Perfectly tender Broiled Chicken Thighs, marinated and then glazed with this homemade barbecue sauce made for a great weeknight meal.
Learning how to broil chicken makes it easy to get a delicious dinner on the table fast.
Easy and delicious, these Broiled Chicken Thighs make a perfect weeknight meal.
Served with a side of Baked Beans, Potato Salad or Coleslaw, this chicken is bound to become one of your family’s favorite dinners.
Broiled Chicken Thighs
I love using my broiler for quick and easy dinners. It takes almost no time at all to broil chicken thighs and I am free to finish up the rest of the meal in the kitchen while it is cooking.
Served with a tossed salad and some smashed potatoes, this is a favorite meal for everyone in the family.
Still leery of your broiler? These Baked Chicken Thighs are pretty awesome too.
How to Broil Chicken
Making broiled chicken is a breeze and you’ll love the flavor. Aside from marinating the meat, you can have great-tasting broiled chicken on the table with less than 20 minutes of active cooking time.
To impart the best flavor to your chicken thighs, let the chicken pieces marinate in the barbecue sauce in a zipclose bag or large airtight container. Leave it for at least 6 hours, turning the pieces every couple of hours to be sure the sauce is distributed well.
If you toss the chicken in the sauce in the morning, it’ll be marinated and ready to cook by dinner time! Then it takes almost no time at all in the oven to get the chicken cooked through and ready to eat.
Place the chicken in the oven under the broiler setting for 5 to 6 minutes on the first side. Remove the chicken from the oven, flip and broil for another 5 minutes on the second side. Then, pour a little reserved barbecue sauce over the chicken before broiling for a final 2 minutes.
The chicken is done when the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear.
Homemade Barbecue Sauces
When we’re craving barbecued chicken on a busy weeknight, oven-broiled chicken usually winds up on our menu. We love it with just about any homemade barbecue sauce.
If you like some heat with your chicken, try this recipe with my Homemade Spicy Barbecue Sauce or this Sweet and Spicy Homemade Barbecue Sauce. This Tangy Peach Barbecue Sauce comes with a fruity flair that pairs beautifully with chicken. We also love the vinegar forward flavor of Tangy Memphis BBQ Sauce.
The spicy maple flavor in this Sriracha Bourbon Barbecue Sauce is to die for, too. For an Asian spin, check out one of my all-time favorite sauces, Korean Barbecue Sauce.
Whenever I make a batch of barbecue sauce, I try to make enough to stick in the freezer for later. When the barbecue sauce is ready and waiting, making a full barbecued chicken meal is as easy as can be. If you don’t have any homemade barbecue sauce handy, a bottle of your favorite store-bought sauce works just as well!
I’m all in favor of any shortcuts that make getting dinner on the table even easier! Whether you make these broiled chicken thighs with homemade or bottled sauce, I know you’ll love it as much as we do.
For more great chicken recipes, you’ll also want to give Carolina Style Barbecue Chicken and these Beer and Brown Sugar Chicken Skewers a shot. This Spicy Honey Brushed Chicken is another favorite weeknight meal.
Broiled Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 boneless chicken thighs
- 3 cups homemade barbecue sauce ( or your favorite store bought sauce)
Instructions
- Pour 2 cups barbecue sauce over the chicken in an airtight container or a large ziploc bag. Let it rest in the refrigerator (turning it every few hours) for at least 6 hours. I usually toss my chicken in with the sauce in the morning and it is ready to go for dinner.
- If you think of it, remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least half an hour before cooking. You can still cook it straight from the refrigerator though, if you forget.
- When ready to cook, preheat the oven to Broil and line a large baking sheet with foil. Spread the chicken pieces out across it. Discard the remaining marinade liquid.
- Broil the chicken for 5-6 minutes on the first side and then remove from the oven and turn the pieces over. Broil another 5 minutes or so, just until the chicken is almost done. If your pieces are thicker, they will take a little longer.
- Turn the pieces again (if desired) and coat well with the remaining 1 cup of barbecue sauce. Broil for another 2 minutes or so, until the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear. Enjoy!
Nutrition
{originally published 3/27/12 – recipe notes and photos updated 4/13/22}
Joanne says
I was wondering what you did with that bbq sauce! Sounds like a great weeknight meal!
Becki's Whole Life says
I can honestly say I clearly do not use my broiler enough. I have never broiled meat before, but this sounds delish. I bet the sauce gets nice and caramelized using this method.
Tricia @ saving room for dessert says
This chicken looks finger licking good! Juicy, tender, sweet and hot. I'm ready for dinner now.
Jenn says
lol.. no need for apologies on my part, Mary! Some people just don't grill.. I accept that and never judge 🙂
Heck, that chicken looks so good, you could have told me you grilled it and I would not have batted an eye! YUM!
Bakeaholic Carrie says
I love anything with chicken thighs it's my favorite cut. And it's budget friendly! These look amazing… who needs a grill! These are perfect!
Cooking Lady says
This chicken looks so good nice and tender. Just like it was on the grill. Great post and great job
Blond Duck says
I'm so excited to try this and your homemade sauce. Definitely going on my menu for next week! I've done oven baked chicken and crock pot chicken, but it's never been quite right…have you tried grilling?
Big Dude says
It's pretty hard to beat smashed potatoes and chicken with homemade BBQ sauce – which sounds very good by the way. LOL that you felt the need to appologize – since I mostly use a gas grill, it's not much different than the broiler just on the bottom rather than top. The main thing is you whip up good grub however you choose to cook it. I think our oven may have a broiler 🙂
Katherine Martinelli says
I love using the broiler! This looks so good. I have to check out your homemade bbq sauce recipe!
Words Of Deliciousness says
I love the taste of meat made under the broiler. This chicken looks very tasty; the picture is making my mother water.
Suchi says
Looks yum…am so glad that the BBQ season is almost upon us 🙂
Zee says
Great post! This chicken looks delicious
The Harried Cook says
Wow! That look incredibly tasty!! Yum… Makes me want to dig in… And I love that they were oven-broiled! Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Chris says
never mind my questions from the prior post, ha ha.
I have no problem with this at all. Especially since you didn't call it barbecue chicken, you named it perfectly. Even the BBQ curmudgeons wouldn't take issue with this.
But for the first part of my life, "barbecue chicken" to me was done in a tomato sauce in the oven like this. And I still loved it.
Anonymous says
its March 2015, and seeing as how there is 4 inches of snow here on the ground, frigid cold its not obviously grilling season…and i needed a fast dinner idea for chicken…had the chicken and bbq sauce (going to use head and country) fired up the broil, layed some foil down, tossed them on there, and away we go!
Also had leftover mashed potatoes from other night, re-purposed with a little salt and butter, and then i made some packaged brocoli cheese rice, dinner done and ready in like what 30 min? and oh so tasty…this is a staple at my house especially in the colder months.
Kenneth says
I’m gonna make this tonight!!!
Khadeeja says
Did not say to put the broil on high or low
Mary says
Many ovens only have one option, but if you have a choice, broil on high. Enjoy!
Deanna says
My thoughts exactly.
JBudds the Butcher says
I 3rd that. I just erased mine but after contact with poultry use either cook it with or toss it out.
Ruth says
If you want a safe and yummy way to incorporate the “used” marinade, simply pour it in a sauce pan and bring to a full, vigorous boil for at least 20 seconds. Can also add a few teaspoons of corn starch (dissolved in water) for a thick, flavorful sauce. I use quality ingredients in my marinades and prefer to use every drop (:
Tati says
Thank you so much for this free recipe