This quick and easy Sticky Chicken Traybake is inspired by a Mary Berry recipe: chicken thighs are coated in a delicious mixture of soy sauce, honey, ginger, chilli and sesame oil and roasted in the oven. Delicious served with jasmine rice and roasted red peppers.
Who’s your foodie hero? I have quite a few: Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Rick Stein are all up there, but one of my all-time foodie heroes has got to be Mary Berry.
I love her style of no nonsense, family friendly but flavourful cooking. In fact so much that I reviewed my favourite recipe book of hers, Mary Berry’s Absolute Favourites, here on this blog a few years back.
One of the standout recipes from that book was Mary Berry’s sticky chicken. Mary coats her chicken in sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, chilli and honey and roasts it in the oven alongside red peppers for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
My version of Mary’s brilliant recipe is very similar, but I’ve made a few adaptations. Firstly, I’ve swapped Mary’s suggestion of chicken breasts for skinless, boneless chicken thighs, which I think are better suited to the traybake treatment (I find breasts can dry out too much when roasted like this).
Secondly, I’ve upped the temperature and the cooking time as this recipe wasn’t sufficiently ‘roasted’ for my liking when I cooked it Mary’s way. (Sorry Mary!)
Thirdly, I didn’t bother reducing down the glaze in a saucepan after the chicken comes out of the oven – way too much faff for a busy weeknight, and the sticky glaze is delicious just as it is.
I’ve also swapped Mary’s suggestion of serving with parsley with fresh coriander, which I much prefer with the flavours of soy sauce, ginger, sesame etc.
And finally I have chosen to serve this easy chicken dish with rice rather than wedges, as Mary suggests. This dish is quite Asian in flavour and so to me, rice just seems like the perfect thing to serve it with – and the rice tastes amazing covered in that lovely sticky glaze.
But other than that it’s Mary Berry’s Recipe!!
(Oh, well, except I also used chilli flakes instead of fresh chilli to save time… And I added a squeeze of lime to the glaze…)
Not only is this Sticky Chicken Traybake delicious straight out of the oven, it is also AWESOME the next day as a packed lunch. My husband was chuffed to bits with his! Speaking of which, my hubby has finally decided to join Instagram – whoop whoop! He has started an account charting the highs and lows of being married to a food blogger – it’s called @anothercolddinner of course! If you want to see the other side of what I do: all the outtakes and what’s on the other side of the camera that you can’t normally see, do head over and give Mr G a follow!!
Wine wise I would definitely serve this Sticky Chicken Traybake with a dry or, even better, off-dry Riesling! This kind of food was made for Riesling! Other good options include other aromatic whites such as Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio, Austrian Grüner Veltliner and Argentinian Torrontes. If it must be red, then try Beaujolais or a light Pinot Noir. A fruity rosé would also work well here.
If you are a fan of quick and easy chicken traybakes, there are plenty more over in my traybakes section.
Sticky Chicken Traybake
Ingredients
- 600 g skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets
- 3 red peppers cut into large chunks
- 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce (or gluten free tamari)
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons runny honey
- Juice of half a lime (cut the remainder into wedges for garnish)
- 4 cm ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro) roughly chopped
- Jasmine or basmati rice to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Place the chicken thigh fillets and chopped peppers in a large oven tray.
- Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, lime juice, ginger, chilli flakes and salt in a small jug or jam jar.
- Pour the glaze over the chicken and peppers and turn to coat. Spread out the chicken and peppers into a single layer.
- Place the chicken and peppers in the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes. Baste halfway through cooking.
- After 30 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle with the coriander. Serve with rice and lime wedges.
Notes
Pin Sticky Chicken Traybake for later
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Jacqui |Recipes Made Easy says
Love Mary (a true old-fashioned Home Economist) and her no nonsense approach to food. I think I may have made this recipe before I sem to recall the boiling down glaze. But like you I no doubt would have adapted it Lets face it we just cant help ourselves.
Love the support from MR G I’m sure a lot of otherhalves will identify with him. Im off o give him a follow and will get Mr B to follow too.
Eb Gargano says
Mary is wonderful – definitely one of my faves. Haha – and you are so right. I can never stop myself adapting a recipe. Total opposite of Mr G who has to follow the recipe to the letter. Mr G says thanks for the follow. Eb x
Corina Blum says
This looks absolutely delicious! I love Mary Berry recipes too and you’ve definitely made this one your own. I’ve also had a quick look and followed Mr G. If Mr SearchingforSpice was on Insta I’m sure he’d identify! Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice – those leftovers on Mr G’s feed looked yummy!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Corina! Yes, this is a perfect COET recipe. Mr G had some jealous colleagues when he took his little box to work. Mr G says thanks for the follow!! Eb x
Rebecca - Glutarama says
Love tray bakes, love this. Simple yet delicious and nutritious too….I know what I’m making tomorrow kiddies!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Rebecca – hope you enjoyed it! Eb x
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
Oh I do love Mary Berry! Definitely like your idea of swapping to chicken thighs, it looks so tasty x
Eb Gargano says
She’s awesome isn’t she? I am a big fan of chicken thighs as they are more tasty, cheaper, more nutritious and easier to cook!! Win win in my book. Eb x
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says
Another day…. another delicious tray bake! Yummy…. I’m on my way….
