Sweet and Spicy Baked Chicken
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This sweet and spicy pulled baked chicken (that’s a mouthful I know but this chicken is just that; a delicious mouthful) is so easy, juicy, light and tasty! We were overstaffed at work so I got to stay home for part of the day and this chicken happened.
Our friend Jennifer graciously invited us over for dinner awhile back and she served us this chicken. It was so good! She shared the recipe with me. Her friend Melinda L. shared it with her. I love when a recipe has some history behind it. You know it’s amazing if a recipe has been “around the block.” That means it’s delicious enough to share and now I’m sharing it with you. Thank you Jennifer and Melinda so much! My husband and son REALLY loved it too!
Ingredients for Sweet and Spicy Baked Chicken:
4 chicken breasts
Ingredients for the sauce:
3 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp melted butter
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
How to make Sweet and Spicy Baked Chicken:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan, mix and simmer for 3-4 minutes then set aside.
2. Place 4 chicken breasts in a 9 x 13 baking dish then pour sauce over the chicken. Using tongs, coat the chicken in the sauce.
3.Cover baking dish tightly with foil, bake 10 minutes at 450°F, then 1 ½ hours at 350°F (no need to turn the chicken while baking).
4. After the time is up, remove chicken from the oven. Using a couple forks, pull the chicken apart. The chicken will soak up the sauce and become ultra juicy and flavorful.
Serve over rice or buckwheat kasha. Seriously this chicken is delicious!
Sweet and Spicy Baked Chicken
This sweet and spicy pulled baked chicken (that's a mouthful I know but this chicken is just that; a delicious mouthful) is so easy, juicy, light and tasty! My friend Jennifer shared the recipe with me. Her friend Melinda L. shared it with her. I love when a recipe has some history behind it. You know it's amazing if a recipe has been "around the block." That means it's delicious enough to share and now I'm sharing it with you.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
Sauce Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp ketchup
- 2 Tbsp vinegar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chili powder
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 450°F.
-
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan, mix and simmer for 3-4 minutes then set aside.
-
Place 4 chicken breasts in a 9 x 13 baking dish then pour sauce over the chicken. Using tongs, coat the chicken in the sauce.
-
Cover baking dish tightly with foil, bake 10 minutes at 450°F, then 1 ½ hours at 350°F (no need to turn the chicken while baking).
-
After the time is up, remove chicken from the oven. Using a couple forks, pull the chicken apart. The chicken will soak up the sauce and become ultra juicy and flavorful.
-
Serve over rice or buckwheat kasha. Seriously this chicken is delicious!
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Second time making this chicken…delicious! Love it over jasmine rice and I add some chopped broccoli to the bowl. Yum
Yum indeed! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jennifer!
Is this baked version suppose to be the same as the crockpot version? If so, why are the measurements different? Thank you!
Hi Lisa, yes they are very similar! Since the slow cooker is a set it and forget it recipe many times they will require more liquid than a standard pot or baked method to not dry out in the slow cooker. The results are the same. I hope that helps.
This looks SO good. I have to try it. Thank you for sharing!
I can’t wait for you to try this recipe! I hope you love it.
Can you tell me please how many pounds of chicken breast do I need for this recipe? Around 2 lb ?
Hi Dana, I wish I had measured it that way. I would say about 2 to 2.5 pounds worth.
I have to say, one of the easiest recipes I have ever done! With my busy school schedule, this is going to be a huge blessing. And it’s so tasty! Please share more recipes this easy lol
Hello Lily, I’m glad you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for following and sharing your excellent review!
Wow amazing as usual. Love the unique taste of it. So moist and yummy!
I’m glad you enjoy the flavor so much! Thanks for sharing your great review Zory!
I think the sauce amount for 4 breasts was not enough. There weren’t much sauce left at all.
Hi Olga, I would suggest making sure you don’t use a dish larger than 9×13 and be sure it is covered when it goes into the oven. Also, if you shred the chicken really finely, it will absorb more of the sauce since the chicken meat will soak up more with more surface area. I hope that helps for next time! 🙂
Hey, this is a great, ive tried this before several times and like it! Thanks for sharing, but i have a question, i want to try and do this for a party, what would you recommend doing if i want to do this a day before and then just reheating on the next day? Also how much chicken should i use for around 15 people 8-10 pieces and just double the sauce ingredients?? Thanks!
Hi Julia, I think this is best fresh but if you had to, you could make it ahead. I would double the chicken and double the sauce. The chicken soaks up the sauce so if you don’t double it, it will end up a little dry. You might consider my slow cooker version of this same chicken if that helps with your time frame.
Hi Natasha,
Love your recipes. This was amazing, everyone loved it. Can you use slow cooker for this recipe?
Yes!! 🙂 https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/12/13/slow-cooker-chicken-tacos/ Its even easier in the slow cooker 🙂
Great recipe for left over chicken parts after making a stock. Thanks Vadim and Natasha for a great recipe. I hope you get a tv contract one day.
You are welcome Alex and thank you for the nice review.
I just made this tonight and my husband LOVED it!!! Thank you for sharing such a delicious and easy recipe.
