Fiery Maple Glazed BBQ Chicken

Tips and inspiration

This is one of those delicious BBQ style chicken recipes, with a great balance of sweet, savoury and tangy – except this “BBQ sauce” also has layers of complexity. If you don’t have maple syrup, add brown sugar instead. If you are BBQing the chicken, the sauce will stick to the grills, so cook the chicken first and then build up a glaze with the sauce for the last few minutes. 

Method

Step one

Preheat your oven grill to 250C – or heat up your BBQ (see tips in intro).

Step two

Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the spices from the spice sachet, including the extra chilli for optional added heat, turn the heat down and cook for 10 seconds. Add both sauce pouches from the kit, as well as the maple syrup and cook until it has reduced to a thicker, “brushable” paste, around 5-6 minutes. Once it has cooked down, it should weigh 200g.

Step three

If cooking indoors, heat an oven-safe griddle pan until hot. Pat the thighs with kitchen roll to dry them off and season on both sides. Place the chicken on the griddle and cook until golden on the bottom, around 2-3 minutes. Turn and cook the underside until golden as well.

Step four

Take off the heat, brush the top generously with the paste, place under the grill and cook for 2 minutes. Carefully turn over and brush the top side generous with the sauce and grill for another 2-3 minutes – or until the chicken is done to an internal temperature of 165-175°C.

Step five

Take out and let rest for 5 minutes. If you so desire, brush with the remaining paste for a thicker coating.

Step six

Serve with coleslaw.