Dr Pepper Chicken

This spicy-sweet chicken recipe is one of our favorites.

❤️ Why you'll love it

Sticky chicken is a mouthwatering, often underused, method of making chicken that isn't boring. It generally has catsup, sugar, and soy sauce as a base, and may be grilled, baked, or made in a slow cooker — there are benefits to each method.

• Slow Cooker - Positive: Easy, meat stays moist. Negative: The sauce stays very liquid.
• Grilled - Positive: Fast, sauce sticks to meat, has "grilled" flavor. Negative: Can be dry.
• Baked - Positive: Relatively fast, sauce gets "sticky". Negative: Can be dry.

I usually bake mine. I just like the way that the sauce finishes better.

🥫 Storage

Cover leftover Dr Pepper Chicken tightly with plastic wrap or put in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

This dish doesn't freeze well.

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: Using the less expensive boneless chicken thighs will give more flavor to the dish.

• Toasted sesame oil gives it a slightly smoky flavor. Use regular if you prefer.
• You can seal the raw chicken and marinade in a freezer bag and cook it later. You'll need to make more marinade though.
• Don' use an aluminum pan or aluminum foil  —  I think it gives a weird flavor to the chicken. Always use a glass casserole dish.
• Squeeze the juice of one lime over the top before serving for an added burst of flavor.
• Leftovers make great sandwich wraps!
• Bourbon chicken is a similar recipe.

📚 Related recipes

🍽️ Serve with...

I like to serve it with lemon butter Brussels sprouts and rice. A crunchy sourdough baguette works great, too.

📞 The last word

Dr Pepper chicken is based on a sticky chicken recipe.

One of the reasons I love this dish is it is so versatile and is great summer or winter. It's just one of those no-brainer go to dishes for me.

I  know, this is a horribly Americanized version of Asian sticky chicken recipes but what can I say? It's delicious!

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

Dr Pepper Sticky Chicken

4.34 from 3 votes

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Spicy baked sticky chicken recipe made unique with the Dr Pepper. Marinating overnight makes it butter tender and infused with flavor.

Course Main Dish - Chicken

Cuisine American

Prep Time: 8 hours hours

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 8 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings:6 - 8 servings

Calories:251

Author:Marye Audet-White

Ingredients

Chicken

• ▢ 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs
• ▢ Salt and pepper

Sauce:

• ▢ 1 cup chopped onion
• ▢ ½ cup diced bell pepper
• ▢ 2 tablespoonfuls of minced garlic or ¼ teaspoon powdered, (or both if you like garlic!)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ▢ ¼ cup soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoonfuls toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 3 tablespoons honey
• ▢ 1 cup Dr Pepper, (not sugar free)
• ▢ ¼ - ½ teaspoon chipotle powder

Instructions

• Add the sesame oil to a saute pan and heat it until it ripples.
• Saute garlic, onion, and pepper for 5 minutes or so. Just until soft. Don't saute garlic powder.
• Add the remaining sauce ingredients and simmer until it reduces, about 10 minutes or so.
• Cool the sauce.
• Put the chicken in a zipper storage bag and add 1 cup of the cooled sauce. Refrigerate the rest of the sauce in a tightly covered container.
• Marinate overnight.

To Bake in the Oven

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Spray a glass casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray, or oil generously.
• Place chicken in dish. Discard used marinade.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Brush chicken with the remaining marinade.
• Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 160F. Brush with the marinade often.
• Let stand about five minutes before serving.

Slow Cooker

• You can forgo the overnight marinating.
• Place the sauce and the chicken in a slow cooker.
• Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
• Serve.

You'll find more helpful tips and variations in the body of the post.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 251kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 730mg | Potassium: 665mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 509IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.