That is so GREAT!!! Thanks Lynn 🙂
Made this recipe a fe times already and I LOVE it!!!!! SO juicy and moist. Thanks!!!
Vitaliya, thank you for such a great review and you are welcome :).
This looks delicious! What type of vinegar did you use? Apple cider?
Thank you Kelly and I used just regular distilled white vinegar :).
This was very helpful as I had the same question, thank you.
I find myself returning to your website for user friendly recipes and videos.
You’re welcome!
Absolutely delicious! Tried both in the oven and slow cooker, hubby loved it! Definitely a favorite!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you!
Hi Natasha! This chicken was beyond perfect! We ate it for 2 days stuffed into tacos (with all the fixings, of course), and then I still had leftover meat and made chicken wraps for everyone for lunch. It was delicious. Thank you!
Julia, thank you so much for a such a great review and you are welcome :).
I made this tonight. It was yummy. I added a lot of sriracha sauce though for serving because I like spicy hot 🙂 I didn’t bake it as long as suggested because I didn’t have enough time 🙂 But, served it over rice. Thanks!!
Augustine, I’m so glad you liked it. My husband and I love spicy food too, but we have to keep things toned down for our son 🙂
Awesome recipe. I doubled it for a birthday party and cooked it in a slow cooker. Turned out very good!
MMMM that’s one thing I haven’t tried is a slow cooker for this. I usually bake. How long did you slow cook it for and at what setting?
Made this for dinner last night and my husband said it’s the best thing I’ve ever made! Bonus that it was super easy to make. Thanks, as always, for the wonderful recipe!
I’m so happy you both liked it. Wasn’t it easy? I made it for company recently and everyone loved it 🙂
Oh this will absolutely be my go-to recipe now for when guests come over!
Hi. I have a question about the water. In the list of Sauce Ingredients it says 1/2 cup water but in the picture it says 1/4 water. Which is right?
I forgot that was in the picture. It’s 1/2 cup water 🙂
Great! Thanks for replying.
I’m planning on doing the recipe this weekend.
Hopefully it will turn out well *fingers crossed* 🙂
I hope you love it! 🙂
Love the recipe! We did it w/ 1 chicken breast and 6 thighs. The white meat turned out better than the dark meat.
That’s great to know! I haven’t tired it with dark meat. Thanks Gracie!
Super easy. Super tasty. Hit with my kiddo. Perfect for a big batch for a party to make pulled chicken sandwiches. I used two large chicken breasts and all the juice was nicely absorbed. For 4 large breasts I will double sauce ingredients. Served it with potatoes and a big bowl of tomatoes+onions+cucumber+red wine vinegar. Yum!
Gosia thank you so much for a great review! I’m so glad you liked the chicken 🙂 It is great for sandwiches!
This recipe is super easy to make and very delicious. I added red pepper flakes to mine to give it that extra spice. Thanks for the recipe, along with many others you have posted!
I’m so so glad you liked it! 🙂 I love the idea of adding some red pepper flakes. Brilliant!
LOVE this recipe! Just made it and I can’t believe how juicy it is! What an awesome and easy recipe! I am eating this as I type! 😀
Andy, thanks for the great review, your comment is music to my ears :).
Hi do you know how many pounds of chicken I would need. Thanks
I wish I had measured it. I want to say 2 to 2.5 lbs.
Me and my husband both enjoyed this recipe! But I making more sauce for the second round of this recipe… Just needed a little bit more sauce…
I’m so glad you liked it! I think that’s a good idea, especially if you’re using it like a podliva (gravy) over rice.
I’ve made this recipe a few times now and i just can’t get over how amazing it tastes. One of my all time favorites.
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you love the recipe 🙂
Has anyone made this in the slowcooker?
Ptichka73 wrote: “Another delicious recipe, Natasha! I used a squirt of dijon mustard and I put everything in the slow cooker and it came out very juicy. We served it on soft flour tortillas with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and shredded cheese.” I haven’t tried it personally. Let me know how you like it!
I just found your site and I tried this. It was AMAZING!!! My kids LOVED it and didn’t mind eating leftovers the next day. From one nurse to another > You ROCK!!
Thank you so much. I’m blessed by your comment. That is always such a great feeling when your kids love what you cook 🙂
I made this chicken over rice today, it was delicious!!!!!!!! wish i made more
it tastes perfect
thanks!
You are welcome Tanya. That’s quite a few exclamation points, probably came out really delicious :D.
Yes Natasha 🙂 It came out very very delicious
Awesome!!
Another delicious recipe, Natasha! I used a squirt of dijon mustard and I put everything in the slow cooker and it came out very juicy. We served it on soft flour tortillas with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and shredded cheese.
Did you cooked it on high or low and how long?
I made this chicken today and it turned out really good. It was so soft and juicy. I was worried that it will be too sweet, it wasn’t. I didn’t change anything in the recipe and it turned out so perfect. My family loved it. Will definitely make it more often. Thank you Natasha for this easy and delicious recipe.
