Red Hot Chicken
on Jun 09, 2016, Updated Jan 30, 2024
If you are a fan of spicy foods, this Red Hot Chicken recipe is going to make for a perfect quick and easy chicken dinner idea. Some call it Firecracker Chicken, I call it yummy!
Red Hot Chicken
Chicken dinners are perfect for my gang. Making dinner for a large picky eating family can be difficult. This Red Hot Chicken was a chicken recipe that each one of them raved about. I loved that it was super easy to make and the meal was fairly inexpensive.
I mentioned picky eaters, but I should feel blessed that each and everyone in our crew loves spicy foods. ALL of us! The hotter the better for this girl.
While doing some sharing posts on Facebook, I came across this Recipe for Firecracker Chicken that Little Spice Jar shared. The recipe looked like a perfect dinner idea for our family. My aunt mentioned that she made it and it was great. So… I HAD to make this one for us. I did have to do a few modifications to the recipe.
My hubby is not a big vinegar fan. Since her recipe calls for quite a bit of vinegar, I replaced it with some ketchup and lemon juice. The ketchup really helped with the thickening and the lemon helped with the spice. It was PERFECT! The sauce was out of this world amazing. Full of awesome flavor. Make it! You will love it!
This Red Hot Chicken is so super simple. You can use full chicken breasts or tenderloins. I had breasts on hand and sliced them into the size of tenderloins and nugget size (I have to please the picky eaters, ha ha). One of the main ingredients is Franks Red Hot. You could use any store brand and I am sure you can get the same flavor profile. I had our chicken in the oven and baking quite quickly.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
1/2 cup Ketchup
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp minced Garlic
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
4 Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into strips
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
DIRECTIONS
In a medium pan, combine the hot sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce heat and simmer for for 12-15 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside while you cook chicken.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400.
Lightly salt and pepper both sides of chicken breast strips.
Heat oil in a skillet over high heat.
Sear each side of the chicken strips for about 2 minutes per side.
Transfer seared strips to prepared baking sheet.
Baste each strip with sauce and bake 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through(165 internal temp).
Adapted From: Little Spice Jar!
Do you have a favorite chicken recipe?
Red Hot Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
- 1/2 cup Ketchup
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp minced Garlic
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 4 Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into strips
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- In a medium pan, combine the hot sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce heat and simmer for for 12-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and set aside while you cook chicken.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Lightly salt and pepper both sides of chicken breast strips.
- Heat oil in a skillet over high heat.
- Sear each side of the chicken strips for about 2 minutes per side.
- Transfer seared strips to prepared baking sheet.
- Baste each strip with sauce and bake 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through(165 internal temp).
Nutrition
Looking for other chicken recipes? Be sure to see these other recipes that I have shared…
Itโs nice but next time I will use chicken thighs
This looks absolutely fantastic! I love spicy foods :) Thanks for the awesome recipe!
This sounds delish — my family would love it! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday. :)