Mr G is a genius…. He’s going to be a huge insta success and I can’t wait to see his take on your world….I’m sure Mr GF will identify with every pic x
Eb Gargano says
Hahaha – yes, it’s quite funny to see what’s on the other side of the camera. All that beautifully styled food is only in one tiny corner and then you have all the mess on the other side of the camera!! And loads of funny shots of me standing in awkward places!! Eb x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
I’m giving you a mental cursty, oh Traybake Queen! What a beautiful dish! I don’t think I’d be able to concentrate for the first half of the day at work if I knew that THESE leftovers were waiting for me in the fridge!
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
Er, that’s CURTSY! 😛
Eb Gargano says
Hahahaha – cursty, curtsy – I’ll take ’em all!!! 😉 Eb x
Eb Gargano says
Hahaha – thanks Michelle!! I know what you mean about yummy leftovers in the fridge. It’s so lovely working all morning knowing you have something delicious waiting for you in the fridge – but it is also a bit distracting!! Eb x
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
Made it tonight Eb and it was delicious, the sauce was soo good, just the right amount of sweetness, saltiness and spice! Had mixture of drumsticks and thighs which I skinned but left bones in and they took pretty much same amount of time in the oven. Will be making it again for sure! 🙂 x
Helen says
This is an amazing recipe, quick and easy enough for mid week, but classy enough for entertaining. So tasty, yum yum
Eb Gargano says
Thanks for this lovely comment 😀 So pleased you liked this Helen! It’s a real favourite in the Gargano household – we have it most weeks!! Eb 🙂
Diane Delaney says
Made this tonight, it was really tasty and easy to do, I served my chicken with sauté potatoes it made a lovely meal. I think I will double up on the sauce quantities next time as it was lovely, I used frozen peppers that’s all I had as this was a spur of the moment decision to make it. It will be on my menu from now on. Thank you.
Eb Gargano says
Yay – so delighted to hear you liked this recipe. It’s one of my family’s favourites. Thanks for taking the time to write this lovely comment – it means a lot Eb 🙂
Ida says
I found this OK but not the best traybake recipe around. I used chicken Marylands cut into drumsticks and thighs. The sauce was too thin, and needed to be reduced to thicken enough to coat the chicken. The soy sauce was too dominant. Took way longer to cook than the recipe states; even after an hour I wasn’t convinced the chicken was thoroughly cooked. Capsicum certainly wasn’t. Next time I would poach the chicken before putting it in the sauce and oven, and use roasted capsicum in place of fresh. Or partly cook capsicum first. I would also add garlic and onion to boost the flavour, and perhaps add some hoisin or oyster sauce.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Ida, I am really sorry to hear this recipe did not turn out well for you – though to to be honest a little bit baffled by it! I have made this recipe literally dozens of times (it’s a family favourite!) and it always works like a dream for me… A couple of thoughts… I am wondering if you used bone-in chicken pieces (the recipe states boneless chicken thigh fillets)? These usually take a little longer to cook – maybe 40-45 minutes, but nowhere near an hour! Or possibly your oven is a little on the cool side? I recommend 425F/Gas7/220C, but all ovens vary – if your oven is a little on the cool side, it might be worth turning it up an extra 10C/20F to see if that does the trick. Or another possibility is your oven tray is a little on the small side – using a larger roasting tray will help the chicken and peppers to cook more quickly. Regarding the sauce – that really is just down to personal taste. Personally I am happy with a thinner sauce, but if you prefer a thicker one, simply transfer the sauce to a saucepan and boil until it is reduced as much as you want (I do actually talk about this further up the recipe – it’s how Mary Berry does it, but too much faff for me on a busy weeknight!) And finally – I love your ideas for adding more flavours – I always love to hear how my readers are adapting my recipe 😀 Hope you enjoy it better next time! Eb 🙂
Kirsten says
Just made this and it was deeeelish! Halved the sesame oil and subbed in honey flavoured zero syrup for the honey to keep the calories down and you couldn’t tell. Sweet, sticky, spicy and sharp…all the good ‘s’s! Can’t wait to make this again!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks for this lovely feedback, Kirsten! Delighted you like it so much! Eb ?
Ann Flynn says
Could this be cooked low & slow??
Eb Gargano says
Sadly, not – this is very much a hot and (relatively) fast recipe.
Sharon Woods says
Can this be frozen pre or post cooking?
Eb Gargano says
I think you could probably do either. I haven’t personally tried freezing this recipe, though, so I can’t say for certain. The one thing I’d be concerned about is the peppers, as they have a tendency to lose their texture a bit if they are frozen. But if you are happy with that compromise, then it should work either way. I guess the only other thing to mention is that it really does only take 5 minutes to prep this recipe – literally just cut the peppers, mix the sauce and chuck everything in the tray – and cooking fresh will definitely give you the best results with this recipe. Hope that helps! Eb 🙂