Thank you Vera 🙂 You’re so sweet. I’m really glad you all loved the recipe! 🙂
Waiting for the chicken to come out of the oven. This recipe sounds sooo delicious and just like the kind of food I like. Thanks so much for your blog Natasha. All your recipes are amazing! Can’t wait for new ones 🙂
Thank you dear 🙂 I’m so glad you love the recipes. You won’t be disappointed in this chicken either 😉
So I made this last night and it was AH-MAZING! I served it over buckwheat. We all loved it! 🙂
Awesome :D, I knew you would love it.
Since im am spicy lover i didnt put in any brown sugar, and i served it over mashed potatoes (since we are not big fans of rice) and it turned out phenomenal!!! it was gone before i knew it…. really easy to make and super tasty!! Thanks Natasha!!! Both thumbs up!! :))
You are welcome Lorka and thank you for a good report :).
I love the taste so much of the chicken it almost has a hint of Curry in it, so i had to try it with ribs… OMG the meat was falling off the bones so juicy!! I love that its so fast easy and amazing taste!!
Awesome :), and good to know. Thank you for sharing Lorka.
sorry i meant “my hubby loves to soak his rice”. lol.
🙂
I made this today.. i didnt have any dry mustard or plain vinegar on hand so i subed it out for yellow mustard and used apple cider vinegar. I also doubled the sauce because my hubby loves to drain his rice. It came out very delicious. Not too sweet. Perfect flavor. And the chicken was A LOT more tender than I expected. Will deff make again! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so so glad you enjoyed it. It’s awesome to know it works well with those substitutions. Thank you so much for sharing!
In the oven now, smells great, can’t wait to try it!! Natasha thanks for the great recipes!!
You’re quick!! I hope you love it as much as we do 🙂
Does the brown sugar make chicken real sweet? ….sweet like an orange chicken or less? I’m just wondering if i should add less sugar since i like my chicken to be not overly too sweet.
And thank you for an amaaazing recipe Natasha!! 🙂
It’s not that sweet. It’s just right 🙂
If I don’t have dry mustard or brown sugar, what can I replace these with?
The. Town sugar is pretty important for the color and flavor of this so I’d use either light or dark brown sugar but I can’t think of anything to substitute that. You could use 1/2 tsp prepared mustard.
Brown sugar is just white sugar mixed with molasses. I’m not sure of the quantity of each, but I’m sure you can find it online.
How spicy is it exactly? I like a little spice in my food, but my kids don’t. I know you say that your 3 year old likes it, but my kids won’t even eat zuppa toscana bc “it hurts their mouth” as they say. 1 tsp of chili powder in this recipe doesn’t seem like a lot for the amount of meat, but if I decrease the amount even more for my kids’ sake, do you think it may still be as tasty?
It’s actually not super spicy at all. It’s just a hint of spice. My son doesn’t like spicy food either. Kids love this chicken! It your concerned just add half the chili powder.
Wonder if it would be better with chicken thighs. I think chicken breast is dry so I rarely use it. What do you think?
The chicken bakes for a long time so it’s definitely not dry after its shredded and soaks up the marinade. I think chicken thighs would work well also.
Beautiful simple summer dish. I think it’s screaming for slow cooker. 😉
That’s what I’ve been thinking. I bet it would be great in a slow cooker. I’ll be trying that next time!
Do you bake this in a glass pan? I am a bit nervous about taking my glass 13×9 pan up to 450. So… I could use my ceramic lasagna pan, or start baking at 400 degrees only (maybe for longer time) — or bake at 350 for a longer time. I don’t think metal cake pan is a good choice for tomato based saucy food…. What do you think? Thank you!
Hi Bridget, we haven’t had any issues baking this in a glass pan but you could use a ceramic pan.
Thats awesome… Cant wait to try it.
Nice:):) looks yummy. I will make it next 🙂
I’m so glad we have some leftovers for tomorrow (it’s just the two of us and our 3-yr old son) 🙂 I can’t wait to eat it again. It re-heats really well on the stove by the way. 🙂
Do i remove the foil for the other 1.5 hrs..
Leave it covered, you don’t even open the oven door, just turn the temp down and keep going for 1.5 hours. It’s that easy! 🙂
I want to make this right away except I don’t have any dry mustard. Do you think I can use regular Russian mustard instead? And if yes how much should I use?
Hmmm. I suppose it would work. I can’t imagine it would change the flavor too much. What brand/version of mustard are you using? You might try 1/2 tsp wet mustard. If you have whole mustard seeds, you can use a coffee grinder to make ground dry mustard (if that helps :))
I used 1 tsp of the Russian ready mustard and it tasted awesome. Also my hubby loves when there’s lots of sauce for the side so after I made the chicken I made another batch of sauce and just poured it over chicken. And almost everything got soaked up also!!! But the chicken was really juicy, I served with mashed potatoes and it was loved by all!!! Thank u;)
It’s good to know that it tastes great with the Russian prepared mustard. Thanks for sharing! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe 😉
Thanks for the idea. Great for summer hosting parties.
Yes and so easy! Now I’m thinking about how it would work in a slow cooker for Sunday lunch. I’m going to have to try it!
That is a great idea 🙂