy sauce is also used in sweet and sour sauces. Remember, soy sauce can be salty, adjust any additional salt as needed.
- Cayenne Pepper - Just a pinch. Add more or less as you prefer.
- Salt - I like to lightly salt the chicken before adding the orange sweet and sour sauce.
- Ginger - Jar minced ginger works fine; fresh is even better!
- Olive Oil - Olive oil is used on the peppers before baking.
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How to prepare this recipe
Preheat the oven.
Slice the peppers into strips. Cut the green onions into 1 ½ to 2-inch sections. Chop some of the green onion tops and set them aside to use later.
Place the peppers and green onions on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and mix well.
Push the peppers and onions to the outer sides of the baking sheet. Place the chicken thighs on the baking pan and lightly sprinkle everything with salt.
Mix together the ingredients to make the orange sweet and sour sauce.
Use all of the orange sweet and sauce and generously cover the chicken thighs. They are now ready to bake.
Put the chicken in the oven and cook until the temperature reaches at least 165 degrees F. I will actually cook chicken thighs to 180 to 185 before removing them from the oven.
Side note - I moved the chicken and peppers to another pan for serving and photography purposes. Chicken thighs do leave a lot of grease in the pan. If you like ( I have done this), move the chicken and peppers to paper towels to lightly drain before moving to a serving dish.
Helpful hint
For easy clean-up, line the baking sheet with aluminum foil before cooking.
Substitutions
Instead of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, you can use chicken breast, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or boneless skinless chicken breasts. Just remember, all these variations will cook differently. Make sure you cook the chicken to at least 165 degrees F.
Fresh ginger is best, but minced ginger from the jar works just fine.
Use freshly chopped parsley instead of topping the finished chicken with the green onion topping.
Food Safety
- Cook chicken to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F. per the USDA.
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat.
- Wash hands after touching raw meat.
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
- Never leave cooking food unattended.
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Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 3 Large Bell Peppers Orange, Red, Yellow
- 1 bunch Green Onions
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 8 Chicken Thighs skin on
- ½ teaspoon Salt
For the orange sweet and sour sauce
- 3 tablespoon Ketchup
- 4 tablespoon Orange Marmalade
- 2 teaspoon Soy Sauce
- 2 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Minced Ginger
- Pinch Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Slice the peppers into strips. Cut the green onions into 1 ½ to 2-inch sections. Chop some of the green onion tops and set them aside to use later.
- Place the peppers and green onions on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and mix well.
- Push the peppers and onions to the outer sides of the baking sheet. Place the chicken thighs on the baking pan and lightly sprinkle everything with salt.
- Mix together the ingredients to make the orange sweet and sour sauce.
- Use all of the orange sweet and sauce and generously cover the chicken thighs. They are now ready to bake.
- Put the chicken in the oven and cook until the temperature reaches at least 165 degrees F. We prefer chicken thighs cooked to 180 to 185 degrees.
Notes
Nutrition
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs Web Story
My little helper
These Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs smelled so amazing that even my cat had to check them out. (old photo, but I had to keep it)
Roslia Santamaria
I never tried this recipe before and
after reading this amazing post I think I must give it a try.